New Information on Mysterious Conversation – VG

It appears in the new book «Orderud – The interrogatories. The lies. The new tracks. », Written by VG crime commentator Øystein Milli and journalist Olav Næss.

The question of who called Telefonopplysningen 180 is central to the murder mystery of more than twenty years on the Orderud farm:

On the night of May 22, 1999, Anne Orderud Paust and her parents Kristian and Marie Orderud were shot dead on the Sørum farm. No one has yet been convicted of the killings, but four people were convicted of complicity: Per and Veronica Orderud received 21 years in prison, Kristin Kirkemo 16 years and Lars Grønnerød 18 years.

A few weeks before the murders, an operator must have had a mysterious conversation in 180: A man is said to have started talking about Anne Orderud Paust and her parents, and presented several surprising details.

The operator who received the call contacted the police after reading about the Orderud killings. He was in several interrogations and remembered much of the conversation.

– The man who called said it was going to happen. Three drap. I knew what was going to happen on Pentecost 1999, Milli says.

See video: this came out in the mysterious conversation:

A new witness

Together with Olav Næss, he has written the book where new information emerges about the mysterious conversation:

In 2018, the police got a new witness in the case.

An auto repair shop owner said Lars Grønnerød had visited him at work in May 1999. One of the 513 phone calls to 180, which the police investigated, came from here.

According to the book, the man did not tell police about the visit during the investigation more than 20 years ago, so the phone call was excluded from the case.

Former police chief Tore Kampen, who is investigating the Orderud murders, confirms that he is a new witness.

– I am aware that there has been a tip and that it contains information that reinforces the suspicion against Lars Grønnerød as the man of 180, he says on VG’s Krimpodden podcast.

Listen to the Krimpodden episode here:

A mauser

In a police questioning, the operator said the 180-person man told him he possessed an old, unregistered gun, probably a Mauser.

In the new book, a 1996 ruling is mentioned: It appears that Lars Grønnerød lacked a weapons permit for a Mauser pistol. The weapon did not work and he was acquitted.

Lars Grønnerød died in the fall of 2019, so it is quite possible that we will never get the final answer to who called 180. His defender over the years, Steinar Wiik Sørvik, confirms that Grønnerød was allowed to keep the gun after the 1996 ruling:

– I remember the case well. A sealed gun was found in Lars’s home, which was not seized.

However, he does not believe that it is the 180 man.

– During the years that I worked with the Orderud case, Lars and I changed all the issues. That Lars should have managed not to tell us anything about this, I can’t imagine, says Wiik Sørvik.

Watch video: could this have been the escape route after the murders?

May affect credibility

State prosecutor Olav Helge Thue believes the findings raise the possibility that Grønnerød is the 180-man one. Thue was the prosecutor in the Orderud case.

– This increases the chances that it was Lars. If this is correct, then Lars had more knowledge about the murders at a later date than he would admit. But if you can find out for sure, I don’t know, he says.

Øystein Milli believes that the findings may be important to Per and Veronica Orderud. She points out that Grønnerød’s credibility was decisive for the verdict against the then Orderud couple, and especially the role of Per.

Grønnerød was believed by the court when he said that he gave Per Orderud a gun on April 3, 1999, but later had nothing more to do with the case.

– If it is Lars who calls 180 and says “no one will believe it is me”, then one should consider whether this may affect the verdicts against Per and Veronica, as they are largely judged by the explanation of Kristin and Lars, Milli believes . .

– speculation

Former head of investigation Asbjørn Hansen also wrote a secret report in May 2000 in which he said he thought it was likely Lars who called 180.

It is “reasonable to believe that Lars Grønnerød may have called the 180 call,” Hansen wrote in the report, which is also mentioned in the book.

Frode Sulland, attorney for Veronica Orderud, doesn’t put much emphasis on the new findings.

– This is reliably reminiscent of similar speculations Hansen has in his overview report, where he tries to fill in the gaps in reality with his own theories. These are new attempts to tell a story.

Both Veronica and Per Orderud have requested that the case be reopened. The 180 man is important in this job, but then with a different theory about who called.

– In our petition to the Veronica Resumption Commission, we have focused on the content of what the 180 operator was told about Anne Paust and her movements. What we think one should focus on is who might have been aware of these, says Sulland.

Per Orderud’s lawyer in the resumption case also does not believe that Grønnerød is the 180-year-old man.

– Per’s case is being processed by the readmission commission and I relate to the ongoing process there. What I can say is that for various reasons it doesn’t rhyme that Lars is the 180-year-old man, says attorney Inger Silka Zadig of the Elden law firm.

The Readmission Commission will not comment on the new information. The head of the commission, Siv Hallgren, writes to VG that the cases of Per and Veronica Orderud will be prosecuted next year.