Episode 23 A Murder Mystery that Inspired a Famous Horror Movie| The Lake Bodom murders

The Dark Mystery Lounge

Halloween special, the murder mystery of Lake Bodom in Finland back in 1960 has forever shrouded in mystery.   #lakebodom #halloween #murdermystery

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Dark Mystery Lounge.

00:03Happy Halloween everybody!

00:04Hope your spooky day is filled with lots of fun and treats.

00:08Today we are going to talk about the possible true story of the Friday the 13th movies,

00:13The Lake Bodum Murders in Finland.

00:16A 62 year old unsolved case that is still a mystery to this day.

00:20So let's go ahead and dive right into this one shall we?

00:23On Saturday, June 4th, 1960, four teenagers went camping on the shores of Lake Bodum,

00:33near the city of Espoo's Oita Manor.

00:36Mela Bjorklund and Anja Maki, both 15, along with their boyfriends,

00:41Seppo Boisman and Niles Gustafsson, both 18.

00:45The arrival at the campsite and subsequent afternoon went smoothly

00:49as the teenagers enjoyed their time in nature and sunshine.

00:53Sometime between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., during the early morning hours of Sunday, June 5th, 1960,

01:00Mela, Anja, and Seppo were all stabbed and bludgeoned to death.

01:04Niles was the only one to survive the attack,

01:07leaving him with a concussion, a fractured jaw, and several broken facial bones.

01:12At about 6 a.m., a group of boys birdwatching some distance away

01:17had reportedly seen the tent collapsed and a blonde man walking away from the site.

01:22The bodies of the victims were discovered around 11 a.m. by a carpenter named Esko Boiva Johansson.

01:29He alerted the police, who arrived on the scene at noon.

01:32Anja and Seppo's bodies were found inside the tent, but Mela, Niles' girlfriend, was found on top of the tent,

01:49naked from the waist down and lying next to Niles.

01:52Mela was also in the worst state of the victims and had clearly been stabbed even after death.

01:57The killer had not injured the victims from inside the tent,

02:01but instead attacked the occupants from outside with a knife and an unidentified blunt instrument,

02:07possibly a rock, through the sides of the tent.

02:10The killer had taken several items, which detectives found puzzling,

02:14including the keys to the victims' motorcycles, but the motorcycles were left behind.

02:19Niles' shoes were found partially hidden approximately 500 meters from the murder site,

02:24along with parts of his clothes.

02:26The police did not cordon off the site, nor record the details of the crime scene,

02:31and almost immediately allowed a crowd of police officers and other people to trample around and disturb the evidence.

02:39This mistake was further exacerbated by calling in soldiers to assist with the search around the lake for the missing items,

02:45several of which were never found.

02:47Many local people suspected Carl Gellström, known in the local community as the Kiosk Man,

03:01because he owned and operated a nearby stall.

03:04Carl's kiosk near Lake Bodum was frequented by campers.

03:07However, he was known for being hostile towards them,

03:10and witnesses claimed to have seen him cut down tents and throw rocks at hikers over the years.

03:16Some even claimed that they saw him leave the murder scene,

03:19but then claimed to have been too afraid of him to alert the authorities.

03:23Carl allegedly made several confessions, including to his wife,

03:27in which he displayed knowledge of the crime both drunkenly and sober,

03:31although they were all ignored by police.

03:34In 1969, Carl drowned in Lake Bodum, most likely by suicide,

03:39so there is no way of collecting DNA from him for later testing.

03:43The second suspect remained a person of interest until 2004.

03:48His name was Hans Essmann,

03:49and he was rumored to be a former KGB spy living near to the shores of Lake Bodum.

03:55Over the years, Hans earned a reputation as somewhat of a recluse,

03:59and combined with his KGB rumored,

04:02consequently resulted in him being suspected in several murders,

04:07though none of these accusations stuck.

04:09But the day after the murders,

04:11Hans went to the Helsinki Surgical Hospital with fingernails black with dirt,

04:16and his clothes were covered in red stains.

04:18Hospital staff reported that Hans was nervous and aggressive,

04:22but other than a brief questioning,

04:23the police did not pursue Hans any further,

04:26as they claimed that he had a solid alibi in regards to the Lake Bodum murders.

04:31Hans' stained clothing was never investigated,

04:33despite doctors insisting that it was blood.

04:36Hans also matched the description of the blonde man fleeing the scene,

04:41and cut his hair shortly following a newspaper article,

04:44which detailed the case as it came out.

04:47After 44 years, an arrest was made for the murders.

04:51Niles Gustafson

04:52In March of 2004, Niles Gustafson was arrested.

05:03The trial started on August 4, 2005.

05:06Due to new DNA testing and reanalyzing the evidence,

05:10the prosecution came up with a story

05:12that would have given a reason why Niles killed his girlfriend and his friends.

05:16According to prosecution, Niles got drunk and thus exiled from the tent.

05:22Then Seppo made an attempt to talk to him.

05:24A fight had ensued and Seppo allegedly won,

05:27resulting in Niles' fractured jaw and broken facial bones.

05:31Angry at the fight, Niles must have gone back to the tent

05:34and in a blind rage killed his girlfriend and two friends,

05:38then inflicted the rest of the superficial stab wounds on himself,

05:42tried to hide his shoes, and staged the rest of the crime scene.

05:45The fact that the young birdwatchers who originally found the site

05:49claimed to have seen a man leaving the area backed up the prosecution's claims.

05:54Niles' defense, however, dismissed the story,

05:58claiming that if Seppo and Niles truly had gotten into a fight,

06:01Niles would have been too injured to viciously murder his friends,

06:05let alone walk more than a half-mile round trip to hide his shoes.

06:09On October 7, 2005, Niles was acquitted of all charges.

06:13The court explained the verdict was due to the prosecution's evidence being inconclusive.

06:19Failure to show Niles Gustafsson had a motive appropriate to the crime of such an extreme seriousness,

06:25and certainty about the facts now being impossible given the time that had elapsed.

06:29The Finnish state paid Niles Gustafsson 44,900 euros for the mental anguish caused by the lengthy pre-trial detention,

06:43but he was denied permission to sue Finnish newspapers for defamation.

06:47To this day, however, suspicion remains.

06:51No further suspects have been named.

06:53No further evidence has been found.

06:56And the Lake Bodum murders remain Finland's most horrifying and longest unsolved crime.

07:01A 2016 Finnish horror film called Lake Bodum was made.

07:06Even the Finnish metal band named Children of Bodum was named after this tragedy.

07:11And I personally love their music. It's really, really good.

07:14There seems to be too many ties to the Lake Bodum murders in the Friday the 13th movies.

07:19Teenagers being murdered at a lakeside camping ground by a fictional character, Jason Voorhees, who never dies.

07:26Because if you don't know who the killer is, this case will never die.

07:30So many questions, so little answers.

07:37Seems like if the police would have done a better job in keeping the crime scene from being contaminated,

07:42then maybe they would have found more evidence.

07:44As to who the killer is, without enough evidence, it's really hard to say.

07:48The ties to this crime with one of the most famous movie franchises in history

07:53just makes me want to go and watch them all over again.

07:56So who do you think did it?

07:57Let me know in the comments down below.

07:59If you enjoyed this video, please smash that like button.

08:03And if you really like what I do, subscribe, will ya?

08:05Thank you for hanging out with me in the Dark Mystery Lounge.

08:08This is Phoenix, signing out.

08:10Have a good evening, and stay safe.

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