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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
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our website [Music] nestled in the center of a clearing hidden amongst tall birch and pine trees
00:02:16
was a small light-coloured a-frame tent ruth colley had spotted it as she wandered through the glade with her
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five-year-old daughter the secluded campsite overlooked lake buddham's clear and tranquil waters from
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a vantage point along the eastern peninsula the tent itself was not an unusual find
00:02:39
located in southern finland lake budam was a hive of activity on the morning of sunday june 5 1960
00:02:48
with the ice and snow blanketing the countryside having long since melted away outdoor enthusiasts had flocked to
00:02:56
the lake to swim sunbathe and go fishing some opted to camp throughout the patch
00:03:03
of forest framing the three kilometer long waterfront when ruth colley stumbled across one
00:03:10
such campsite it was far from surprising yet something drew her closer into the quiet clearing
00:03:19
its centerpiece the a-frame tent had collapsed in on itself there were several people seemingly
00:03:27
asleep amid the disarray it was difficult to distinguish what was what in the tangle of limbs hair and
00:03:35
belongings but ruth could see two teenage girls lying more or less side by side a boy about the same age lay slightly
00:03:45
apart from them then there was a second adolescent male who was more exposed than his friends
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he was lying on his back directly on top of the tent with his legs bent his face was smeared with blood and
00:04:02
flies buzzed around his head bottles of alcohol scattered around the area led ruth to suspect she was looking
00:04:10
at the fallout of a drunken and violent argument between some young campers who were now sleeping off their hangovers
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she moved away and continued along the peninsula with her daughter to meet up with the rest of their family
00:04:27
soon ruth spotted her husband marty and their son in their fishing boat about 200 metres offshore
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she waved them over marty colley rode over to where his wife and daughter were waiting
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ruth informed him about the four teenagers camping nearby and marty decided to check on them
00:04:50
he strode up the ridge and was confronted by the same confusing scene that had troubled his wife
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marty recognized the teens he had seen them arrive the previous day at around 5 pm the group of four had
00:05:07
roared up to the south side of the lake on two motorcycles the boys were driving and each had a
00:05:14
girl clinging to his back they'd seemed like a happy group all smiles and laughter
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marty leaned in closer to inspect the mess before him as he gazed at the tense filthy and
00:05:29
collapsed canvas he realized that large swaths of it had been slashed open with a knife
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[Music] [Music] nils gustavsson and sippl boyzman had been best friends since they were 12
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years old with just four months between them the pair were inseparable and frequently had
00:06:15
sleepovers at each other's homes as they grew older their lives followed similar paths
00:06:23
they became electricians after graduating school and gained employment at the same electromechanical plant
00:06:30
[Music] by may of 1960 seppo had turned 18 and was dating 15 year old high school
00:06:38
student anya maki who went by her middle name of tuliki tuliki introduced seppo and niels to her
00:06:46
own best friend myla bjerklund she was also 15 and was known by her middle name irmeli
00:06:56
iremeli was charmed by nils with his slicked back brown hair and rockabilly fashion sense inspired by the king of
00:07:03
rock and roll elvis presley [Music] the pair officially became a couple just after nilsa's 18th birthday
00:07:13
[Music] about two weeks later the four teenagers decided that an overnight camping trip
00:07:19
to lake boredom would be a great way to celebrate the start of the holidays early was particularly excited about the
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upcoming break as it was the first summer where she wasn't needed to look after her two younger brothers
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despite the girl's excitement their parents were reluctant to give their blessing for the trip
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although they had always found seppo and nils respectful and trustworthy the idea
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of their young daughters staying out overnight didn't sit right eventually both irmali and tuliki's
00:07:56
parents relented and they were permitted to go the boys fared much easier seppol convinced his mother and father
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that the trip would be safe as the lake was only a 30 minute drive northwest from their home city of helsinki
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it wasn't as though they would be camping in some remote wilderness nils's parents had no problem with him
00:08:22
camping and fishing with seppo for the night although nils failed to mention that the
00:08:27
girls would be with them and so it was settled on saturday june 4 1960 seppo niels tuliki and irmly would
00:08:39
venture to lake borum the timing was perfect for the young couples as they would wake up together
00:08:46
on the morning of the christian holiday known as pentecost in finland there was a saying
00:08:54
if you don't have a sweetheart on pentecost you won't have one all summer seppo borrowed a canvas tent from work
00:09:06
and got his hands on some alcohol a half liter bottle of salmisari liquor a 370 milliliter bottle of citrus liquor
00:09:15
and a couple of pale lagers the boys packed bread sausages snacks and fishing equipment as well as various
00:09:25
knives and a pair of pliers to use as tools by saturday afternoon nils and seppo
00:09:32
were cruising to lake boredom on their motorcycles their girlfriends clinging tightly to their respective backs
00:09:40
at about 5 p.m they pulled up to the south side of the lake and found the ideal camping spot at the tip of a small
00:09:48
peninsula it was a short walk east from the lake's main swimming area but was screened off
00:09:56
from the beach by another small peninsula in between they unloaded their bags in a clearing
00:10:03
that overlooked the lake rather than setting up camp right away they fired up the motorbikes again and
00:10:10
headed back about a kilometer down the road to a kiosk they had passed on the way in
00:10:17
there the boys bought several packets of chewing gum and a few bottles of soft drink as mixers for their liquors
00:10:26
by the time the group arrived back at their campsite it was about 7 15 pm there were still a few swimmers in the
00:10:34
water but their numbers were dwindling nils and seppo unrolled the tent with the opening facing east away from the
00:10:44
swimming beach they cut some thick birch sticks from the trees and sharpened them into
00:10:50
makeshift tent poles one of the boys found a decent sized rock down by the shore and used it to
00:10:58
hammer the stakes into the ground then they tied off the guidelines and stepped back to admire their handiwork
00:11:07
it was a typical a-frame tent which stood at 113 centimeters at its highest point through the middle
00:11:15
not tall enough for any of them to stand inside at 138 centimeters wide it barely had
00:11:23
room for two but the four teams would make it work it was just going to be a very tight fit
00:11:34
early the next morning two teenage friends were strolling along the southern shore of lake boredom
00:11:42
just before 6 am the boys reached the eastern peninsula when they heard a voice drawn to the sound they climbed up a
00:11:51
ridge and into the surrounding woodland to investigate there they spotted two motorcycles
00:11:59
leaning up against some birch trees behind them in a clearing was a collapsed tent
00:12:08
the boys were certain that a man was lying on top of it they couldn't see his face but they
00:12:14
spotted a pair of legs in dark trousers it looked like he was stirring slightly then some activity a little further away
00:12:25
caught their attention another man was heading away from the tent into the trees
00:12:32
the boys didn't see his face but he looked to be an adult wearing a light-coloured shirt
00:12:39
they couldn't tell which direction he headed after reaching the trees perhaps he'd stopped walking once he was
00:12:46
hidden from view the boys wanted to take a closer look at the motorcycles but decided they
00:12:54
shouldn't risk disturbing the campers and the left fourteen-year-old olivier kivilati was
00:13:03
perched on a rocky outcropping overlooking lake buddham waiting for his fishing buddy
00:13:10
the sun had already risen by the time he'd arrived and the morning was calm and quiet
00:13:16
then at about 6 a.m solitude was broken by a man emerging from some trees near the base of the
00:13:24
eastern peninsula about 80 metres away he looked to be in his 20s was of average height and had brown hair combed
00:13:34
backwards he was wearing a light top and a dark pants the man moved quickly and purposefully
00:13:44
down to the peninsula's base and continued south before disappearing out of olivey's site
00:13:52
it was several hours later when ruth colley discovered the collapsed tent and pointed it out to her husband
00:14:01
by 10 am more people had noticed the tent including a group of teenagers who had been swimming in the lake
00:14:09
they too thought it looked as though the young campers had been in a fight and carried on with their morning
00:14:15
[Music] then at 11 15 am a passerby realised something far more sinister had taken
00:14:24
place and rushed to a nearby construction site using the phone in its office to call
00:14:31
the police he informed them that there had been a slaughter at lake budam upon observing the campsite for
00:14:43
themselves local officers immediately contacted the central criminal police special investigators arrived and
00:14:52
examined the bodies bundled close together seppo boyzman was lying under the folds
00:14:59
at the edge of the tent his legs dressed in blue jeans that were unbuttoned at the fly were outstretched
00:15:09
he also wore a colored shirt and his hands rested on his chest almost as if he was sleeping
00:15:17
but seppo was not asleep he had been hit with a blunt object multiple times in the head and jaw
00:15:26
producing four fractures to the left side of his skull curious onlookers watched as a police
00:15:33
officer lifted one of the tent folds that covered seppo's head revealing that he had also been stabbed
00:15:41
through the tent's canvas there were wounds in his neck and trachea the fatal strike was another stab wound
00:15:50
that had punctured seppo's chest cavity he would not have been able to move before he bled out into his lungs
00:16:00
his girlfriend tuligi mackie was curled up face down and partially covered with a blanket
00:16:07
her blue jeans were fastened but her yellow blouse had ridden up her torso exposing her midriff
00:16:16
she too had suffered severe blunt force trauma to her head which caused the multiple fractures to her skull
00:16:24
iremeli bierklund was near the tense doorway her left leg parallel to tuliki's back and her right leg bent
00:16:33
around tulicki's head ear milly's light green jeans were down below her knees with the right pant leg
00:16:41
pulled off entirely exposing her lower half her beige blouse and a light blue sweater had also been pulled up to her
00:16:50
shoulders exposing her torso and bra at least three powerful strikes with a blunt heavy object had shattered
00:17:00
eerimelli's skull across her forehead and produced further fractures along her jaw and the side of her face
00:17:09
these blows were enough to cause severe swelling and bleeding of the brain resulting in almost immediate death
00:17:19
but the killer had also stabbed earmeli 15 times in her neck and shoulders she had clearly borne the brunt of the
00:17:28
attack nils gustavsson was lying on top of the tent dressed in a gray sweater dark
00:17:36
jeans and socks the entire left side of his face was swollen and bruised including his eye
00:17:44
which was sealed shut nils had suffered a fracture to the left side of his lower jaw and another to the
00:17:53
temporal bone otherwise known as the ear canal the left side of his upper jaw and his
00:18:00
cheekbone were also fractured nils had been slashed multiple times with a knife he had a gash on the back of his left
00:18:10
forearm and another along his left cheek this second wound was so deep it had cut
00:18:18
through the entire depth of skin and muscle exposing his teeth police determined that the killer had
00:18:27
intentionally cut the tent's guidelines before the attack as the tent collapsed onto the sleeping
00:18:34
teens the exact location of each of their heads would have become obvious the four victims were effectively
00:18:43
trapped confused and disoriented with no means of escape the killer would not have known the
00:18:51
order in which they were sleeping so he likely unleashed the violent blitz attack indiscriminately
00:19:02
items recovered at the crime scene correlated with what the teens had packed for their weekend getaway
00:19:09
bags clothing cigarette boxes makeup bread and a red leather songbook that belonged to tuliki were catalogued
00:19:19
two table knives and two pocket knives were found but none were the bladed weapon wielded by the killer
00:19:28
the pale lager bottles were found one empty one full along with multiple bottles of soda
00:19:36
some of the soda bottles were empty but one still contained a mix of soft drinks
00:19:41
and the citrus liquor a foreign fingerprint not belonging to any of the teens was found on one bottle
00:19:50
the bottle of saumisari liquor was never located other more crucial items were also
00:19:58
missing notably each of the teenager's wallets and ids another knife they had packed
00:20:07
seppol's leather jacket and the keys to the motorcycles the girls hadn't brought any watches but
00:20:16
the boys had and they were missing too over the next day or two community volunteers joined police and military
00:20:26
personnel in an extensive search of the entire lake boredom area metal detectors were used and sniffer
00:20:35
dogs were deployed while divers searched the depths of the lake items as small as a piece of iron wire
00:20:43
were collected the weapons used in the attack were not located [Music] about 500 metres from the crime scene
00:20:54
just off the road that led to the campsite a pair of worn brown leather slip-on loafers were found hidden under
00:21:02
a rock they were covered in flecks of blood and were identified as belonging to victim
00:21:09
nils gustavsson seppel boyzman's shoes were also unearthed nearby discarded more carelessly in the scrub
00:21:19
on the other side of the road an appeal was made to identify the man seen walking away from the campsite the
00:21:28
morning the bodies were discovered while this particular individual wasn't identified sightings of other suspicious
00:21:37
persons were called in given the brutality and shocking nature of the murders the provincial government
00:21:45
ordered police teams to apprehend all suspects immediately dozens of people were brought into
00:21:52
police stations across the county for interrogations one man was arrested based on the
00:21:59
suspicions of a bishop a soldier was also detained after his parents tipped off the police
00:22:07
both were eventually released in one more promising lead a man was arrested when a bloody knife was found
00:22:16
in boredom village after tests proved that the blood didn't match any of the victim's blood types he
00:22:25
was let go a bearded dirty man spotted hiding out in the bulldog forest area was found to
00:22:33
be a fugitive named paulie luma luma had received a mandatory labor order likely for vagrancy which was then
00:22:42
a crime in finland but had deserted his sentence a large-scale manhunt began the police managed to locate luma but he
00:22:54
was so drunk that they had to keep him in a holding cell overnight to sober up before they could interrogate him
00:23:02
when luma was interviewed the next morning he was able to name nearly a dozen witnesses who confirmed he had
00:23:10
been in a hut outside of helsinki at the time of the murders although the police investigation seemed
00:23:19
to be stalling locals were working on theories of their own 51 year old carl gilstrom ran the kiosk
00:23:32
near the southern part of the lake where visitors often stopped for refreshments
00:23:36
and supplies he also lived in a house a short distance up the road gillstrom was of average height and had
00:23:45
dark hair that he wore slicked back across his head but the most notable thing about him was
00:23:51
his temper although he could be friendly and polite especially when authority figures were
00:23:58
around sometimes his mood would flick like a switch suddenly he'd turn aggressive and cruel
00:24:07
locals said that he hid razor blades in the apples that grew from his tree to deter children from picking the fruit
00:24:16
a heavy drinker with a known hatred of the campers who stayed at the lake gillstrom was also prone to attacking
00:24:24
others a man who owned land near the lake once caught gillstrom hunting illegally and
00:24:31
asked him to leave gilstrom raised his shotgun took aim then fired at the man he wasn't seriously hurt but he had to
00:24:42
have the shot pellets removed at a hospital the road leading to his home seemed to
00:24:49
be a particular fixation for gillstrom one time a truck driver had been heading along the road only to hear a loud crack
00:24:58
followed by the shattering of glass sharp shards lodged in the driver's face and he realized that someone had shot at
00:25:08
him breaking one of the truck's windows when carl gilstrom was found to be responsible he claimed he'd only fired
00:25:17
at the vehicle to discourage drivers from hooning down the road too fast sometimes gillstrom lined the road with
00:25:26
makeshift spike strips consisting of wooden planks with nails jutting out gillstrom kept the length of iron pipe
00:25:36
in his car and was known to carry a curved and hunting knife on his belt he was also renowned for something else
00:25:46
he had a history of cutting the guidelines of camper's tents when nils gustafsson seppo
00:25:55
[Music] arrived at lake bordem on june 4 they headed to gillstrom's kiosk shortly
00:26:04
after choosing a campsite gilstrom's wife was working by herself behind the counter that day and served
00:26:13
the four teens as they purchased soft drinks and chewing gum they hung around the kiosk for a little
00:26:20
while longer chatting laughing and enjoying ice cream in the sun afterwards they took off on their
00:26:28
motorbikes back down the road towards their campsite passing gilstrom's home along the way
00:26:36
gillstrom's wife closed the kiosk at around nine that night and later told her husband about the four teenagers
00:26:44
camping nearby as investigators examined at the grizzly crime scene the next morning
00:26:52
one onlooker rushed to the kiosk to inform gilstrom of the terrible crime to his surprise
00:27:00
gilstrom took the information in his stride in fact he seemed utterly nonchalant
00:27:09
not long after the murders locals learned that gilstrom had filled in a well located on his property
00:27:18
aware of his violent temper and dislike of campers some speculated that gilstrom
00:27:24
was the killer and had disposed of the murder weapons and or the teenager's missing belongings down the well
00:27:32
their suspicions were strengthened by the discovery of nils and seppo's shoes along the road that led to gillstrom's
00:27:40
house investigators eventually interviewed gilstrom and his wife both said that he was at home asleep on
00:27:50
the evening in question gilstrom's wife explained that she and the children slept in the bedroom while
00:27:57
gillstrom slept in the kitchen but the door between the two rooms was kept open and her husband never left the
00:28:05
house police searched the gillstrom premises though nothing of significance was uncovered
00:28:13
yet many locals felt that the police search was far from exhaustive they hadn't even examined the filled in
00:28:22
well at 10 45 pm the day after the murders an ambulance arrived at helsinki surgical
00:28:34
hospital with an unconscious adult inside the patient a german-born man by the name of hans asman was wearing dirty
00:28:44
overalls covered in red stains the same stains could be seen all over his hands according to his wife who had
00:28:54
accompanied him asman had collapsed as a result of severe stomach pains when the doctor poked him during a
00:29:02
responsiveness test asman giggled apparently he had been faking his unconsciousness
00:29:12
after assman's ruse was discovered he exhibited no remorse or shame instead he began threatening hospital
00:29:20
staff and demanding that he be treated right away a medical intern was struck by
00:29:28
asman's strange behavior and kept a close eye on him during his stay at one stage asman was visited by a
00:29:37
woman who was not his wife the pair spoke at length in hushed tones asman also spent hours vigorously
00:29:47
washing his hands with paint thinner to remove the red stains according to asman's own claims he had
00:29:56
been a nazi prison guard at auschwitz during world war ii before being captured in 1943 by the russians
00:30:05
after two years in a prisoner of war camp he supposedly switched sides to join the soviet union's security agency
00:30:14
the kgb asman remained in hospital for several days but that wasn't the last the staff saw
00:30:23
of him after he was discharged he returned numerous times for further treatment on one occasion he showed a doctor a
00:30:34
german magazine article about an unsolved murder another time he joked to one of the
00:30:41
surgeons that he too was skilled with a knife but unlike the surgeon's patients those
00:30:48
on the other end of assman's knife never survived by july the doctors at the hospital had
00:30:56
grown so suspicious of han's ass men that they reported him to the police the medical intern that initially
00:31:05
treated asmen had been so convinced that the man was somehow connected to the lake buddha murders that he'd bagged his
00:31:12
stained overalls so that police could analyze them yet the authorities didn't seem to share
00:31:19
their concerns there was one other thing that further convinced the hospital staff they were
00:31:27
right about hans asman a month after the crimes a composite sketch of the lake buddha murders
00:31:34
suspect was released it depicted a man with large eyes a straight nose and a thick lips
00:31:43
he had long pale hair combed backward his face was round but he had a strong jaw and slightly protruding red cheeks
00:31:53
that were dotted with pimples the man's forehead was high and was also pimply with uneven horizontal wrinkles
00:32:02
to hospital staff the sketch looked remarkably like hans assman [Music] when the sketch was made public about 50
00:32:13
tips were received as a result while none yielded anything promising the sketch was still considered one of
00:32:21
the most important leads investigators had it was based on a description provided
00:32:27
by a crucial eyewitness none other than nils gustafsson [Music] case file will be back shortly thank you
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[Music] on thursday june 9 1960 four days after the lake bulldog murders nils gustavson woke with a pounding
00:39:44
headache strange faint noises accompanied each thump to his brain leading the 18 year old to wonder where
00:39:52
he was he tried to look and see but struggled to bring his surroundings into focus
00:40:01
the problem was his left eye it was almost swollen shut eventually he managed to force his eyes
00:40:09
open the room took shape and anils realized that he was lying in a hospital bed [Music]
00:40:17
he saw his mother by his side and an unfamiliar man who looked to be a doctor nils tried to speak but found it
00:40:27
difficult to move his mouth he strained his eyes downward and saw bandages and a brace of some kind
00:40:35
wrapped around his jaw with great effort he carefully opened his mouth and asked his mother if he had
00:40:43
been in a motorcycle accident she hesitated to answer nils racked his brain trying to remember
00:40:53
what had happened he recalled being at lake budam with his friends seppo and tuliki and his
00:41:00
girlfriend irmeli they all went asleep in their shared tent sometime after sunset
00:41:08
before dawn seppo headed off alone to go fishing only to return a short while later without a catch
00:41:17
he resettled in the tent and all four of them went back asleep try as he might nils could not remember anything that
00:41:26
happened thereafter when police arrived at the lake boredom crime scene they found nils gustavsson
00:41:35
lying on top of the tent slightly apart from his companions unlike the others nils was clearly alive
00:41:44
though barely conscious he'd sustained a number of head injuries but none were life-threatening
00:41:53
the left side of his face was swollen and beaten he had been badly cut along his left
00:42:00
cheek and there was a two inch cut on the back of his left forearm a police officer peppered nils with
00:42:08
questions as he was rushed to hospital but only received a series of unintelligible noises in response
00:42:17
the questions continued as physicians worked to stitch up nils's wounds how was he able to survive the attack
00:42:25
had he somehow managed to squeeze out of one of the gaping slashes in the tent perhaps he tried to escape or fight back
00:42:35
it was also possible that the two boys who had stumbled across the crime scene early that morning had disturbed the
00:42:42
attacker maybe just before nils was about to receive a fatal blow police were hopeful that the sole
00:42:51
survivor of the brutal attack could provide them with some answers but nils only responded with the
00:42:59
occasional faint moan [Music] nils was monitored in the traumatology ward for two days before being
00:43:09
transferred to the hospital's neurosurgical wing it wasn't until june 9 4 days after the
00:43:17
attack that he regained full consciousness one of his first requests was to see his
00:43:24
best friend seppo despite some slight swelling that remained on the left side of his face
00:43:31
the doctors determined that nils was well enough to be discharged on june 23. the police didn't waste any time
00:43:41
at noon that day they ushered nils out of back exit to avoid the crowds of reporters lingering outside the hospital
00:43:49
he was then driven to the police station and once settled began his story after he and seppo set up the tent
00:44:00
between 7 30 and 8 on the evening of saturday june 4 the girls went swimming in the lake
00:44:07
the boys remained at the campsite sharing a lager and fashioning fishing rods out of birch branches
00:44:15
they also mixed some liquor with the soda but didn't finish it because it didn't taste very nice
00:44:22
when the girls returned from their swim they declined to have a drink after the sunset at about 9 30 pm nils
00:44:32
and irmeli kissed and cuddled for a little while about an hour later they decided to go
00:44:39
to sleep somehow the group of four managed to squeeze into the tent's small confines
00:44:48
tuliki took position on the far right of the tent facing inwards with her back to
00:44:53
the wall seppo was next in line facing tuliki iremeli lay on the tent's left side also
00:45:03
with her back to the wall nils entered last and zipped up the tent door then lay down on his right side
00:45:11
facing iremeli he used his leather jacket as a makeshift pillow hours later nils woke to the sound of
00:45:22
seppel rustling in the tent for his fishing tackle the sun hadn't yet risen and nils
00:45:29
estimated it was just before 3 am he felt like going for a swim so he joined seppo while the girls continued
00:45:38
to sleep once they were down at the lake seppo perched himself on a rock while nils
00:45:46
tested the water it was too cold so he left seppel fishing and wandered back to the tent
00:45:54
the girls were still inside but were now awake a little while later seppol returned as
00:46:01
well having had no luck fishing all four then went back to sleep so far nils's story made sense
00:46:14
tullicky's read songbook that had been found at the crime scene had contained a diary style entry that corroborated his
00:46:22
version of events the entry referred to the excursion to lake budum and contained three brief
00:46:29
lines the first read seppo and nils were drunk the second that they were up at two am
00:46:38
and the third that seppo was in the woods the police urged nils to continue but nils said the next thing he
00:46:50
remembered was waking up in the hospital investigators were dismayed to hear that
00:46:57
he had no recollection of the attack they were certain he held the key to solving the case
00:47:05
despite continued prodding nils was insistent he remembered nothing else investigators escorted nils back to lake
00:47:19
boredom in the hopes that visiting the crime scene would prompt a repressed memory to resurface
00:47:26
the visit didn't seem to provoke anything new in nils's mind there was however one other option that
00:47:35
could be explored dr asa stenbeck a professor of psychiatry who lectured at the university of helsinki believed he could
00:47:46
access nils's repressed memories through hypnosis after having previously attended a short
00:47:54
course on psychotherapy and having had some success with other patients dr stenbeck felt he was capable enough
00:48:03
for the task [Music] in the month after the murders dr stenbeck conducted three hypnotherapy
00:48:10
sessions with nils each lasting around 30 minutes nils shared no new information in the
00:48:19
first two during the third dr stenbeck asked the hypnotised nils if he'd heard any
00:48:27
screams that night nils replied that he'd faintly heard the girls screaming crying out that someone
00:48:35
had attacked them dr stenbeck asked nils what he then saw nils said that the roof of the tent was
00:48:45
on top of them a man started hitting them with a sharp weapon maybe a knife and also a hard
00:48:52
weapon like an iron pipe dr stenbeck asked if nils had seen the man before nils didn't know
00:49:05
then he described seeing blood all over irmelli's head look closely do you see the man now
00:49:14
asked to dr stenbeck nils replied that yes he could say he described a man who was about 30
00:49:23
years old with long fair hair his face was round and pimply the man was of average height and size
00:49:33
but looked strong as though his work involved heavy labor he wore a thick dark plaid sweater with
00:49:41
green and black present in the pattern a sketch of the man nils described was widely circulated and by the second
00:49:51
month of the investigation nine men had been arrested on suspicion of being the perpetrator
00:49:59
each was subjected to intense interrogations but all had solid alibis and were ruled out
00:50:07
as were friends family and acquaintances of the victims the summer of 1960 soon turned to autumn
00:50:18
and the newspapers were no longer filled with near daily articles on the lake bulldog
00:50:24
murders eventually snow replaced the fallen leaves and as the air turned cold so did the case
00:50:39
years then decades passed with no new viable leads police continued combing through
00:50:46
tip-offs from the public yet they seemed to become more and more outlandish as time went on
00:50:54
it wasn't until 2003 that the case's new lead investigator decided to utilize advances in dna technology in the hopes
00:51:03
to uncover previously undetectable evidence were exhumed for additional forensic
00:51:14
examination though failed to reveal anything of significance however the preliminary dna testing of
00:51:23
several key items from the crime scene including the tent did yield new information
00:51:31
it was enough for investigators to narrow in on a suspect finally almost 44 years after the
00:51:40
murders police released a statement that a person of interest in the lake buddha
00:51:46
murders had been detained by this point the suspect was a semi-retired bus driver aged in his
00:51:54
early 60s but in 1960 he was an 18 year old who lived in the metropolitan area police interviewed him nearly a dozen
00:52:05
times throughout march 2004 before arresting him on the 29th to the shock of many the man they had
00:52:15
arrested was sole survivor nils gustafsson the police alleged that nils had been
00:52:25
intoxicated on the night of the murders he had packed a condom for the trip and investigators believed he had intended
00:52:33
to use it until iremeli rejected his advances seppa was then forced to step up in
00:52:41
order to protect the girls from an angry nils their argument escalated culminating in
00:52:47
nils being banished from the tent fueled by alcohol resentment and adrenaline nils then waited for his
00:52:56
three friends to fall asleep before cutting the tent's guidelines to trap them inside
00:53:03
then knowing seppo's position inside the tent nils began to attack him with a rock
00:53:11
seppo defended himself by kicking nils in the chin causing his jaw to break further enraged by this injury nils took
00:53:20
out his knife and stabbed seppo in the chest and neck by this time the girls had woken in a
00:53:28
panic as too licky tried to escape the confines of the fallen tent nils beat her in the head with the rock until she
00:53:37
was no longer moving then he focused his attention on the true object of his rage
00:53:44
his girlfriend irmali before iremeli could escape the tent nils smashed the rock down on her head
00:53:55
then stabbed her 15 times in the neck and shoulders at some point during the attack nils
00:54:02
sustained a deep gash to his arm and the side of his face with each of his friends now dead
00:54:10
nils got to work first he gathered up all the wallets and ids and other items of some value such
00:54:19
as the keys to the motorcycles and seppo's leather jacket and shoes then he disposed of them either by
00:54:26
digging a hole somewhere in the forest or throwing them into the lake far from where the slaughter took place
00:54:34
nils tossed seppo's shoes into the forest scrub just off the road to the kiosk he then carefully concealed his own
00:54:43
blood-spattered shoes under a rock on the other side of the road the man seen leaving the campsite early
00:54:51
in the morning was in fact nils after disposing of everything nils returned to the campsite to continue his
00:55:00
forensic countermeasures he slashed the tent's canvas to give the impression of a more frenzied attack
00:55:08
then in either a final show of contempt or to fool the police into thinking the murders were sexually motivated he
00:55:16
stripped iremeli naked from the waist to down his staging of the crime scene complete
00:55:24
nils settled down on top of his murdered friends and waited to be discovered the year nils gustavsson was arrested
00:55:36
for the lake borden murders a 61 year old woman named tarya fronted a television crew to break an oath she had
00:55:44
held since 1960. revealed that she had been at lake budam the night nils and his group were
00:55:52
present 17 years old at the time tarya had been camping with friends at a public site on
00:55:59
the shores of the lake when nils and his group appeared nils was drunk and tarya recalled a
00:56:07
growing animosity between him and his companions as to why she never told police of this
00:56:13
key sighting talia claimed she had been sworn to secrecy by her group of friends
00:56:21
while damning tardia's story didn't add up she couldn't remember the names of the
00:56:28
friends she was with that night other than one who was already deceased the public campsite where she said nils
00:56:36
and the others had arrived didn't exist she also claimed she was amongst the crowd when the injured nils was
00:56:44
stretched away from the collapsed ten adding that there were no police officers present
00:56:50
however one of the people who helped carry nils was a police officer in full uniform
00:56:58
tarya also couldn't describe anything about nils seppo tuliki or irmeli from 1960
00:57:07
including basic physical characteristics like their hair color nils himself denied ever seeing tarya
00:57:15
that night and rejected claims that there was tension between his group during their trip
00:57:22
tuliki's writings in her songbook supported his assertions she had made no reference to an argument
00:57:31
despite this tardier's recollections played a large part in the prosecution's case when 62 year old nils gustafsson
00:57:40
faced trial for the murders of seppo boyzman tulikimaki and iremeli bjerklund in august 2005.
00:57:49
as did a confession nils had allegedly made while in custody awaiting trial a police officer observed a seemingly
00:57:58
frustrated nils throw himself on the bed in his cell and exclaim what's done is done
00:58:06
i'll get 15 years for it yet there was no official record of this confession and nils himself denied
00:58:15
making the statement he claimed that if he had ever said words to that effect he would have just
00:58:21
been venting about the situation he found himself in the defense's interpretation of the
00:58:30
crime scene was vastly different to that of police blood spatter was only found on the
00:58:37
exterior of nils's shoes investigators took this to assume he must have been wearing them when he went on his violent
00:58:45
rampage yet analysis showed that the blood on the shoes matched spatter found at the
00:58:52
tense entrance meaning they were by the door during the attack something else might have been blocking
00:58:59
the insoles such as clothing or tent fabric the defense pointed out that it was unlikely nils had walked 500 meters
00:59:08
barefoot or in his socks back to the tent after hiding his shoes both his feet and socks were clean
00:59:19
in a macabre display the tent that the three victims had been slain in was displayed in the middle of the courtroom
00:59:27
held up in place with string the filthy yellowed canvas showed huge slash marks and was stained with blood
00:59:37
the prosecution stated that nils had cut up the tent after the murders to embellish the attack
00:59:44
yet blood spatter once again suggested a different scenario analysis showed they were made
00:59:51
beforehand furthermore seven of seppo's stab wounds were found to have been made through the tent
01:00:01
only the blood belonging to the four teens was present on the tent leading investigators to conclude that no other
01:00:09
party was involved however only 20 samples taken from 11 locations had been tested
01:00:18
therefore it was not possible to conclusively determine that a fifth person's dna was not present somewhere
01:00:25
else additionally many of the samples tested failed to yield any dna information
01:00:33
given the degradation of the evidence over 45 years tests did reveal that nils gustavson's
01:00:41
blood was present in the exact spot where he claimed to have been sleeping during the trial a disagreement arose
01:00:52
between the testimony provided by neurology experts those speaking on behalf of the
01:00:58
prosecution claimed nils had suffered nothing more than a mild concussion meaning he could have easily doctored
01:01:06
the crime scene after the murders and that his claims of memory loss were unlikely
01:01:13
in contrast experts for the defense stated that while nils's injuries were not life-threatening they were not minor
01:01:21
either he struggled with balance in the weeks after the attack during which time he
01:01:27
was unable to walk unaided they concluded that nils unquestionably received significant head trauma capable
01:01:37
of causing brain injury and memory loss the trial of nils gustavson for the murders of seppo boyzman tulikimaki and
01:01:48
iremeli bjerklund concluded in october 2005 the panel of six district court judges
01:01:57
retired to consider their verdict while nils awaited his fate days later nils was sitting at home when
01:02:05
he received a phone call from his lawyer he had been acquitted the lack of motive and the fact that
01:02:15
witnesses had seen another unknown man leaving the crime scene convinced all of the judges that nils was innocent
01:02:24
moreover the blood evidence confirmed that nils was inside the tent when the attack occurred
01:02:30
and his injuries would have prevented him from hiding the missing items after the verdict was handed down the
01:02:39
prosecution had seven days in which to appeal they declined to do so and on october 14
01:02:47
2005 nils gustafsson's innocence was final with the sole survivor of the attack at
01:02:58
lake boredom officially cleared the crucial question still remained who was responsible for one of finland's
01:03:06
most notorious unsolved crimes for many armchair detectives there was still a question mark around one of the
01:03:14
earliest suspects carl gilstrom dubbed at the kiosk man because he ran a lake bulldogs kiosk
01:03:23
from the outset gillstrom's violent temper and attacks against people passing through the area had made him
01:03:30
highly suspicious to many in the local community even though he didn't really resemble
01:03:36
the police sketch of the suspect one individual convinced of gillstrom's guilt was all for johansen
01:03:45
ulf was 18 years old at the time of the murders and had visited the lake the very same day
01:03:53
as a young man who was around the same age as the victims and who always saw lake budam as a safe place to spend time
01:04:01
with friends ulf had been horrified by the slayings he'd also had his own run-in with carl
01:04:09
gilstrom on the road leading by the man's house ulf was cycling along when gilstrom
01:04:16
threw rocks at him ulf grew up to become a local politician and in 2016 he published a book about
01:04:26
the case titled the legend of bulldog in it he collated many of the clues that pointed to gillstrom including his habit
01:04:35
of cutting the guidelines of camper's tents this idiosyncrasy was particularly troubling
01:04:43
given whoever had attacked the four teenagers used this exact method to catch his victims unawares
01:04:52
sometime in the late 1960s gilstrom's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer while in hospital she made a startling
01:05:02
admission to a friend her husband was the lake buddha murderer although she had initially told police
01:05:11
that he was at home asleep on the night in question now she claimed that she had only
01:05:17
provided him with an alibi because she was scared gilstrom would attack her and their children
01:05:24
after learning of this admission police attempted to interview her again but she refused to speak with them for
01:05:31
fear of her husband no physical evidence that carl gilstrom was the bulldog lake murderer was ever
01:05:39
found and the police closed their file on him in september 1969 according to finland's evening newspaper
01:05:50
an 80-page police investigation file dedicated to gilstrom came to light in 2005.
01:05:57
unfortunately it shed no further light on his possible involvement suspicions have also remained around the
01:06:09
other key suspect in the case hans assman the german man who sought treatment at a helsinki hospital the day
01:06:17
after the murders he'd raised suspicion amongst hospital staff due to his bizarre behavior
01:06:24
troubling comments and resemblance to the police sketch following the release of this sketch
01:06:32
hans asman suddenly shaved off his long pale hair an act that could have been interpreted as an intentional effort to
01:06:40
avoid comparisons jorama palo who had treated asman as a medical intern at the time was so
01:06:49
convinced of assman's guilt that he authored three books on the subject he and marty paluaro a former crime
01:06:58
commissioner turned a journalist speculated that the police were refusing to investigate asman as a suspect due to
01:07:05
sensitive national security matters in 1997 an ailing asman granted an exclusive bedside interview to marty
01:07:15
paluaro during their conversation mati asked dasman directly if he was responsible
01:07:23
for the lake buddha murders asman replied that he would quote not talk about the details
01:07:32
marty took this as a confession hans aspen died the following year at the age of 74.
01:07:43
for many suspicions that asman may have been the buddha-malay killer were put to
01:07:48
rest in 2005 when police unsealed an investigation file that related to him mika mersa a special reporter for
01:07:59
finland's ilta cinemato newspaper was given access to the entire file and on october 1 2005 published an article on
01:08:09
the findings the file showed that in june 1960 after receiving the tip-off by the helsinki
01:08:17
hospital doctors the police had in fact investigated aspen as a potential suspect
01:08:25
however he was quickly ruled out on the basis of an airtight alibi on the night of june 4 1960
01:08:34
asman had shared a bed with his girlfriend in the same apartment as her sister and her sister's husband
01:08:42
according to witness statements by all three asman arrived at about 6 pm on june 4 and woke up on the morning of the
01:08:51
lake buddha murders at 9. police also interviewed several witnesses who confirmed that asman had
01:09:00
been painting at a construction site on both saturday june 4 and sunday june 5. on monday the construction site's
01:09:09
caretaker gave assman a bottle of wine and the two men indulged according to assman's wife and his
01:09:18
regular doctor he had been suffering from severe stomach pains for some time after drinking the wine these pains
01:09:27
returned and asman called his wife to collect him when she arrived she found him
01:09:33
unconscious and called the paramedics an ambulance delivered them to helsinki surgical hospital where asman was
01:09:42
treated according to the police file the stains that were on his clothes that day were
01:09:49
paint not blood in 1978 police checked the foreign fingerprint on a soda bottle found at
01:09:58
the lake budam crime scene it did not match asman's despite the release of assman's police
01:10:08
file many true crime enthusiasts remain convinced that he could have been the lake boredom killer
01:10:16
one reason for this is his likeness to the police sketch that was produced following nils's hypnosis session
01:10:24
there are only a few photographs of asmen in circulation today one of which bears a striking
01:10:31
resemblance to the composite there is another photograph widely available on the internet that was
01:10:39
supposedly snapped at the funeral of seppo boyzman tulikimaki and iremeli bjerklund on june 13 1960.
01:10:50
the photograph depicts a large group of mourners standing towards the center is a taller
01:10:57
man unlike most of the other attendees he is not looking straight ahead or casting
01:11:04
his gaze downward in a solemn expression instead his somewhat bulbous eyes seem fixated on something to his left
01:11:14
his face is angular with protruding cheeks a straight nose and a strong jaw he looks strikingly similar to the
01:11:24
suspect sketch some believe that this man is also hans assman this speculation relies heavily on the
01:11:36
accuracy of the description given by nils gustavsson while under hypnosis in the decades since 1960 the use of
01:11:45
forensic hypnosis has proven to be unreliable studies have shown that hypnotized
01:11:52
subjects may be more vulnerable to recovering false memories or being overly confident in their recollections
01:12:00
even when such memories are false the six district court judges at nils's trial did not consider his recovered
01:12:09
memories to be reliable in any way nils himself has said that he has no recollection of what he said while
01:12:18
hypnotized consequently the descriptions he provided of the suspect at that time
01:12:25
cannot be verified as of late 2021 61 years have passed since the brutal murders of seppo
01:12:39
boyzman tulikimaki and irmeli birklund all three were laid to rest side by side in the helsinki parish church cemetery
01:12:50
in the decades since the tragedy that claimed the lives of his girlfriend and best friend
01:12:56
nils gustavsson has never had any criminal record nor has he exhibited any signs of being
01:13:03
an angry or violent man many believe that the murder charges brought against the nils were a fumble
01:13:10
in the dark from a police force burdened by one of finland's most infamous unsolved crimes
01:13:18
nils described how after his arrest the police seized his family photo albums some of the private personal pictures
01:13:27
within were splashed across newspapers the following day during the trial salacious headlines
01:13:35
focused on the prosecution's baseless claims of drunkenness sexual jealousy and rage
01:13:43
hounded by the media nils and his family were forced to hide in their home after his acquittal nils was found to
01:13:52
have suffered deprivation of liberty and loss of reputation he was awarded compensation in the form
01:13:59
of 45 000 euros decades later advances in forensic technology tried and failed to shed a
01:14:10
light on the murders so much time has now passed that many believe the identity of the killer will
01:14:18
likely remain an enduring mystery [Music] nine years after the murders the kiosk
01:14:29
man carl gillstrom was drinking with a neighbor named birdier when he suddenly grew extremely angry
01:14:38
then just as quickly his mood switched to one of despair berea couldn't figure out what was wrong
01:14:49
gilstrom blurted out don't you realize i'm boredom's murderer what am i going to do
01:14:58
berea apparently frightened by this outburst told his neighbour if you are the murderer of boredom then
01:15:07
go and drown yourself and do it right away because otherwise they will put you in a
01:15:13
small prison cell for the rest of your life at about six that same evening gillstrom's fifteen-year-old son
01:15:23
couldn't find his father he went out looking for him around to the lake and eventually came across some
01:15:30
people who told him that they'd seen his father swimming just off the eastern peninsula on the south shore
01:15:38
it was a location where he often swam right near where the lake buddha murders occurred
01:15:47
but gillstrom's son saw no sign of his father in the lake when gillstrom failed to reappear
01:15:54
police were summoned to lake boredom to undertake a search a short while later gillstrom's body was found floating just
01:16:06
off the headland [Music] [Music] you