Baneheia Case - The Murders

The Murders

Sørstrønen lived in the town of Grimstad while Sløgedal Paulsen lived in a different neighborhood within Kristiansand. They were visiting with their fathers who lived in the same building in the residential area of Grim. On the day of the murders they were going swimming at a small lake called "stampe 2." in the popular recreation area of Baneheia. They left home at approximately 18:30 and were last seen alive at. 19.30, when they left the lake heading home.

On the way home, the girls ran in to the two men, and were lured by Kristiansen up to a more secluded part of the terrain. It is assumed that both girls were sexually assaulted by Kristiansen and that Andersen contributed to this as well as possibly sexually molesting Sørstrønen (according to his testimony at the District Court and Court of Appeal). After Kristiansen had raped Sløgedal Paulsen, he killed her by stabbing her three times, Sørstrønen was then stabbed and killed by Andersen. The two men then covered the bodies with vegetation, and stuffed their bodies between the slab rocks before throwing the girls' blood-soaked swimsuits in the muddy waters of the lake.

When the two girls had not returned home by 23:00 the parents reported them missing, and a major search operation was launched. Immediately police together with canine units began searching the area. By the next morning over 50 volunteers from the Norwegian Red Cross was participating in the search.

This number soon swelled to the hundreds, as Sea King and special police helicopters and were called in along with rescue divers and civilian divers who trawled the lakes and ponds in the area. Volunteer mountaineers also climbed the steep cliffs bordering Baneheia, while the fire department surveyed the shorelines. On Saturday night it was set up 16 listening posts around the terrain, which could detect any sounds in the stillness of the night, in case the girls were injured somewhere in the hills.

Two days after the disappearance the police expanded the search to include all of the woodlands and lakes adjacent to Kristiansand, collectively known as "Bymarka". Authorities also mobilized the military in the efforts to locate the missing children, with hundreds of troops from the Home guard joining in, canvassing gardens, garages, boats, sheds, hedges and kindergartens. Helicopters applied heat-seeking cameras, all tunnels in connection with road construction in Baneheia was scanned, and all buses, ferries, trains and taxis were checked by armed police, but gave no clue as to the whereabouts of the girls.

Two days after the disappearance, police announced the discovery of a human skeleton near the river Otra, outside of Baneheia, but quickly declared it to be a missing German tourist, unrelated to the case. on the evening on the same day, police cordoned of a large area by the lake known as "2. Stampe". Police later that evening declared that both girls had been found murdered at that site. Upon receiving the news, the reaction among the hundreds of search-and-rescue personnel on site was one of enormous grief, many breaking down and weeping inconsolably. Others walking around in a state of shock.

The bodies of the two little girls were found hidden under pine branches in a small slab rock crack a few dozen meters west of the pond, which is one of several ponds that constitutes a much frequented bathing area for the populace in Kristiansand. Traces of blood was also found across the scene along with the girls' clothes and shoes. They had been sexually assaulted, tied-up, strangled and stabbed to death.