Early Norwegian Black Metal Scene - Murder of Magne Andreassen

Murder of Magne Andreassen

On 21 August 1992, Bård 'Faust' Eithun stabbed to death Magne Andreassen, a gay man, in a forest just outside Lillehammer. Police initially had no suspects, and Faust remained free for about a year. The murder, however, was an 'open secret' within the Norwegian scene around Helvete. When Faust was arrested in 1993, some in the media speculated that the murder was related to black metal, Satanism or fascism, but Eithun later said that he "was never a Satanist or fascist in any way". He claimed that, while walking in the newly-built Olympic park, Andreassen had approached him and suggested they take a walk in the nearby forest. Faust agreed and claims that, once in the forest, Andreassen made sexual advances. Faust then stabbed him and fled. Kjetil Manheim was a friend of Faust at the time, and later remarked "the situation that Faust was in wasn't a good experience. He felt that he was attacked". Jørn Tunsberg of the band Hades Almighty said that the murder was "an impulse killing" and that "it had nothing to do with black metal". In 1994, Faust was sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment, but was released in 2003 after serving nine years and four months.