Two girls, aged 8 and 10, were raped and murdered in the Baneheia forest area of Kristiansand, Norway on 19 May 2000. Jan Helge Andersen and Viggo Kristiansen were convicted in 2001-2002; decades later Kristiansen's conviction was overturned and he was acquitted in December 2022 in what is widely regarded as one of Norway's biggest miscarriages of justice.
On 19 May 2000, 10-year-old Lena Sløgedal Paulsen and 8-year-old Stine Sofie Austegard Sørstrønen went swimming together at a pond called "Stampe 3" in the Baneheia recreation area of Kristiansand, Norway. When they failed to return home by 23:00, their parents reported them missing and a large-scale search operation began, involving police, canine units, hundreds of Red Cross volunteers, military personnel, helicopters, and divers. Two days later, on 21 May 2000, police found bloodied clothing hidden under moss near a pond, and later that evening confirmed both girls had been found murdered at the site, hidden under pine branches in a rock crevice. They had been sexually assaulted, tied up, strangled, and stabbed to death.
The investigation initially struggled for leads despite roughly 150 tips. In September 2000, DNA found at the scene matched Jan Helge Andersen, a 19-year-old with no prior criminal record, who was arrested and, during interrogation, confessed to killing one of the girls and named his friend Viggo Kristiansen, then 21, as the killer of the other girl and the instigator of the crime. Kristiansen denied any involvement throughout.
The trial began in April 2001. Andersen pleaded guilty to one count of rape and second-degree murder; Kristiansen pleaded not guilty to two counts of premeditated murder and rape, though he separately admitted to unrelated charges of sexually abusing a young girl and a woman years earlier. The court heard 49 witnesses. Andersen's statement, along with DNA evidence, formed the central basis for the verdict against Kristiansen. In 2001–2002, Kristiansen was convicted of raping and murdering both girls and sentenced to 21 years of containment (a Norwegian indefinite-detention sentence comparable to a life sentence); Andersen was convicted of the rape and murder of one girl, and acquitted of the murder of the other, receiving 19 years' imprisonment. He was released on parole in January 2015.
Kristiansen maintained his innocence and applied for a retrial multiple times over the following two decades. Supporters and independent experts, including FBI profiler Gregg McCrary and forensic psychologist Gísli Guðjónsson, raised concerns about suggestive police interrogation techniques used on Andersen, Kristiansen's cell-phone location data, alibi witnesses who were not called to testify, and the reliability of DNA evidence originally presented as indicating two perpetrators. Retesting of DNA samples in 2010 by three independent laboratories found DNA matching Andersen but no match to Kristiansen.
In February 2021, following a seventh application, Norway's Criminal Cases Review Commission voted (3-2) to reopen Kristiansen's case, and he was released from prison in June 2021 after the state prosecutor dropped objections. In October 2022, Attorney General Jørn Maurud announced the prosecution would seek Kristiansen's acquittal based on a new investigation by Oslo police. On 15 December 2022, the Borgarting Court of Appeal acquitted Kristiansen. Norwegian officials, including the Attorney General, subsequently apologized for the miscarriage of justice, and the Minister of Justice ordered a fact-finding review of the institutions involved in the case.
Lena Sløgedal Paulsen, Stine Sofie Austegard Sørstrønen
Date
2000
Location
Baneheia, Kristiansand, Norway
Case status
overturned
Case timeline
2000-05-19
Lena Sløgedal Paulsen, 10, and Stine Sofie Austegard Sørstrønen, 8, go swimming in Baneheia, Kristiansand, and are later reported missing.
2000-05-21
Police find bloodied clothing near a pond in Baneheia; both girls are found murdered at the site the same evening.
2000-09
Jan Helge Andersen is arrested after a DNA match; he confesses to killing one girl and names Viggo Kristiansen, who is also arrested.
2001-04-23
Trial of Andersen and Kristiansen begins.
2001
Andersen convicted of rape and murder of one victim, acquitted of the other's murder; sentenced to 19 years.
2002
Kristiansen convicted of rape and murder of both victims; sentenced to 21 years of containment.
2010
Long-thought-destroyed DNA samples are located in a freezer at the forensic institute; independent retesting finds no DNA match to Kristiansen.
2015-01
Jan Helge Andersen is released from prison on parole.
2021-02
Norway's Criminal Cases Review Commission votes to reopen Kristiansen's case.
2021-06-01
Norway's Supreme Court unanimously orders Kristiansen's release from prison.
2022-10-21
Attorney General Jørn Maurud announces the prosecution will seek Kristiansen's acquittal.
2022-12-15
Viggo Kristiansen is acquitted by the Borgarting Court of Appeal.
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Titles and descriptions are the creators’ own and may not reflect current legal status; see the dossier above for sourced case facts.
VIDEO
Creator
The Baneheia Murders: Viggo Kristiansen (Update)
People
Lena Sløgedal Paulsen
VICTIM
10-year-old girl raped and murdered in Baneheia on 19 May 2000.
Jan Helge Andersen
CONVICTED
Convicted in 2001 of the rape and murder of Stine Sofie Austegard Sørstrønen; acquitted of the murder of Lena Sløgedal Paulsen; sentenced to 19 years, released on parole in January 2015.
Viggo Kristiansen
EXONERATED
Originally convicted in 2001/2002 of raping and murdering both victims and sentenced to 21 years of containment; case reopened in 2021, released from prison, and acquitted by the Borgarting Court of Appeal on 15 December 2022.
Stine Sofie Austegard Sørstrønen
VICTIM
8-year-old girl raped and murdered in Baneheia on 19 May 2000.
Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.
Two girls, aged 8 and 10, were raped and murdered in the Baneheia forest area of Kristiansand, Norway on 19 May 2000. Jan Helge Andersen and Viggo Kristiansen were convicted in 2001-2002; decades later Kristiansen's conviction was overturned and he was acquitted in December 2022 in what is widely regarded as one of Norway's biggest miscarriages of justice.
Where did the murders happen?
Baneheia, Kristiansand, Norway.
Who was convicted?
Jan Helge Andersen (Convicted in 2001 of the rape and murder of Stine Sofie Austegard Sørstrønen; acquitted of the murder of Lena Sløgedal Paulsen; sentenced to 19 years, released on parole in January 2015.).
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