Murder of Birna Brjánsdóttir

Birna Brjánsdóttir was a 20-year-old Icelandic woman who lived with her father in the Reykjavík district of Breiðholt. On Friday night, 13 January 2017, she went out with friends to Húrra, a club in central Reykjavík, and left alone about three hours after them, at approximately 5:00 a.m. on 14 January. Surveillance video showed her walking along the shopping street Laugavegur and eating a falafel pita before a red Kia Rio stopped in front of Laugavegur 31. When a friend and co-worker from Hagkaup alerted her parents that she had not returned home, her mother and then police appealed publicly for help finding her. The search that followed became the largest manhunt in Iceland's history, with about 800 volunteers taking part. Investigators traced her mobile phone to Hafnarfjörður, where her Doc Martens boots were later found near the harbor.

The rented Kia Rio was traced after also being seen on surveillance footage at Hafnarfjörður harbor; it had been rented by a crew member of the Greenlandic trawler Polar Nanoq. With the captain's cooperation, officers from the Special Unit of the National Police Commissioner were flown to the vessel by an Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter, and two crew members were arrested on suspicion of her murder. Birna's blood was found in the car, and her driving licence was recovered on the ship. On 22 January 2017, her body was found washed up near the Selvogsviti lighthouse on the Reykjanes peninsula, more than 40 kilometers from where she disappeared. She was naked, and an autopsy determined the cause of death was drowning. Investigators found no evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.

Thomas Møller Olsen, the 25-year-old Polar Nanoq crew member who had rented the car, was charged with Birna's murder on 30 March 2017 and was found guilty that September by the Reykjanes District Court. Evidence presented at trial included his DNA on the laces of one of Birna's boots, his fingerprints on her driving licence, and footage of him buying cleaning products and cleaning the car's interior. A shipmate arrested alongside him testified against Olsen at trial after being identified on surveillance video leaving the car intoxicated and returning to the ship hours before Olsen, who in court sought to portray this crew member as the murderer. Iceland's High Court affirmed the conviction in November 2018, upholding a 19-year sentence for the murder and for smuggling 23 kilograms of hashish found in his cabin, along with an assessment of 29 million krónur (about $243,000) in costs and compensation. The High Court declined a request for a further appeal in February 2019, and in October 2019 Olsen was transferred to Denmark to serve his sentence.

Murder is rare in Iceland, and Birna's disappearance and death caused widespread shock; the phrase 'Ég er Birna' ('I am Birna') trended on social media, and some outlets broke with tradition by publishing the names and photographs of the arrested men. After her body was found, vigils were held in both Iceland and Greenland, a memorial gathering in Reykjavík the following weekend drew about 8,000 participants, and roughly 2,000 people, including Iceland's president and prime minister, attended her funeral at Hallgrímskirkja. In the aftermath, the number of surveillance cameras in Reykjavík was increased, and a women-only version of the informal Facebook-based ride service Skutlarar was created. The owners of the Polar Nanoq donated money to those who had searched for Birna, and in March 2018 the ship's crew placed a wreath on her grave to mark the first anniversary of her death.