Kyllikki Saari (Unsolved Murder) PART 1

*PART 1 of Kyllikki Saari (Unsolved Murder). Part 2 will be released Friday Nov 17th, 5:00am GMT.

Though it was 10pm it was still light as 17 year old Kyllikki Saari and her friend Maiju started their cycle home. It was Sunday May 17th 1953 and the pair had just attended a church youth event near the rural town of Isojoki, in southwest Finland.  At a crossroads on a lonely forest road the friends separated - Kyllikki still had 6km to pedal before she would reach home.  The teen never made it out of the woods, leaving a grieving town and a whole host of suspects.

With a complex and detailed narrative and over half a dozen persons of interest, Kyllikki’s case is one of the most challenging I have covered.

All sources for the episode can be found here

Transcript

Kyllikki Saari - Part 1

Hi, it's John here. This week's episode comes in two parts. I hadn’t originally set out to do this but for several reasons came to this decision. Firstly this is a complicated case with a lot of sources and over half a dozen suspects. Secondly almost all the sources are in Finnish which means I have to translate them (which isn’t a perfect science) and then study them carefully. It meant the process took more time than usual and the script for the podcast was longer than normal. However, fear not you will not have to wait two weeks until Part 2. Part 2 will be released this Friday (November 17th) at 5.00am GMT.  Thank you for listening.

Sunday May 17th 1953 was a predictably wet day in the rural town of Isojoki, in southern Ostrobothnia, Finland. 17 year old Auli Kyllikki Saari, known as Kyllikki was a devout Christian and took her faith seriously. Not only was she a member of the local protestant church but she was also an employee, having worked in the church office since September 1952.

That morning Kyllikki attended the church service before heading back in the pouring rain on her bicycle to her home just north of the town in the village of Moykky. When she got through the door at about 1pm Kyllikki looked like a drowned rat and laughed with her father Eino about the state of her drenched clothes. Even her socks were soaked through! After something to eat, Kyllikki went for a lay down. It was very unusual for the 17 year old to take a rest like this in the middle of the day. Her Mother Vilhelmiina later said she thought her daughter's tiredness may have resulted from a vaccination shot she had been given a few days before. Her sister Alli speculated that Kyllikki needed rest due to a head injury sustained in a bicycle accident some years previously. Whatever the reason, it was noted as being out of character.

At 5pm two of Kyllikki’s friends, Maiju and Salme, called at the house. Kyllikki had already made plans to attend a youth event later that evening with Maiju.The arrangements had been tentatively made on the previous Thursday but Kyllikki had seemed unsure whether she would attend. She had been feeling a little unwell that day, and had complained her head was hurting, especially when she bent down. 

By Sunday afternoon Kyllikki had decided she would go to the meeting, which was being held by a Evangelical Youth Association at the public school in the village of Kortee, 13 km away from her home. At 6pm Kyllikki left on her bicycle, wearing her sister's mittens as her own were still wet from the morning rain. It seems her friend, Maiju had popped back to her own house and they had agreed to meet at the Dairy crossroads enroute to the youth event at 6.30pm. Unfortunately there was a breakdown in communication and the friends ended up missing each other. Instead they met up when they reached Kortee. It is worth saying here that Maiju later said Kylikki was unsettled all day and appeared distracted and nervous.

There were lots of other teenagers and young adults present at the youth event, and many more young people were in Kortee that night as there were several dances going in the village. A  sister and brother of Kyllikki were at one of the dances.

The church youth event, variously described as a prayer meeting, bible study or devotional, formally finished at 10pm. Afterwards Kyllikki and Maiju went out into the adjoining courtyard where hot drinks were served by the son of a local farmer. Kyllikki voiced to several people that she was fearful of travelling home that night. There had been an incident the previous winter when Kyllikki had been skiing back through the forest on her own and something or perhaps someone had spooked her. She had been sufficiently scared to stop her journey, finding the nearest house, from where she called home to ask her father to come and collect her.  

On the girls journey back from Kortee  Maiju would only be going as far as the Dairy crossroads, leaving Kyllikki with a 6km solitary cycle home. There was a wedding taking place in the vicinity and Kylliki was worried about coming across lairy drunk revellers along the lonely forest path. Another friend in attendance at the youth meeting, Sirkha, invited Kyllikki to stay with her for the night.  Kyllikki refused as she said she had to go home to change her clothes ready for work in the morning. She decided to just grin and bear it. With that in mind Kyllikki and Maiju set off on their bicycles. Despite it being past 10pm it was still light, as the sun sets very late, if at all, in Finland from May through to August.

The route home first took the friends past Isojoki’s Savings bank, which at the time was being used as the vicar’s office as the parsonage was undergoing repair and refurbishment.  This was Kyllikkis place of work. The pair then came to the edge of the forest, where they met three teenage boys who “jokingly” pretended to prevent the girls from passing. After a short standoff the girls eventually got on their way. One of the boys, who was wearing a military uniform, followed behind. 

The girls pedalled faster to try and put some distance between them and the boy but the ground was waterlogged which made the going very tough. Maiju was pedalling so vigorously that she got her skirt caught between the frame of the bike and the rear wheel. The girls were forced to stop to untangle the fabric from the bike chain. The boy in military uniform caught up with the girls and asked them what the problem was.  Kyllikki recognised the boy as she had seen him at the church earlier that day. He had behaved strangely and had made Kyllikki uncomfortable. Once the fabric was freed from the bike the two girls continued on their way. The boy did not try to follow but stood and stared as they disappeared into the distance. 

Kyllikki and Maiju next rode past a pharmacy where they saw an  acquaintance, a girl named Eila. Eila had been at one of the dances in Kortee. Kyllikki asked Eila if her sister Alli had been there. The girls carried on their way and soon afterwards passed a group of young people also on bikes. Then they met a couple who had been at the same church youth event they had attended. Kyllikki and Maiju finally reached the crossroads and the pair separated to complete the last legs of their respective journeys home. 

Kyllikki’s 22 year old brother Kalevi also made the journey back from Kortee that night. As mentioned, he had gone to one of the dances there. I'm not sure why the siblings did not arrange to travel back together. I guess the dance was scheduled to finish later than the youth event, and in a time long before mobile phones, making this kind of arrangement was much more complicated. On the first part of his journey home Kalevi passed one truck and two people on motorbikes. After the Dairy crossroads he came across just two cyclists. He got back to the family home at half past midnight.  There was no sign of Kyllikki and he presumed she had stayed the night with a friend in the village. 

The following morning the Saari family awoke to find that Kyllikki’s bed had not been slept in. Eino and Vilhelmiina were both a little worried but presumed their daughter had bunked with a friend and had then gone straight to work. When Kyllikki did not return home later that day their concern grew. However it wasn't until 8pm on Tuesday May 19th that Kyllikki’s parents phoned the local priest to inquire if their daughter had been at work. They were told she had not been seen at work for the last  two days. The police were then contacted and Kyllikki was officially reported missing. Then followed a long period of rumour and suspicion; the story of the missing girl captured the nation's attention and everyone had an opinion of what had happened to Kyllikki. It would be five months later, in the autumn, that the woods surrounding Isojoki finally gave up their secret. 

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Kyllikki’s date of birth was December 6th 1935. She was the second youngest child born to her parents Eino and Vilhelmiina. Eino worked as a farm manager. Kyllikki had three sisters and at least one brother. As a young child Kyllikki attended primary school before going to the grammar school in  Kauhajoki. Kyllikki did not finish her schooling there as she dropped out after a serious bicycle accident. This was the same accident I mentioned earlier in which she sustained head injuries. Over the summer of 1952 Kyllikki found work as a housekeeper in the village of Kokemaki before starting work at the church office. Her mother said Kyllikki was shy but very relaxed, happy and open with friends. An article on the Finnish news site IS says Kyllikki had a half dozen or so good friends and describes her as having a kind and pleasant character. 

Kyllikki was not known to have had any boyfriends or gone on any dates. Kyllikki was not interested in attending the many dances that happened for young people in the area but preferred to join in the activities organised by the local church. Kyllikki’s disappearance shocked the town. Her parents were adamant that she was not the sort of teenager to run away or stay out of contact with her family. From the start they feared she had been involved in an accident or possibly even the victim of something more sinister. 

At 6 ‘o'clock on the morning of Wednesday May 20th, (the day after Kyllikki’s parents contacted the police), 30 people from the locality began searching the road between Isojoki and Pantane, a town 30 km to the north. They focused on the stretch from the Saari family home to the crossroads where Maiju had last seen Kyllikki. The following day a further five hundred plus people joined the efforts and on Saturday the 23rd the search expanded to nearby fields. Police from the city of Vaasa, 155 km to the north, travelled down to take part. Densely wooded areas were painstakingly combed through; hundreds of men walking in a line through the difficult terrain. 

Through their inquiries in the locality police were able to uncover several pieces of information from various people who were out and about during the night of May 17th and morning of May 18th. 

A 46 year old road worker named Jaakko came forward to say that on the night Kyllikki disappeared he was returning to Isojoki having been to a pentecostal church meeting in the village of Heikhila. At 10.40pm he was passed by a young woman on a bicycle. He did not talk to the young woman as he wanted to get home quickly because his wife was sick. Jaacko believed this was Kyllikki although he was not 100% sure. He had seen Kyllikki in the past at the church office but he did not know her well. He saw nothing that raised suspicion in the woods although he did note a rental car driven by a 42 year old man named Vilho drove past him in the direction of Isojoki shortly before he saw the young woman. Jaacko had poor hearing and did not report any screams or calls for help. It is widely believed the woman Jaacko saw was Kyllikki. This is the last time Kyllikki was seen.

A 66 year old cattle farmer named Hilda told police that at 12.30am May 18th she went out to check on her cows. While out she heard a voice shout “For God's sake, come and help”. She said it was definitely not a man's voice but could not say with certainty whether it was a woman’s or a child’s. I am unsure of the exact location for this report but it was somewhere in the vicinity of Isojoki.

A farm manager named Oskari Forsby and his son reported that at 7.20am on Monday 18th they came across tyre tracks and marks that looked like they had been made by a bicycle about ½ km from the crossroads where Maiju had left Kyllikki. They also noted that there was broken glass on the ground. It looked like the scene of a struggle. This location was close to the place Jaacko said he had seen the woman believed to be Kyllikki. 

The Forsbys did not hear that Kyllikki was missing for a few days so did not initially inform  police of what they had found. By the time the police reached the spot the marks and prints were gone. Interestingly, the glass had also vanished. 

A week or so after Kyllikki disappeared, several reports came in to police of a cream coloured car seen in the area on the night in question. The first sighting of the mysterious vehicle was at 11pm when a witness was passed by the car with two men seated inside. One of the men was quite large and the other was more average in size. The latter looked like he had something stuck onto his front teeth. (As a note I'm not sure what this could be referring to and it may be that its meaning has been lost in translation). A bicycle was protruding from the boot (trunk) of the car. The car did not have its headlights switched on.

Later that evening, 18 km from Isojoki in the village of Sylvi Hauskaviita, a mother and daughter sitting on their porch reported a similar car passing their house. They also noted a bicycle was sticking out of the partially open boot. Thirty minutes later the car returned, now travelling in the opposite direction. Two men on motorbikes also came forward saying they had seen a similar car parked on the side of a road, 20 km from Isojoki. Police tried but failed to trace the car or its owner. 

News of Kyllikki’s disappearance soon circulated throughout the region and many local people were worried that the mysterious and sinister incident would negatively affect the area's reputation. People wanted answers quickly and gossip, rumour and wild speculation was rife. Journalists began flocking to the area to cover the story. Townsfolk began informing on each other and the newspapers did not help, often repeating these stories with little evidence to back them up. One such rumour was that Kyllikki was pregnant when she disappeared and the father of the unborn baby was the local vicar. I will circle back to this story in more detail later.

On June 9th a picture of Kyllikki appeared in the press for the first time and a witness contacted  police to say she had seen a similar looking woman in Merikarvia, a town 45 km from Isojoki,  being chased by people through a  wood. Newspapers stated as fact that this was Kyllikki. It turned out to be someone else entirely. This is just one example of the many stories that were floating around spreading confusion and doubt.

Two months after Kullikki vanished, on July 22nd 1953, a person was out picking berries in the woods, near where Kyllikki was last seen. There, in an area of swampland the person came across the tyre of a bicycle sticking out of the sodden earth. It was soon confirmed as Kyllikki’s bike. This location was far from the main road and well worn paths. What was odd was that the area had been searched very early on  with the use of metal detectors but nothing had been found. Both tyres had been deflated and the handlebars twisted in such a way as to help the bike sink more easily into the soft ground. The bike frame was undamaged and in good condition. It did not look like it had been involved in a collision or accident. The leather seat was surprisingly untarnished from the swampy water. This information led to the conclusion that the bike had not been there for anywhere near two months. Thus someone had likely hidden the bike relatively recently and whoever had taken the bike to this lonely spot must have known the area well.

Kyllikki had not been involved in a tragic accident. There was now little doubt that she had been the victim of foul play. It was surely only a matter of time before they would find her body.

A couple of months later, the search was extended north to the town of Kuortane and the surrounding area, including a nearby lake, a location 141 km from Isojoki. This followed a report from a witness who heard a woman screaming for help at 5 o'clock on the morning of May 18th. They also reported hearing men talking and the ominous sound of gunshots. The witness went to investigate and saw two men that he did not know standing next to a light coloured car, with two other men sitting inside. Other people in the area also mentioned  hearing gunshots at this time. 

Another witness reported hearing a very disturbing exchange between three people. The first person was a woman and was pleading that she had been bullied enough and she wanted to be let go. The second person, a man, told another man that they should indeed let her go. This man replied, inferring that to let her go was no longer an option. 

A vast search of the area around Kuortane and the neighbouring municipality of Lehtimaki began on September 12th and lasted for about 4 or 5 weeks, though nothing of note was found. 

In October the search parties resumed looking in the area where the Forsbys reported seeing tyre marks and broken glass on the morning of May 18th. At 9am on Saturday October 10th 1953, while walking through a swampy area near Isojoki, a man named Valtteri found a shoe lying on the ground. It belonged to Kyllikki. Inside the shoe was the scarf Kyllikki had worn on the night she disappeared. The scarf had bite marks on it and it looked like it had been used as a gag. Also inside the shoe was a sock. It did not belong to Kyllikki. The size and style showed that it belonged to a man. Some reports state the sock was black where others say it was striped. There was a tear in the sock which looked like it had been made by a bladed weapon. A 3 cm long piece of thick, black sewing yarn had been used to repair it.

The search intensified at this location and the following day a gentleman named Ilmari noticed a dry fir tree branch sticking out of the swampy ground. It looked odd and unnatural. This was only 2 m from where the shoe was found. Illmari pulled the stick and it came easily out of the moist earth. He noticed the other end had been sharpened to a point. He was also suddenly overwhelmed by a foul odour. It was the unmistakable smell of decomposing remains. 50cm under the mud Kylliki’s body was discovered. Just to warn you the following details are upsetting. 

 Kyllikki was found with her jacket wrapped around her head and shoulders. She was naked from the waist down and on her upper body one breast was exposed. Her right hand had completely rotted away. Her fingers and toes were also missing. Although this was not made public at the time, decades later it was revealed that Kyllikki was found wearing one of her sister's grey mittens. The location of the burial site was just 200m from the road where Kyllikki was last seen.

News travelled swiftly and within minutes people started to arrive at the scene. As a result dozens, if not hundreds, of people passed through the burial site, leaving footprints and disturbing the ground. A few days later Kyllikki’s other shoe was found nearby. The rest of her clothing, her watch, purse and the church hymn book which she carried with her that evening have never been found. A ring Kyllikki always wore was found with her body.

Coroner Unto Votila carried out a post mortem. The cause of death was not able to be definitively pronounced but it was noted that Kyllikki had experienced blunt force trauma to the head. Both her nose and cheekbone had been fractured. This injury had possibly been inflicted with a rock or a piece of metal piping. Coroner Votila could categorically state that Kyllikki had not been suffocated or shot. The latter fact means it is doubtful the gunshots heard near Kuortane had anything to do with Kyllikki’s case. There was no obvious sign of sexual assault, but this has never been completely ruled out. There certainly could have been a sexual motive. It is worth remembering that the body was found naked from the waist down. The coroner also stated that Kyllikki had not been pregnant at the time of her death. This seemed to put to bed some of the rumours that had been going around the community in the aftermath of the disappearance. As we shall see later some people are a little more apprehensive of dismissing the pregnancy angle.

It was concluded that Kyllikki had not been buried at the location since May 17th or 18th. The belief was that she had been placed there after the initial searches in the area had taken place. A week or so after the murder, between June 1st and 6th, a group of farmers were near the location planting trees and they reported seeing nothing suspicious. It was also deduced that the pine tree branch that had first caught attention had pierced the stomach well after decomposition was under way, possibly up to two months after death. The branch had been sharpened by someone using their left hand.

The grave itself had been skillfully constructed and demonstrated a knowledge of engineering. The boggy grave consisted of three sliced slabs of earth which folded back onto the body, sealing the grave like a lid. There was no obvious external indication that the area had been dug up. Whoever had buried the body there clearly did not ever want it to be found and yet they had decided to mark the grave with the tree branch. Was this so they could return to the burial spot and did it indicate a level of guilt or remorse?.

Kyllikki's funeral took place on October 25th 1953 with 3000 people inside the church in Isojoki to witness the service. I've read estimates that a crowd of anywhere between 25,000 and  100,000 turned up and surrounded the church, with mourners travelling up to 100 kms to be there. The murder of Kyllikki had struck a chord with the public. This was due to her young age; she was seen as a symbol of innocence and integrity. Kyllikki’s father Eino gave a short speech thanking people for their support and kindness. Unfortunately along with well meaning mourners  came a whole host of people who were there to exploit the occasion. Merchants gathered to hawk trinkets and souvenirs to commemorate the event. 

During the funeral service one local business leader stood up and spoke at length (for at least half an hour) about how incompetent the police were in their investigation. Such was the level of feeling stirred by the rant that a crowd of thousands made their way to a local government building demanding the killer be swiftly captured and then executed. The death penalty had been abolished for peacetime crimes in 1949 but protesters were demanding it be reinstated for murder cases such as Kyllikkis.

The police set about trying to find the killer by visiting every house in Isojoki. I've read that at the time the population for the town and surrounding area was a little under 7000. Inquiries went much further and extended all over Finland. To help matters the town clubbed together and raised 5000 Markka as a reward, the equivalent today of £1100. A newspaper added a donation tripling the bounty.

Many names were put forward as potential suspects, often without a shred of evidence. At one point the son of the Isojoki police chief was touted as a suspect, despite the fact that the police chief did not have a son! Everyone was being eyed with suspicion and even one of the lead investigators on the case, Jorma Koskela, was made to provide an alibi. Seeing the opportunity for an excursion, many prisoners gave false confessions just so they could get a trip to the woods to see the burial site. Mediums and clairvoyants were also giving their penny's worth of advice. One medium who was sought out by the Saarie family was said to have accurately predicted the burial site. Several newspapers including the Coventry Evening Telegraph on January 20th 1954 credit this medium with directing the search party to the location of the body.  Unhappy with the way the police were organising the investigation, the family even hired a private investor in the hopes they would help solve the case. 

Within days of the body being found, a local farmer was heard talking loudly in a pub about whether the police had found Kyllikki’s shoes. At the time this detail had not been released to the public. The man was promptly arrested but, according to press reports, he  had a solid alibi and had a reputation as a good man. After a short time he was released without charge.

The investigation trundled on but as early as February 1954 police were already beginning to believe they would never solve the case.

This is the end of part one. Part two will be released this Friday

 (November 17th at 5am GMT). In it I will detail the half a dozen or more suspects in the investigation and outline where the case stands today.

Sources

https://tinyurl.com/yc7xdt29