Murder of Birna Brjánsdóttir

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Birna Brjánsdóttir
Born(1996-11-28)28 November 1996
DisappearedBreiðholt, Iceland
Died14 January 2017(2017-01-14) (aged 20)
Cause of deathDrowning
Body discovered22 January 2017, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland
Resting placeReykjavik Cemetery, Reykjavík, Iceland
64°07′27″N 21°54′38″W / 64.12409°N 21.91053°W / 64.12409; -21.91053 (approximate)
NationalityIcelander
Known forMurder victim

Birna Brjánsdóttir (1996–2017) was an Icelandic woman who disappeared at the age of 20 on the morning of 14 January 2017 after leaving a club in central Reykjavík. She was found dead on 22 January 2017 after an extensive search operation, with her having been dropped into the ocean. A Greenlandic fisherman, Thomas Møller Olsen, was found guilty of her murder and received a 19-year prison sentence for that crime in addition to narcotics smuggling.

Disappearance[edit]

Birna Brjánsdóttir 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 the city centre; she left alone three hours after them, at about 5.00 the following morning.[1][2][3] Surveillance video showed her walking along Laugavegur, the main shopping street, and eating a falafel pita;[4] until a red Kia Rio stopped in front of Number 31.[1][2] After her friend and co-worker at Hagkaup called her parents[3] and it became apparent she had not returned home or contacted them, first her mother and then the police appealed for help finding her; the search over the next week was the largest manhunt in Iceland, 800 people volunteering.[2][5][6] Her mobile phone was traced to Hafnarfjörður, and her Doc Martens boots were found near the harbour there.[2][3]

Discovery of the body and murder investigation[edit]

The investigation was led by Detective Grímur Grímsson, the brother of the writer Vigdís Grímsdóttir and subsequently Iceland's representative to Europol.[3] The car, which was traced after also being seen on surveillance video at Hafnafjörður harbour,[3][7] had been rented by a crew member of the Greenlandic trawler Polar Nanoq; with the assistance of the captain,[3] members of the Special Unit of the National Police Commissioner were transported to the ship by the Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter TF-LÍF and arrested two of the crew on suspicion of her murder.[2][7] Birna's blood was found in the car,[3][7] and her driving licence was found on the ship.[3][8] On 22 January her body was found washed up near the Selvogsviti lighthouse on the coast of the Reykjanes peninsula, more than 40 km (26 miles) away from where she disappeared.[2][3] She was naked and the autopsy established her cause of death as drowning, but bruising also indicated she had been strangled[4][9] and hit in the face.[3][10] There was no evidence she had been sexually assaulted.[3]

Trial, appeal, and sentencing[edit]

Thomas Møller Olsen, the Polar Nanoq crew member who had rented the car and who was then 25, was charged with the murder of Birna Brjánsdóttir on 30 March[3] and in September was found guilty in the Reykjanes District Court.[8] By the start of the trial, his DNA had been identified on the laces of one of Birna's boots and his fingerprints on the driving licence;[3] film had also been found of him buying cleaning products and cleaning the interior of the car.[11] His shipmate who had been arrested at the same time, Nikolaj Olsen, was a witness against him,[12] having been seen on surveillance video leaving the car in a very drunk state and returning to the ship several hours before Møller Olsen, who in court sought to portray him as the murderer.[3][13] After appeal,[13][14] Møller Olsen's conviction was affirmed by the High Court in November 2018,[15][16] and his sentence of 19 years in prison for the murder and for drug smuggling, in addition to an assessment of 29 million krónur ($243,356) in costs and compensation, went into force.[17][18] 23 kg (51 lb) of hashish had been found in his cabin.[3]

The High Court declined a request for a further appeal in February 2019.[19][20] In October 2019, Olsen was transferred to Denmark to serve his sentence there.[21]

Reactions[edit]

Murder is rare in Iceland, and women had felt safe asking for and accepting rides from strangers; Birna's disappearance and the news that she had been murdered caused widespread shock.[2][3] Crime writer Yrsa Sigurðardóttir said: "In the past we have only witnessed murders like this in works of fiction."[4] "Ég er Birna" (I am Birna) trended on social media.[6] Some news outlets broke with tradition and published the suspects' names and photographs.[22] After the discovery of her body, people lit candles and held vigils for her in both Iceland and Greenland,[2][6][23] and a memorial in Reykjavík the following weekend had 8,000 participants.[5] 2,000 people, including the president and prime minister, attended her funeral at Hallgrímskirkja.[3] The number of surveillance cameras in Reykjavík increased, and a women-only version of the informal Facebook-based ride service Skutlarar was established.[3] After the discovery of her body, Polar Nanoq donated 1.6 million krónur ($14,976) to those who had searched for her,[6] and in March 2018, a wreath from the crew was laid on her grave to commemorate the first anniversary of her death.[24][25]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Young local woman missing since Saturday: Have you seen her?". Iceland magazine. 16 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Anna Margrét Björnsson (28 January 2017). "A murder shocks Iceland and dents women's sense of safety". BBC News.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Xan Rice (12 April 2018). "The murder that shook Iceland". The Guardian.
  4. ^ a b c Dan Bilefsky; Egill Bjarnason (7 February 2017). "Woman Was Thrown Into Ocean, Autopsy Says, in Murder That Shook Iceland". The New York Times.
  5. ^ a b May Bulman (7 February 2017). "Rare Icelandic murder of young woman leaves country devastated". The Independent.
  6. ^ a b c d Þóra Tómasdóttir, Fréttatíminn (3 February 2017). "'I am Birna': Iceland mourns murdered woman" (with video, 50 sec). CNN.
  7. ^ a b c Anna Margrét Björnsson (23 January 2017). "Iceland mourns for missing girl found dead - a timeline of events". Morgunblaðið [Iceland Monitor].
  8. ^ a b Paul Fontaine (29 September 2017). "Murder Conviction Handed Down In Case Of Birna Brjánsdóttir". The Reykjavík Grapevine.
  9. ^ "Birna's cause of death was drowning. Body was found naked". Iceland magazine. 7 February 2017.
  10. ^ Brynjólfur Þór Guðmundsson (22 August 2017). "Töluverðir áverkar á líki Birnu" (in Icelandic). RÚV.
  11. ^ Anthony Adeane (2018). Out of Thin Air: A True Story of Impossible Murder in Iceland. Eastbourne: Riverrun. ISBN 9781786487476.
  12. ^ "Key witness tells a very different story in Birna murder trial". Morgunblaðið [Iceland Monitor]. 21 August 2017.
  13. ^ a b Larissa Kyzer (September 23, 2018). "Thomas Møller Olsen Appeals for Reduced Sentence in Birna Case". Iceland Review.
  14. ^ "Thomas Møller Olsen snart for retten igen". KamikPosten (in Danish). Greenland. 20 September 2018.[permanent dead link]
  15. ^ "Guilty verdict of Thomas Möller for brutal murder of Birna Brjánsdóttir confirmed". Iceland magazine. 23 November 2018.
  16. ^ "Dom i Birna-sag stadfæstet" (in Danish). Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa. 23 November 2018.
  17. ^ "A 19 year prison sentence for murderer of Birna Brjánsdóttir". Morgunblaðið [Iceland Monitor]. 23 November 2018.
  18. ^ Aðalheiður Ámundadóttir; Daníel Freyr Birkisson (23 November 2018). "Landsréttur staðfestir nítján ára dóm yfir Thomasi Møller". Fréttablaðið (in Icelandic).
  19. ^ Sunna Karen Sigurþórsdóttir (28 February 2019). "Thomas Möller fær ekki að áfrýja". Fréttablaðið (in Icelandic).
  20. ^ Freyr Gígja Gunnarsson (28 February 2019). "Hæstiréttur hafnar kröfu Thomasar Møller" (in Icelandic). RÚV.
  21. ^ "Thomas Møller Olsen fluttur úr landi". RÚV (in Icelandic). 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  22. ^ Paul Fontaine (7 February 2017). "The Murder of Birna Brjánsdóttir: The Case That Gripped Iceland, And The World". The Reykjavík Grapevine.
  23. ^ Brian Oliver (4 February 2017). "Candlelit vigils unite Greenland and Iceland in grief over killing". The Observer.
  24. ^ "Crew members of Polar Nanoq place wreath on Birna Brjánsdóttir's grave". Morgunblaðið [Iceland Monitor]. 20 April 2018 [20 March 2018].
  25. ^ Jóhann Bjarni Kolbeinsson (20 March 2018). "Skipverjar létu leggja blómsveig á leiði Birnu" (in Icelandic). RÚV.
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