Lake Bodom murders

Lake Bodom murders

The spy

Hans Assmann, German citizen leaving not far away, was linked to this case, although more by his reputation than the facts. Since he supposedly used different names travelling abroad, he supposedly was guard in Auschwitz concentration camp, he was supposedly involved in death of a teenager in 1953, he was supposedly KGB agent in Finland, he seemed like a man capable of doing horrible things. There was a theory that he confessed to Lake Bodom murders and others, but since he was KGB agent or part of Nazi secret underground, he was free of any responsibility for his crimes because Finnish government was protecting him.

Facts that are supporting the theory:

he lived not far from the lake (in Espoo) and he supposedly knew the Lake Bodom area (according to his wife),
the police sketch of suspect described by birdwatchers looked very similar to known photos of Assmann,
day after murders he showed up in hospital in Helsinki wearing clothes with signs of blood on them and acting weird (according to doctors),
he was a suspect in another case, where teenager died, Kyllikki Saari in 1953, but it was completely different kind of crime (potential hit and run, supposedly caused by his chauffeur),
he was supposedly suspect in another case, in which teenage campers were killed, although the details are really vague and according to some sources he had alibi,
his wife claimed he beat her up, which suggest violence nature,
he supposedly confessed in cryptic way to Lake Bodom and other crimes, but sources for that are vague about details.

Facts that oppose the theory:

even if Assmann was KGB agent (which is doubtful), the Finnish government protection for any crimes is really far-fetched theory - as suspect in so heavily media covered case he would be "removed" by KGB not to bring attention to their agents network, Finnish government had nothing to gain in the potential scheme,
police checked his alibi and crossed him out from the list of suspects, if it was justified is another thing, but we have to assume the police checked the alibi,
apart from sketch based on birdwatchers testimonies there are no hard evidence linking him to the crime scene.

While Hans Assmann drew a lot of attention from public and medi, being foreigner, being potential war criminal, being potential spy, being purposely mysterious, there is very little evidence that link him to Lake Bodom murders. On the other hand if he was suspect in 3 different cases (with emphasis on if) which lead to death of teenagers this is just a bit too much to call it just coincidence.

But similar to other suspects in this case we know too little about Assmann to make a proper valuation: in some sources he had alibi for murders he was suspected, but we are not really sure what the alibi was or was it properly checked. He was a suspect in other cases, but we do not know why and were there any evidence. He was supposedly seen on the photo from funeral of the Lake Bodom victims, but it was never confirmed.

All of it makes him look like a good target for the media, but at the same time police never put charges against him in any of the cases. He might have been just attention seeking man, who took pleasure of being in the media by making cryptic claims, but also... he might have been the killer, who knew he could get away with it.