The Kaamos Murders

                                         The Kaamos Murders

My name is Lars Jokijen, and I have spent most of my life in Finland. The capital of Lapland, Rovaniemi, was where my mother, father, and two older siblings lived. After retiring from the army, my father became the principal of the high school. Years later, he tried to teach me about the endless wars that Finland fought in the early part of the 20th century. I found it all very confusing, even now as a grown man. It all started with the Finish Civil War in 1917. Finland was trying to remove itself as a grand duchy of Russia following the collapse of the Russian Empire after World War I. Russia backed forces were defeated but only with assistance of Germany. Germany's bid to dominate Finland fell through after their defeat in World War I. Finland instead emerged as an independent, democratic republic.

In 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland, initiating the Winter War. The Moscow Peace Treaty, signed in March 1940, marked the cessation of hostilities after Russia's unsuccessful attempt to conquer Finland. Russia never learns and in 1941 they bombed Finish cities. Finland declared war on Russia and enlisted the help of Nazi Germany. This was not a good choice of partners. Peace talks between the Allies of WWII and Finland resulted in Russia assisting Finland in driving The Germans from Finland. All very confusing to me, but the outcome was destruction of the capital, Rovaniemi, by the retreating German army.

My father fought against the Germans, and after the war, returned to Rovaniemi to help rebuild the city. My mother died while we were refuges in Sweden and my father remarried a much younger woman. I was born in 1971. Good ole dad was 70 years old.

When I turned 18, I enrolled in the Police University College in Tampere. I wasn't tops in my class, but I did well. Many positions were available to graduates, but I desired action. My goal was to fight crime with vengeance. Put the biker gangs behind bars and even take a few out when I had the opportunity. For some odd reason Norway, Sweden and Finland were rift with biker gangs. They were heavily involved in drug, prostitution, extortion and arms smuggling rings, and distribution of amphetamine, cocaine, hashish and MDMA. My personal vendetta began after my older sister was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by a member of the Bandidos motorcycle club. Oddly enough, the Bandido club was formed in San Leandro, Texas. What the hell are they doing in Scandinavia? As luck would have it, I was assigned traffic control in Turku. Goodbye vengeance.

It is all a matter of the right time and right place in this world. One day as I was waving my arms around directing traffic I witnessed a bank robbery in progress. I should have notified headquarters, but I didn't. Following a brief gun battle, I arrested two would be robbers, wounded another and killed one of the bastards. That landed me some headlines. They promoted me, and reassigned me to Helsinki. Over the following years, I became known as a man with a nose for trouble. I think criminals, from organized crime to lone murders, feared me more than the national police force. I eventually made detective, but not before I had been shot on three separate occasions. In 2016, at the age of 45, and was transferred to Rovaniemi. It felt like a homecoming, yet I hardly recognized the booming city. There was a purpose behind my being sent to that location.

Kaamos, or better known as the polar moon, is a phenomenon where the sun does not rise above the horizon. In Rovaniemi, this occurs during the winter solstice and lasts for forty-eight hours. The closer one gets to the polar circle, the longer the polar night lasts. In the village of Utsjoki, for example, the Kaamos last for 52 days. Living so long with seeing daylight can do strange things to a person's psyche. Kaamoamasennus or seasonal depression can lead to irritability, guilt, hopelessness and revenge.

It all began in 2013 during the short period of polar night. The lifeless corpse of a young girl, who had been strangled, was found in a snowy alley. The next night, another murder occurred within blocks of the first one. Twilight returned, the polar night ended, and the murders stopped. Similar murders occurred again during Kaamos in 2014 and 2015. The murders appeared random and there were no clues. The city was on edge and Kaamos became associated with death. I came to Rovaniemi as the detective in charge, to find the killer and release the city from the grip of fear.

Over the course of the summer, I meticulously examined all the data that had been collected in the previous three years. There wasn't much. The victims now totaled eleven. Five young women, two small girls, two teenage boys and two housewives. The coroner ruled strangulation as the cause of death for all individuals, with no evidence of sexual molestation. Only two, a boy and a girl, were related. The evidence led me to believe that the murders were not targeted, and the person responsible was mentally ill. Was there something about the polar night that awakened a homicidal impulse, compelling him to seek a victim? It seems the only way for me to apprehend the killer was to wait for the next polar night and catch them in the act.

Solstice fell on the 25th of December. That gave me time to assemble a team. The fact that all the deaths had been by strangulation, led me to believe the killer was not armed. The polar night fell right on time and we waited in the dark. At ten that morning, a local shopkeeper reported his assistant had not reported for work. We found her body lying on her face in the snow next to her car. She lived with her mother. Inside the house, we found the mother severely injured but still alive. The mother was forty-two years old and had been a competitive weight lifter in earlier times. She had put up a violent struggle against the assailant and had inflicted serious injuries on him, including a broken left arm. That was before he pulled a pistol and shot her in the chest. On the way to the hospital, she told us her assailant was approximately six feet tall and one hundred and eighty pounds. Dark hair and a full beard. During the attack, he kept muttering something about moon gods and werewolves. From his accent, she believed the man was from Russia. We finally had a major breakthrough in the case. Moreover, we were cognizant of the fact that the man was armed.

We visited all the shops in town, interrogated everyone we came across, and provided a description of the killer. Was he from Rovaniemi and did anyone know the man? Three people said the description fit a man name Karri who lived in Yllas, which was 160 km north of Rovaniemi. That area endures sixteen days of polar darkness. The village of Yllas lies at the foot of a fell, a barren mountain, and has become a popular ski resort. Has the extended polar night led to this man’s violent tendencies? I was on my way to Yllas to find out. Road 9401 to Yllas follows the Ounasjoki river and passes through numerous small villages. It took me a little over two hours. Now to find a doctor in town. It was a little after noon and I stopped at a restaurant called Ylläksen Eväskori. I ordered a small lunch and asked the waitress if she knew of a fellow called Karri. She said that a man by that name would eat here from time to time. He always came alone and ate by himself. She didn't know where he lived. I asked her about a doctor and she instructed me to go back a few blocks to Akasentie road. There was a doctor's office there. I thanked her, ate my lunch and drove to the doctor's office. A small brown building that looked like an ordinary family dwelling except for the large sign in front saying MEDIYLLAS. The young lady in front said the doctor wouldn't be in until after two. Was there an emergency?

"I am detective Jokinen from Rovaniemi and would like to speak with a man named Karri who I think lives in Yllas. We believe he had a significant injury to his arm and might have sought medical help here." I gave her my credentials. 

She gave them a cursory look and handed them back. "Karri Ylikoski came in late last night or early this morning. During Kaamos, I lose track of day and night. He said he fell off a house they were building. Karri works for a local contractor. I believe he is a roofer."

"Do you have an address or have a phone number, and do you know anything about him? That's an unusual family name. I haven’t heard it before."

She began thumbing through a drawer full of folders. "The Russians killed Karri's family during the war. He was raised by a family north of here who raised reindeer. Karri has a very low IQ and people find him strange. He is harmless, I'm sure. Here is his address. Let me draw you a map. Take Kesankijoentie until it crosses the Kesankijoki river. When the road forks, take the right fork for about a hundred yards. There is a small dirt road on the right through the forest to the cabin where he lives alone. Do you need a local cop to go with you?"

"No, thank you. I just have some questions to ask him about his injury."

Her instructions led me to the narrow dirt road leading to his cabin. The cabin was old, perhaps dating back to before the war. Smoke was coming from the chimney. I checked my service revolver. It was my intention to avoid any potential shoot outs, but just in case. I checked the door. It was not locked, but I knocked anyway. There was a shuffling sound, but no one answered. I waited, then pulled my gun and used my foot to open the door. A bear trap snapped shut on the floor in front of me. Had I stepped in, I would have lost my leg. There was no one in the room and the back door was open. Tracks in the snow led into the forest. The polar night is dark as any dark night without a moon. Trying to find a crazy man on his home turf in a forest at night was foolhardy. I was aware of that, yet I was angry. A bear trap? That's going too far. My flashlight was strong and lit up his trail. Karri's footprints indicated he was barefoot. He wouldn't last long in the snow and bitter cold. His tracks were getting closer together now. He was slowing down. Did he take his gun with him? I assumed he did, although it mattered little to me. After all the people he had killed, I couldn't stand the thought of him spending the rest of his life in a loony ward. Two shots rang out about twenty yards in front of me. I slid behind a large fir tree.

"Karri. Listen to me," I shouted. "You have done some terrible things, but we know you are sick. Drop your pistol and give yourself up. I will see that you will get the psychiatric help you need." I heard him sobbing followed by footsteps in the snow approaching me.

Stepping away from the tree, I directed my light towards him. He was holding the pistol upside down with his finger in the trigger guard. His other arm was in the air. He was smiling. Five yards away and I shot him in the forehead. He sat back in the snow and fell to his side. The snow turned red under his head. I felt a rush and a sense of satisfaction that I had never felt before. Maybe it was the polar night?

I was a hero after that. Written up in the papers, interviews on TV and a departmental citation. The Kaamos killings stopped for three years. Then a series of Killings occurred in Utsjoli during the Polar moon. They were eerily similar to the Rovaniemi murders. Off I go again, only further north this time. Four hundred and sixty-five kilometers, which takes me the entire morning to get there. Utsjoli is the northernmost village in Lapland, or even in Finland, for that matter. The village is so close to the polar circle there are fifty-two days of polar night. Lots of time for Kaamos murders. Oh boy, there is something extraordinary about that polar moon. This is my second trip. The first time I had to get the feel of the place. That didn't give me much time. This time, it should be more rewarding. Strangulation is a terrible way to die, but I never knew I could feel such a rush and feeling of power.

The end