A white dress with lace on the arms. That’s what she was wearing. A dress like that which almost all Danish girls get for graduation. That sly smile. The picture was taken on the confirmation day two weeks ago. Now it was headline news in all online newspapers. Not only in Denmark, but also in Norway and Sweden. The mother and stepfather wrote several posts on social media. The desperation and despair was so painful to see. Denmark held its breath. SMART: This little thing here, or rather, the lack of it, made me late for the press conference. Photo: Joakim Reigstad / news It was Sunday and I was out late. My own fault. I was on my way from Copenhagen. The drive takes an hour, but I had stopped at an electronics store. To buy the one thing I had forgotten – an inverter. A nice case that ensures that you can charge, for example, a camera and PC with the car battery. There was every reason to believe that it would be a long night. Far from other opportunities to get electricity. The teenager in the picture in the newspapers had been missing for over a day. Disappearance cases like this rarely end well. The bag therefore also contained an (almost) freshly ironed white shirt, the black suit and a black tie. I assumed sooner or later this would become a murder case. Then at least the outfit had to be in order. Delayed, but still enough time. I looked at the clock as I parked in front of the police station. 14.48. Twelve minutes. SEARCHING: Forensic technicians are searching the house in Korsør where the arrested 32-year-old lived. Photo: Joakim Reigstad / news I had no idea then that the disappearance case I had started to cover in that minute changed completely. A policeman let me into the backyard and I got ready for the extra broadcast at 3pm. Just before we went on air, I saw a lady in civilian clothes stand up in front of the microphones. Her message was short: “We have to postpone the press conference for a quarter of an hour due to a development in the case.” Immediately afterwards, I heard by ear that the broadcast was in progress. I hadn’t had time to notify the management in Oslo about the postponement. “A development in the matter”? No, it couldn’t be good news. There is “never” good news. The only thing I could think was: “Now you have to take all possible precautions”. 2.59pm: It is eight minutes until we learn that the disappearance case in Denmark has taken a completely unexpected, but equally joyful, turn. Photo: news None of us reporters standing there had any idea what was going on in Korsør. In a 32-year-old man’s one-story residential building. Nor did they do that in Kirkerup, just a few minutes’ drive from the 13-year-old’s home. There the stepfather had found her bicycle, bag and mobile phone the day before. She had cycled with the Saturday newspaper to people in the area, but did not attend an appointment with a friend afterwards. Saturday at She was reported missing at 1:40 p.m. LIGHTED LIGHTS: Inside the church in Kirkerup, people gathered. Many lit candles for the 13-year-old who had been abducted just outside the church door. Photo: Joakim Reigstad / news The hours passed and people gathered inside and outside the chalk-white church that stands as a beacon in the small village. Someone prayed. Some brought coffee and cakes to the relief crews who were ready to go to work. Saturday turned into Sunday. The hours passed and on Sunday afternoon the police were to give an “update on the case”. Sunday 16 April is Queen Margrethe’s birthday. Official flag day in Denmark. But in Kirkerup the flagpoles were bare. ON THE ROAD: Seven minutes late, the two seasoned policemen arrived to chair the press conference. Photo: RITZAU SCANPIX / Reuters At the police station in Næstved, it didn’t take fifteen minutes. It took seven minutes. Then the experienced police inspector Kim Kliver came out together with his second-in-command Rune Dahl Nilsson and approached the microphones. They looked serious. In connection with this case, Dansk TV 2 asked questions to former head of homicide in the police Jens Møller. How many cases could he remember where a person, who had been abducted against their will, had recovered? Møller could remember three in Denmark: A case from 1989 where a nine-year-old was abducted for two days. In 2008 when a young boy was kidnapped and his parents pressed for money. He was found after a few days. The last time it happened was when two girls were abducted, raped and later released. That was in 2012. So eleven years ago. It was no wonder that all of us standing there prepared for the “development in the case” to be that the 13-year-old had been found dead. Killed. MISSING: Emilie Meng turned 17. She was found murdered after being missing for six months. Meng defended from the same area in which the 13-year-old was found. Many local acquaintances had already begun to draw parallels to the case with seventeen-year-old Emilie Meng, who was abducted and killed in 2016. Her perpetrator has not been found. It is usually a brutal reality in cases of disappearance, whatever the reason. The hope of finding the missing person is diminishing every minute. The police had already confirmed that their theory was that she was the victim of something criminal. But then Kliver said the words that changed the matter completely. “We have found her alive.” GLADE: There were two touched police officers who held a press conference to say that the 13-year-old had been found alive. Photo: IDA MARIE ODGAARD / AFP The husky and experienced policeman’s voice cracked several times during the press conference. He was clearly affected by what he was in and what had happened. I think it took a few seconds before the message completely sunk in for the rest of us. Kliver further said that it was tips from people that had led to the 13-year-old being found together with a 32-year-old man who had now been arrested. In Kirkerup, the news triggered full jubilation. The church servant was sent out to raise the flag. Not for the queen, but for the 13-year-old. They also raised the Dannebrog on the neighboring farm. A country that had held its breath for 27 hours could exhale. Almost all of Denmark had become involved. But primarily the local environment. The police had received 600 tips. Everything from observations, recordings from surveillance cameras or dashboard cameras in cars. It was this, the police said, that enabled them to put together the pieces of the puzzle in record time. The next day, in a packed courtroom in Næstved, we learned the contents of the charge against the 32-year-old who the police believe is behind it. SOUTH ZEALAND: In this area, an intensive drama took place in mid-April. A 13-year-old disappeared after taking the newspaper. We can only imagine the nightmare the teenager must have been through. The horror she must have felt, the mental and physical pain. It is something that will be with her for the rest of her life. On the back bench in the courtroom sat the 13-year-old’s stepfather. Completely still. After the ruling was ready and the 32-year-old taken into custody, the stepfather stood up in front of the press corps. He thanked. Thanked the police. Thanks to the Danish people. PRISON MEETING: Before the constitutional hearing, which the Danes call prison meetings, we learned what the 32-year-old is accused of. Photo: Joakim Reigstad / news And asked for peace so they could gather as a family. A family whose life has been changed, but who can still move on whole. Statistically speaking, very few such cases have an outcome like this. It will still be more the exception than the rule that someone who disappears against their will is found alive. But at 2.48 pm this Sunday, what happened that one could well say is the exception that confirms the rule. Others might say that it was nothing short of a miracle. People in Sudan are caught in the war between two generals.
ttn-69
Cases like this rarely end well – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
