– We believe that we will bring clarity to what happened to Anne-Elisabeth Hagen, says police inspector Lars Reinholdt-Østbye to news. 31 October marks the fifth anniversary of one of the biggest murder mysteries in Norwegian history. 700 witness interviews and 6,000 hours of video are now some of what is being reviewed again to look for new answers in the light of day. – We know more and more about what may have happened in there, but we have not finished the forensic investigations or the analyzes of the information contained in the case, says Reinholdt-Østbye. Anne-Elisabeth Hagen is still missing without a trace, and the police believe she was killed even before she was taken away from the house in Lørenskog on 31 October 2018. The family wants answers and the perpetrators go free. In addition, the murder charge hangs over her husband Tom Hagen, a man in his 30s who met Tom Hagen before the disappearance, as well as two other men in whom the police have taken an interest. Nevertheless, the police believe that time is working with them in several areas, especially the so-called crypto trail. – It is an enormous material. But the crypto track in particular is an area where time is working with us. It is about the method and competence development that takes place over time, says Reinholdt-Østbye. Still, many of the big questions in the case are the same: Who stole the ID and created the crypto account? A suspected identity theft eventually became central to the investigation into Anne-Elisabeth Hagen’s disappearance. The police believe that the identity of a man from Southern Norway was misused by the person or persons behind the disappearance. The investigation shows that someone made a copy of his passport and that the information was sold on the dark web. Police inspector Lars Reinholdt-Østbye. Photo: Per Sveinung Larsen / news In the letter there was a demand for ransom money and a set-up for how the communication between the parties was to take place via cryptocurrency. The police believe the stolen identity has been used to create accounts on cryptocurrency exchanges that the perpetrators have used. – When it comes to the results of the various investigation steps, we do not want to go into details. But it is one of those areas where time works with us, says Reinholdt-Østbye. Do the accused men have a role in the case? – There are no changes to the charges in the case, says Reinholdt-Østbye. Tom Hagen is still charged with murder. In addition, three other men have been charged in the case. Everyone believes that they are completely innocent in the murder and disappearance of the then 68-year-old woman. – We have the progress that is necessary both to provide answers to the analyzes and the traces we find, but not least that the progress must defend the basis for the charges, says Reinholdt-Østbye. He is clear that the police work in line with the obligations they have to national and international rules relating to the progress of criminal cases. – I cannot go into the grounds for suspicion against the accused. But we work in line with the obligations we have, says Reinholdt-Østbye. How was Anne-Elisabeth Hagen abducted? Unfortunately, the big question remains as unanswered today as it was almost five years ago. – We hope to get clarity on what happened to Anne-Elisabeth Hagen and not least where she is. Those are the big questions in the case. And the investigative steps we are carrying out hope we will provide an answer to exactly that, says Reinholdt-Østbye. In the summer of 2019, the main hypothesis was changed to murder, after the police had long investigated the case as a kidnapping. The investigators also believe that the house is the scene of the murder. MARRIED COUPLE: Tom Hagen and Anne-Elisabeth Hagen were married when the latter disappeared. Photo: PRIVAT Accused Tom Hagen is filmed on camera on his way to work shortly after 09.00. Kona’s last sure sign of life is a phone call at 09.14. Her mobile phone was found in the house after her disappearance. Car on the footpath? A camera on the other side of Langvannet filmed what looks like a car at 09:00 on the day of the disappearance. – Analyzes of video and movements at the site are still investigative steps we are working on. We are not done with it, says Reinholdt-Østbye. The last confirmed sign of life from the 68-year-old was at 09.14 this morning, and the police’s main theory is that she was killed inside the house shortly afterwards. The surveillance camera picks up light that could be a vehicle at 7:56 a.m. and 8:56 a.m., on the day of the disappearance. The police have carried out reconstructions in order to better interpret the information from the recordings. Who bought the letterhead, envelope and strips? A much talked about letter was found in Sloraveien 4 after Anne-Elisabeth Hagen disappeared on 31 October 2018. The letter states that Anne-Elisabeth Hagen has been kidnapped and he must pay a ransom for her to be released alive. The claim was for 9 million euros and was to be paid in the anonymous cryptocurrency Monero. The letter that Tom Hagen has explained that he found when he came home on 31 October 2018 has been examined very carefully and the police say they know almost everything, except who wrote it. The letter has been checked for DNA, fingerprints, print, paper, envelope, printer, linguistics. The police know details such as that the PC that printed the letter had the Intel HD Graphics 630 video card. But who wrote it, the police do not know. Who are the men outside Tom Hagen’s workplace? In January 2018, the police called for three men who had been captured by the surveillance cameras at Tom Hagen’s workplace. Only the cyclist was identified. Who the two men in black are and what they do outside the workplace on the day of their disappearance remains a mystery. – We have not been able to bring clarity to who the Futurum men are. Getting these two identified is still important to us, says Reinholdt-Østbye. Who deposited the shoe print and who bought the shoes? In the entrance to the house in Sloraveien stood a red chair with a threatening letter on it. The police have also worked a lot with traces from what looks like a Sprox shoe of size 44 to 46. UNKNOWN PRINT: This shoe print was found in the hallway in Sloraveien 4. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix Similar shoe prints were found in several places on the tiles in the hallway. Who has deposed them is still not known. Like the crypto trail, the police believe that seizures such as letter sheets, envelopes and shoe prints can give them new answers with new analyses, says Reinholdt-Østbye. – It is also an area where technology is constantly developing, and we can see whether today’s analysis possibilities can provide a basis for analyzes of what we already have of seizures. The police believe the shoe belongs to the perpetrator. In 2019, the police showed off shoes with similar soles at a press conference. The police have also tried to track down all the buyers of the shoes, which are sold at Spar Kjøp. Nor has this contributed to a breakthrough.
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– We know more and more about what may have happened in there – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
