It gets TV 2 informed.
The ongoing DNA investigations are the main reason why the public prosecutor, one year after they took over the new Baneheia investigation, has not yet written a recommendation to the Attorney General.
They are still waiting in excitement for the answers from foreign experts.
Now TV 2 can tell exactly what the police have asked the experts to investigate.
Pioneering research
In February last year, Viggo Kristiansen (43), who was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the murders of Lena Sløgedal Paulsen (10) and Stine Sofie Sørstrønen (8) in 2000, had his case reopened.
After the reopening, the responsibility for the Baneheia case was transferred from the public prosecutors and the police in Agder to their colleagues in Oslo.
Since then, the Oslo police have reviewed thousands of pages of old investigations, questioned a number of witnesses and conducted investigations of the almost 22-year-old DNA findings from the crime scene.
Last autumn, the police received new DNA answers which show that Jan Helge Andersen’s (41) DNA has been found in six places on Lena Sløgedal Paulsen. Police believe the findings may be consistent with abuse.
The DNA answers were of great importance to the police as Andersen is acquitted of the murder of the oldest of the girls, and because both the police and the court have previously believed that Andersen played a smaller role in the crimes than Kristiansen.
Andersen himself has explained that he was pressured by his friend. Confronted with the new DNA findings, he says in new interrogations that if he has abused both girls, he has had a memory loss.
For the police, the DNA results showed that there is good reason to make investigations of old DNA material with new methods.
The studies they are now waiting for answers to are described as groundbreaking in DNA testing. The DNA samples have, as TV 2 understands it, not been analyzed before.
“Unforeseen challenges”
In mid-November last year, the Oslo police contacted the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Munich.
At the same time, a completely identical inquiry was sent to a forensic geneticist at the Agricultural University of Poznań.
– LEAD FROM HERE: For a year now, homicide investigators in Oslo have been working on the Baneheia case. Photo: Frode Sunde / TV 2
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In the inquiry, the Oslo police state that, in the investigation of an old murder case, they have “encountered some unforeseen challenges”.
“We contact you with the hope that you are capable of solving these challenges,” the police write.
Previously, the police have also contacted a research institute for biotechnology in Bologna.
The police state in their letter to the expert communities in Poland and Germany that the Italian community did not have any reliable methods for conducting the investigations the police want.
– TECHNICAL INVESTIGATIONS: Kripos made a number of seizures at the scene after the girls were found. Several samples are now being analyzed again. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB
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TV 2 is not aware of the answers the police have received from Germany. The German professor, who has received inquiries from the police, does not want to answer TV 2’s questions about the case.
Polish DNA expert Natalia Rogalska-Niżnik confirms to TV 2 that she was contacted by the Oslo police in November, but that she could not help them because they currently have too little experience of using the technology that would be necessary.
– But we offered the Oslo police district help in the future, Rogalska-Niżnik writes in an e-mail.
As far as TV 2 understands, the case is now with another foreign expert environment.
Intact sperm
In the inquiry to the DNA experts, the police write that they are in possession of four microscope glasses with glued-on protective glass. The glue covers the entire glass, the police say.
Their goal is to free sperm and epithelial cells from the squeezed microscope slides, with the goal of making new examinations of each individual cell.
Epithelial cells are a common term for cells that we find on body surfaces or in glands, such as skin cells.
The police write that they are aware that methods have been developed to distinguish between male and female epithelial cells, so that it is possible to concentrate on the male cells from the crime scene.
The ultimate goal is to identify who the sperm cells, and if possible the epithelial cells, originate from using traditional DNA analyzes, the police write.
The four microscope tubes from the year 2000 have all visible and intact sperm attached to them. We are talking about seven, four, two and one sperm cell, respectively.
If the experts succeed, the police ask that they also look at the possibility of separating the sperm and epithelial cells from each other.
As TV 2 understands it, the police believe that a failed attempt to separate the cells from the microscope glass will destroy all possibilities for future investigations.
– IN THE SEARCH LIGHT: Jan Helge Andersen has been involved in a number of new interrogations in connection with the new investigation. Photo: From the series «Baneheia, Kampen om Sannheten», Discovery / Monster
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If possible, the police open up to analyze the cells at the experts’ laboratory. The alternative is to transport the cells back to Oslo for further analyzes.
Will examine tissue samples
The police also write that they are sitting on tissue samples from the two girls that they want the DNA experts to consider the possibility of examining.
The samples were taken in intimate places where sperm were also found. The police ask the experts a number of questions:
- What are your thoughts on the possibility of examining the tissue samples for sperm?
- Is this something you have had success with in the past?
- Do you have a method or protocol for this?
- Can you estimate the chances of success?
- Can you estimate a price?
- Do you know others who have succeeded in this before?
- Do you know anyone who has researched this in Europe or elsewhere?
- Do you know of any published literature on this?
At the same time, the police state that Oslo University Hospital does not have the opportunity to examine tissue samples for sperm.
Three options
State Attorney Andreas Schei does not want to answer any of TV 2’s questions about the DNA investigations or the progress of the ongoing investigation in general.
Together with colleague Johan Øverberg, he will write a recommendation to the Attorney General, who will decide how the case will be processed further.
– ACTOR: Johan Øverberg is one of two public prosecutors responsible for the Baneheia case. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB
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The prosecuting authority must now decide whether to request an acquittal of Viggo Kristiansen, or whether to issue a new indictment.
A decision from the prosecution is expected before the summer.
Polish expert believes in solution
For the prosecution, it can be decisive what answers they get from the foreign DNA experts.
Polish Natalia Rogalska-Niżnik, who could not help the police in November, tells TV 2 that she did not know that it was the Baneheia case she was contacted about.
Rogalska-Niżnik has worked with DNA research for more than 20 years.
In an e-mail, she writes about several different techniques that can potentially make it possible to analyze the more than 20-year-old sperm cells – and about the negative consequences the different techniques can have.
– I believe that the main idea of forensic research work is to take advantage of different techniques and combine them when examining difficult biological evidence, she writes.
When asked if she thinks the Oslo police will get answers to their questions, the Polish expert answers clearly.
– I think the Oslo police district will solve the case in the end.
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