Lørenskog Case: Murder-Charged Swede Traveled to Norway on Day of Anne-Elisabeth Hagen Disappearance
A 59-year-old Swedish man charged with murder or complicity to murder in the Lørenskog disappearance was still in Sweden on the morning Anne-Elisabeth Hagen vanished on October 31, 2018, according to statements reported by TV 2. Nearly eight years after the disappearance from Fjellhamar, the ongoing investigation continues to probe international movements and timeline intersections tied to the case.
The Conflicting Timelines and Movements on the Day of the Disappearance
Anne-Elisabeth Hagen vanished from her home in October 2018 and has never been found. Police maintain she was murdered before being transported away from the house. While the 59-year-old Swedish national has remained cooperative with Norwegian authorities, he formally denies criminal liability and considers himself an outsider to the charge.
Ulrik Smedberg, the defense attorney representing the Swedish suspect, outlined his client’s location during an interview with TV 2. He was in Sweden, but was on his way to Norway,
Smedberg stated. As I understand it – at the relevant time when something happened in Lørenskog – he was still in Sweden.
According to Smedberg’s account, the suspect arrived in Norway later that same afternoon. Lisbeth Ravlo Backe, who recently took over as the prosecutor in charge for the Eastern Police District, stated that investigators are actively working to map out the suspect’s movements during the critical timeframe. We do not want to comment on anything that may have come to light, but it is natural that we want to map his movements in the relevant time period,
Backe told TV 2.
Police Monitored Swedish Suspect via Covert Wiretapping
Months before the victim’s husband, Tom Hagen, was taken into custody in 2020, police received a tip regarding the Swedish man now facing charges. Intelligence reports from another police district indicate that the suspect maintained extensive contacts within criminal networks in the central Østlandet region, involving individuals already well-known to law enforcement.
During the ongoing investigation, police subjected the Swedish suspect to covert wiretapping. Smedberg noted that his client felt violated and upset by the secret surveillance given his insistence on innocence, while acknowledging that the monitoring ultimately demonstrates his lack of involvement. The suspect has completed three separate interrogation sessions with Norwegian police who traveled to Sweden, presenting documentation including computer activity records to verify his whereabouts.
The Arrest of the Co-Suspect in an Unrelated Criminal Case
A second individual, a 59-year-old Norwegian man, also faces charges of murder or complicity to murder in the Lørenskog case. Law enforcement’s interest in the Norwegian man intensified in 2024 after his mobile phone registered data near a base station close to Sloraveien on the morning of the disappearance, prompting secret surveillance of travel logs and toll crossings.
That suspect was apprehended in August as part of a separate investigation led by Kripos regarding severe, organized narcotics criminality. Following extradition to Norway, he remains in custody at Sem fengsel outside Tønsberg. While he underwent interrogation regarding the narcotics allegations by Kripos, he has not yet addressed the Lørenskog charges with the Eastern Police District.