A 19-year-old man faces murder charges in a shocking Finnish court case. The teenager allegedly killed a 62-year-old woman with a hammer and set her house on fire.
The young man admitted causing the woman's death by striking her with a hammer. Police documents reveal he hit the victim in the head at least 25 times.
Earlier that night, the suspect attempted to murder a taxi driver. He stabbed the driver multiple times in the upper body and stole the taxi.
He drove the stolen taxi to Mikkeli, a city in eastern Finland, where he killed the woman in the morning.
The violent crime spree occurred on Sunday, July 6, while the young man was on leave from military service.
He had spent Saturday evening drinking alcohol with his cousin and friends at a nightclub in Jyväskylä, a city in central Finland.
During the early morning hours, the man made disturbing Google searches including "first murder," "rape and murder," and "how much do you get for murder in Finland."
He ordered a taxi to his home at 5:03 AM. Nine minutes later, he messaged a woman asking if he could visit her.
The suspect asked the taxi driver to take him to Halssila ski area parking lot. There he stabbed the 30-year-old driver multiple times.
The taxi driver managed to escape and seek help for himself.
The 19-year-old jumped into the taxi and drove to Mikkeli. He parked near the home of a 62-year-old woman he knew.
Police records show the young man entered the apartment with a key. He told police he intended to steal the woman's car keys.
The man claimed he was leaving the house when the woman woke up. The 60-year-old woman called out from her bedroom, asking who was in the house.
The teenager said he panicked at this point. He grabbed a small hammer from a cleaning room table, walked to the bedroom, and struck the woman three times in the head.
He told police he only meant to knock the woman unconscious so she wouldn't call the police.
The woman died from the violence.
The man explained his subsequent actions as panic-driven. He said he set the woman's house on fire intending to destroy the body.
He described turning all the kitchen stoves to maximum and placing pillows on the burners.
Then he left the scene in the woman's car. He didn't wait to see if the house caught fire.
The horrific crime was discovered when a neighbor called emergency services around 9 AM.
Smoke divers found the 62-year-old woman's body in her bedroom bed, covered with blankets.
The man now faces attempted murder and aggravated robbery charges for the Jyväskylä incidents.
For the Mikkeli events, he is charged with murder, aggravated damage, violation of grave peace, and motor vehicle theft. The court will hear these charges on Thursday.
This case reveals disturbing gaps in how society handles young men with violent tendencies, particularly when alcohol and military training combine with existing psychological issues.