225:, she decided to leave around midnight and walked to Järvenpää railway station to take a train home. As she was waiting for the train on the platform, she was approached by a dark-haired man dressed in a leather jacket. The man asked about her travel plans, and she told him that she was waiting for a train to Riihimäki. The man then offered Meriläinen a ride home in his car, and being under the influence of alcohol, she agreed. Meriläinen later described the man's vehicle as a light-coloured passenger car, not a station wagon, probably an older Mazda or Datsun.
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sustained sadistic violence. It has not been confirmed whether or not she was killed on the location where she was discovered. Despite the blizzard that had hit the area during the hours after her death, the police also recovered her handbag and a possible murder weapon at the scene. Her body had been dragged a few dozen meters (yards) to the woods from a small road, located less than 100 metres (yards) from the gravel pit where Helena Meriläinen had been attacked five months earlier.
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266:. Her body was searched for by the local authorities to no avail. The NBI began investigating the cases of the three women as the doing of one killer, arguing that many factors, such as the use of alcohol, the dark hair color and being in the same area contributed to the theory. According to NBI they also have information that connects the disappearance to the two earlier cases that they won't publish due to an open investigation.
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relieve herself, and when she squatted outside the car, the man struck her on the back of her head with a knife. The woollen cap that Meriläinen was wearing cushioned the knife's impact on her skull and she managed to get up and flee into the forest, eventually alerting help at a nearby house. While escaping, she heard the man mutter about 'things not having worked out this time' and returned to his car.
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The following afternoon on 18th April, a landowner in Hikiä, a village in Hausjärvi municipality, discovered Tuula
Lukkarinen's mutilated body when inspecting damages caused to his forest by the previous night's blizzard. According to police, the time of her death had been around midnight and she had
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The man drove the car to a dark gravel pit and stopped the car. He tried to persuade Meriläinen to stay in the car for the night, but she refused and said that she wanted to go home. At that point, the man told Meriläinen that he needed to go urinate and exited the car. Meriläinen also felt a need to
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to attend a meeting about her son's custody case. She did not arrive to the appointment, but was sighted by an acquaintance at around 9am in Järvenpää, in front of a liquor store. Investigators in the case have later verified that
Lukkarinen was also sighted in the center of Riihimäki on the evening
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episode. According to some, a dark-haired man is believed to have offered rides to a few women still in the 21st century. According to the tips a man fitting to the description has last been offering a ride to a woman in year 2006. The NBI is still investigating the case, believing that the killer
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Haantie was attending a party at the restaurant Zapata in Järvenpää on August 13, 1993. She was going there with her partner and a few friends. All of them got in the restaurant except
Haantie. Haantie was not let in by the doorman because of her drunkenness. She was last seen standing outside the
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At the beginning of the trip, the man offered Meriläinen alcoholic beverages and capsules with an unknown substance in them, both of which Meriläinen consumed. The man himself also consumed several capsules during the ride. While in the car, Meriläinen noted that the man seemed distressed and that
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It soon became clear that in 1991, a woman by the name of Tuula
Lukkarinen had been found brutally murdered in a Hausjärvi gravel pit. Earlier, in 1990, Helena Meriläinen was attacked in the same area where Lukkarinen's body was discovered five months later. Helena had been hit with a knife, but
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the car had a child seat in the back. She fell asleep, and when she woke up, she noticed that the car was not on a lit and paved road to Riihimäki, but on a dark dirt road surrounded by forest. When she asked the man about the route, he assured her that they were still heading towards Riihimäki.
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The whole chain of events mentioned above had drawn the attention of the NBI, and soon the case of
Haantie was included in the investigation. A large search was carried out in the woods around the Hausjärvi municipality and especially the gravel pits area south of Hikiä village, but nothing was
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In 2017 it was published in the media that there had been a possible fourth case involving the murders. In 1989 a drunken 30-year-old woman had just exited a restaurant in Järvenpää when a man offered her a ride, offering her alcohol and pills and then driving her to a forest area, the case
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The disappearance of
Haantie was initially filed to the Riihimäki Police, who treated the case as a normal disappearance without any indication of homicide. Soon, however, it was discovered that a bag belonging to Haantie had been found in a restaurant called Martina at the town of
304:" did an episode on Haantie's case, which attracted a lot of attention. In the section, the NBI specifically asked for a hint about a dark-haired man in Järvenpää in the early 90s who offered rides to women, as described by Helena Meriläinen.
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According to the NBI, the hints have been very important for the investigation, and have confirmed the results of earlier profiling. Investigation is still active, and the Bureau strongly believes that there have been other murder attempts.
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resembling the case of Helena Meriläinen's. Although the woman survived the encounter, the victim's mother brought it up after the woman had died of natural causes years later.
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The NBI has searched for
Haantie from the forest areas in Hausjärvi as late as in 2017, claiming that they have information that connects Haantie to the area.
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He was familiar with the towns of Järvenpää, Hyvinkää and Riihimäki that locate along the railway and with the forest area around the Hikiä village.
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572:"Victim of a sadistic killing was discovered under a birch - the investigators reveal new information about the last day of Tuula Lukkarinen"
550:"Victim of a sadistic killing was discovered under a birch - the investigators reveal new information about the last day of Tuula Lukkarinen"
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Over the years, the perpetrator has been profiled largely based on Meriläinen's story and events, with the description as following:
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can be found. They have also taken into account that the killer hasn't been found yet because he might be living abroad or is dead.
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The man had spoken about his child and told he had a bad relationship with his wife, and is believed that he might have divorced.
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288:. During interviews with the staff, it was apparent that the employees had removed a drunk person who resembled Maarit Haantie.
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after leaving a local bar and probably hitching a ride. Her decomposed body was found five months later from a forest area in
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311:, dark hair and living environment, with the NBI believing that the same perpetrator is responsible for all three cases. The
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OTETAAN KIINNI Tuula
Lukkarisen SURMAAJA!/LET'S CATCH THE KILLER of Tuula Lukkarinen!, Alibi 9/1991. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
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managed to escape. The police assumed that Meriläinen had been attacked by the same man who had killed Tuula
Lukkarinen.
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618:"Who hunted dark-haired women? National Bureau of Investigation is re-investigating the strange murder mystery"
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40-year-old Maarit
Haantie disappeared in August 1993, and is also suspected of being the victim of a possible
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Kadonnut nainen löytyi kuolleena Pukkilassa/Missing woman found dead in Pukkila Helsingin Sanomat, 03.05.1988.
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In November 1990, 39-year-old Helena "Hellu" Meriläinen had spent the evening at her friend's apartment in
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At the time of the events in 1990, the man was between 30 and 40 years old, and had a dark, curly hair.
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liftback harassing women in the areas close by and even attempting to abduct a 19-year-old woman in
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found. The investigation, however, has remained active to this day. In 2007, the television series "
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Malin, Jarkko: Police still believes they can find the Hikiä serial killer Aamuposti, 16.07.2008.
153:, the offences were perpetrated by the same individual, who the Finnish media has given the name
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were a series of two or more unsolved violent crimes during the 1990s that were connected to a
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In year 1988 there were several cases of a man with a similar description and driving a white
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497:"Serial murder mystery from 1990-1993 gets a new lead - NBI will dig the gravel pit again"
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He possibly had an infant child at the time, as the car's back seat had a child restraint.
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He knows the anatomy of a human or a large animal (according to the Lukkarinen murder).
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by threatening her with a pistol while the woman was able to escape from a moving car.
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psychiatric hospital, where she was staying as an inpatient, in order to travel to
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It is believed that he is unable to form a normal relationship with a woman.
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677:"NBI: There are four cases of Hausjärvi's unexplained gravel pit attacks"
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Helena Meriläinen, Tuula Lukkarinen and Maarit Haantie were combined the
655:"new lead in the 1990-1993 serial killer mystery, NBI doing excavations"
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At 8.30 am on 17th April 1991, 28-year-old Tuula Anita Lukkarinen left
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episode gathered about 30 new tips, which helped with the offender's
595:"A woman on a vacation from a hospital, found murdered in Hausjärvi"
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A lot of new tips about the killer have been provided due to the
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In December 1987 a 19-year-old woman Heidi Härö went missing in
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767:(in Finnish). Central Uusimaa. 27 August 2010. Archived from
519:"Did Finland's only serial killing happen at a gravel pit?"
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466:"Järvenpää's serial killer perhaps tried new things"
743:"Police is very hopeful in Järvenpää homicide case"
679:(in Finnish). MTV News. 4 June 2016. Archived from
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The gravel pit where Helena Meriläinen was attacked
49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
443:"One fled, one was killed, the third disappeared"
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445:(in Finnish). Central Uusimaa. 21 September 2008
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418:List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
141:municipality, approximately an hour north of
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377:He is about 1.70 m (or 5 ft 7 in) tall.
721:"Will the serial killer finally be caught?"
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499:(in Finnish). Helsingin Uutiset. 3 May 2017
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657:(in Finnish). Helsinginuutiset. 3 May 2017
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574:(in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 13 March 2021
552:(in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 13 March 2021
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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616:Sari Autio, Marko Sorsa (28 May 2015).
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765:"News about Järvenpää's serial killer"
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275:building, and hasn't been seen since.
521:(in Finnish). MTV uutiset. 2 Feb 2015
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723:(in Finnish). Iltalehti. 2 June 2011
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486:YLE - Kadonneet: Perjantai 13. päivä
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
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386:The car itself is thought to be a
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339:Similar unsolved cases in the area
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745:(in Finnish). Mtv3. 18 July 2008
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151:National Bureau of Investigation
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597:(in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat
34:needs additional citations for
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213:Abduction of Helena Meriläinen
58:"Hausjärvi Gravel Pit Murders"
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593:J KUPARINEN (20 April 1991).
468:(in Finnish). Central Uusimaa
464:Malin Jarkko (15 July 2008).
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701:Nykyposti 1/89, January 1989
131:Hausjärvi Gravel Pit Murders
16:Series of murders in Finland
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842:Unsolved murders in Finland
837:Unidentified serial killers
796:Disappeared: Maarit Haantie
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182:to comply with Knowledge's
149:. According to the Finnish
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620:(in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat
832:Serial murders in Finland
423:List of unsolved murders
195:may contain suggestions.
180:may need to be rewritten
137:and its surroundings in
817:1991 murders in Finland
812:1990 murders in Finland
155:Järvenpää Serial Killer
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793:Ylen Elävä Archive:
221:. Being from nearby
43:improve this article
366:Offender's profile
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41:Please help
36:verification
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349:Hämeenlinna
330:Fourth case
302:Disappeared
145:'s capital
806:Categories
749:17 October
727:14 October
661:17 October
624:18 October
601:18 October
578:26 October
556:26 October
525:26 October
503:26 October
429:References
405:Kadonneet
313:Kadonneet
243:Kellokoski
161:The crimes
135:gravel pit
69:newspapers
827:Hausjärvi
822:Fugitives
775:27 August
317:profiling
298:Kadonneet
223:Riihimäki
219:Järvenpää
201:June 2019
193:talk page
139:Hausjärvi
788:See also
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449:22 April
412:See also
356:Mäntsälä
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286:Hyvinkää
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99:May 2019
360:Pukkila
143:Finland
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191:. The
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300:", "
129:The
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