Norwegian authorities said they have dropped the case against a property tycoon who was suspected of murder or accessory to murder in connection with the disappearance of his wife nearly six years ago, The Independent reports.
Police initially said 68-year-old Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen, 68, was abducted from her home on October 31, 2018. But in April 2020, her husband Tom Hagen, a secretive property investor and one of Norway’s richest men, was arrested on his way to work and police said suspicions against him were “gradually increasing.”
Tom Hagen was released in May 2020 when a court ruled there was insufficient evidence to hold him. Hagen has repeatedly pleaded not guilty.
Since then, police have continued to consider Hagen a suspect, but confirmed on Friday that the case against him has officially been dropped.
“There is no evidence that Tom Hagen was involved in his wife’s disappearance,” police spokeswoman Vibeke Schøyen told a news conference broadcast by Norwegian media. The Norwegian prosecutor’s office ruled that “no criminal case is considered proven,” so police decided to drop the case, Schøyen said.
Police conducted about 700 interviews, collected more than 26,000 tips, obtained more than 6,000 hours of video surveillance and conducted an extensive technical investigation. The investigation was “extensive and complex” and “was one of the most important projects we’ve undertaken in recent years,” Schøyen said. Holten’s lawyer, Svein Holden, said on Friday:
This is a total acquittal of Tom Hagen.
Wife’s disappearance
The woman, whom Hagen married at 19, disappeared from the couple’s home in Lorenskog, east of Oslo, on Halloween 2018, but police did not make the case public until 9 January 2019, after which hundreds of reports poured in.
At the time, police said a ransom had been demanded for her release, but officials declined to disclose the amount. Norwegian newspaper VG reported that the ransom was 9 million euros ($9.8 million) and was to be paid in cryptocurrency.
Police eventually released surveillance footage showing men walking back and forth near Hagen’s workplace after his wife disappeared. Police officers and police dogs combed the area around the couple’s home and divers descended into a nearby pond as police conducted a massive investigation at home and abroad.
In June 2019, police changed their main hypothesis due to the lack of any indication that the missing woman was still alive or any recent contact with the alleged kidnappers. They believe that Falkevik Hagen, who was never found, was murdered, and said they “cannot rule out a staged kidnapping to cover it up.”
Police emphasised that the case was not closed and said there were three suspects. None of them have been identified.
