Near the helicopter deck on the ferry, a young German couple had gone to sleep during the trip from Stockholm.
Klaus Schelkle and his girlfriend were on Interrail and could not afford a cabin.
The two were found ill-prepared by their sleeping bags. There was blood all over it. A helicopter was called and brought the victims to the hospital, and here Klaus Schelkle was pronounced dead. He, who was in apprenticeship as a mechanic, turned 20 years old.
Now, almost 34 years later, a Danish man is on trial in Turku. The indictment concerns murder and attempted murder, but he denies guilt. The first court hearing will take place on Monday.
At the time in 1987, he was 18 years old and was on his way to a scout camp in Finland.
All 1400 passengers tried to photograph the Finnish police, and some were taken for further questioning, the Finnish media Yle has reported on the investigation.
The Dane was an important witness at the time. It was he who had found the German couple.
Schelkle’s girlfriend could not remember anything from the assault when she was later questioned by German and Finnish police.
A plastic bag with clothes was found by a couple of fishermen on an island on the ship’s route through the archipelago, the Finnish media Yle has stated. The investigation indicated that the material originated from the ship, but it did not immediately yield a breakthrough.
Only many years later – in 2016 – did new information come into the case. Ekstra Bladet has reported that the Dane wrote a letter to the police and prosecution, in which he described himself as a ticking bomb.
The Dane was convicted, among other things, of threatening a woman. “You are right I can be evil because I have KILLED TWICE before”, he wrote among other things according to the daily newspaper BT
He has been punished several times. In total, it has become almost 20 years in prison for robbery, violence and threats, Ekstra Bladet and BT have reported.
He is at large, but has declared himself willing to travel to Turku, where the case is being processed by the Egentliga Finlands Tingsrรคtt. Here he is defended by both a Finnish and a Danish lawyer.
The accusation is based primarily on clues, Yle has stated. New technical evidence from the crime scene is not available. The ferry later changed its name to “Estonia” and sank in 1994 in a shipwreck that cost 852 lives.
In Finland, neither head of investigation Veli-Matti Soikkeli nor district prosecutor Kai Selander have commented on the details of the case.
But in connection with Monday’s court hearing, it is expected that written submissions from the prosecution and the defense will be released.
According to the plan, the last court hearing will take place on Friday. The verdict will be handed down at a later date.
Source: The Nordic Page