Multimillionaire tycoon arrested on suspicion of murdering wife and faking kidnapping after 18-month search
OSLO, NORWAY: Police arrested Tom Hagen, one of the richest men in Norway, on Tuesday, April 27, under suspicion of the possible murder of his wife, who disappeared in October 2018. The case involved a reported kidnapping of 69-year-old Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen and ransom demands, according to police.
Chief police investigator Tommy Broeske, in a press conference on Tuesday, said that Hagen, a 70-year-old real estate investor with a total wealth of nearly 1.7 billion Norwegian kroner ($161 million), was arrested while he was on his way to work. Hagen married his wife when he was just 19.
"The case is characterized by a clearly planned deception," Broeske said at the briefing. "As other hypotheses have been weakened, suspicions against Tom Hagen have gradually been strengthened."
Authorities were alerted of Falkevik Hagen's disappearance from the couple's home in Loerenskog, east of Oslo, on October 31, 2018. Police reportedly did not publicly reveal the case until January 9, 2019, after which they received an outpour of tips linked to Falkevik Hagen's disappearance. Investigators, by February 2019, declared that there were "no signs of life" in the case, suggesting that the woman might be dead. However, police said that they would continue with the investigation, Fox News reported.
Detectives were also told that a ransom for her release was demanded in January 2019, however, the authorities refused to give the amount. It was later reported by the Norwegian media that the amount demanded was $10.3 million, and was instructed to be paid in cryptocurrency.
The alleged kidnapper communicated with Hagen through a digital platform which prevented him from responding to his messages. The note sent to him reportedly said that if he involved the police then his wife would be killed.
Security videos of men walking back-and-forth outside Hagen’s workplace were subsequently released by the authorities. Police, in search of Falkevik Hagen, scoured the grounds around the couple's home and divers went into a nearby pond to find any clues to the case. However, by June 2019, authorities released a statement saying Falkevik Hagen may have been killed and her kidnapping may have been staged, reports stated.
The police chief said that the detectives changed their "main hypothesis" about the case after finding no signs of Falkevik Hagen being alive and no recent contact with the alleged kidnapper. This led them to include a "staged kidnapping to hide a killing" as a probable cause, eventually leading to Hagen's arrest.
Prosecutor Aase Kjustad Eriksson, on Tuesday, said that the authorities would seek to have Hagen held for four weeks in pretrial custody on suspicion of murder. He added that more arrests linked to the incident were possible.
Øst Police District also released a statement in the case, saying: "It is important to emphasize that although we have charged Tom Hagen, the case is still being investigated and there are several unanswered questions. It will be particularly important to clarify the role played by Tom Hagen, to find Anne-Elisabeth Hagen and to determine whether other people are involved."
No motive behind the case has been revealed by police, and nearly 18 months after her disappearance Falkevik Hagen's body has not yet been discovered.