A 35-year-old man with a history of psychiatric problems and a long criminal record was charged Tuesday for the murder of his 56-year-old foster mother in the coastal community of Tvedestrand, southern Norway.
The 35-year-old has admitted killing the woman, who was found beaten to death in her home Sunday evening. “From what he told us under questioning Monday night, the murder was planned,” Geir Magne Søfteland of the Agder Police District told news bureau NTB.
A companion of the confessed murderer, an 18-year-old man, was also charged in the murder as an accomplice. He was reportedly in the victim’s house along with her foster son when she was killed. Newspaper Fædrelandsvennen reported that it was the 18-year-old’s father who called police. The 35-year-old was arrested an hour later.
Police reportedly had dropped a number of other charges against the 35-year-old in January, after psychiatrists concluded that he wasn’t fit to stand trial. He’s been committed to psychiatric hospitals several times. No motive for the murder was revealed.
Views and News staff
