Police confirmed on Tuesday that they found a body in the woods behind an industrial area at Kolbotn, just south of Oslo, on Monday night. They wouldn’t rule out that it may be the body of 16-year-old Sigrid Giskegjerde Schjetne, who disappeared while on her way home just over a month ago.
Police claimed they didn’t know whether the body was that of a man or a woman, nor could they determine the age of the dead person. Rune Isaksen of the Follo Police District told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) that they were waiting for the results of an autopsy due to be available later on Tuesday.
“We’re not ruling out that it can be the missing Sigrid Schjetne,” Isaksen told NRK.
Staying mum
Police otherwise were reluctant to reveal any details about what led them to the site at Kolbotn, which is about 15 kilometers south of the neighbourhood around Østensjø where Schjetne was walking when she disappeared. The body was found around 9pm, the area was immediately cordoned off and teams of investigators and police technicians were called in. The body was driven out of the area in a hearse around 4am.
Police called the discovery “suspicious” because it appeared to be at least partially hidden. The area is located behind a Shell gasoline station that’s open around the the clock and is the site of a network of ski trails popular in the winter skiing season.
Kolbotn is located in a different municipality than Oslo, Oppegård, but Isaksen said he and his colleagues were keeping Oslo police informed. NRK reported that several teams of specially trained dogs were also brought to the site during the night.
Teen’s parents informed
A press release from the police stated only that the body was discovered in connection with “a police assignment” that brought them to the area off the road called Skiveien. Isaksen said the assignment wasn’t one of their own, though, indicating that it came from another police jurisdiction.
Harald Stabell, an attorney representing the missing teenager’s parents, said that his clients had been informed by police that a body had been found. Schjetne’s parents had offered a reward for information leading to their daughter’s return, and hundreds of volunteers have been searching for her ever since she failed to come home as agreed after a Saturday night visit with a girlfriend.
Police had earlier charged a 29-year-old man who lives in Schjetne’s neighbourhood with providing false information the the police and his lawyer has since claimed that the man, a convicted rapist, seems to have been under investigation for far more than that. A police spokeswoman told news bureau NTB on Monday, however, that they weren’t boosting the charges against him.
Views and News from Norway/Nina Berglund
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