Police in Bergen found a young couple dead in their apartment in the west-coast city’s Nordnes neighbourhood just before the weekend. Now they think the young woman died several days before her boyfriend, but the cause of their deaths remains unclear.
Police initially charged the 20-year-old man post-mortem with the death of his girlfriend, 19-year-old Hennie Hayden-Rasmussen of Drammen, who was a student in Bergen. They said at a press conference in Bergen Monday afternoon that her body showed no visible signs of injury, though, and they were awaiting results of blood tests that could provide the cause of her death.
The defense attorney for the young man, a Danish citizen who has not been publicly identified, said his family was relieved that the police investigation “so far” hadn’t indicated that he was behind her death and his own. They had suspected a murder-suicide but now “this can appear to be a result of other tragic circumstances,” said lawyer Maria Hessen Jacobsen.
Police had broken into the couple’s apartment after family members had called to express concern that they had been unable to contact the couple. A neighbour said the couple was very quiet and rarely seen since they’d moved in last summer. Results of an autopsy of the young man on Monday were pending.
“Criminal technicians have worked through the weekend,” said prosecutor Inger Lise Høyland at the press conference, “and the case is complicated. It’s difficult to say what has happened.” Police had earlier ruled out the involvement of any third person, but added that that young man’s body found signs of self-inflicted knife wounds.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
