The Icelandic Six case: how to serve time for a murder that never happened (9 photos)

Iceland is a country with a very low crime rate. It's hard to believe, but in a quarter of a century, there have been only 30 murders on this Atlantic island. In the 1970s, things were even better, and serious crimes weren't even committed every year. The most common crime here is car theft. And even then, most of these cases are simply related to a desire to go for a drive, as leaving the island by car is impossible. However, the history of the Land of Geysers has also seen some mysterious cases. One of them went down in history as the case of the "Icelandic Six."





The hippie era began belatedly in Iceland, in the early 1970s. The generation of young and daring rebels on the island was no different from their counterparts on the mainland. Gunmundur Einarsson, an 18-year-old handyman from Reykjavik, belonged to this group.



The Town of Hafnarfjörður

On January 27, 1974, the young man went to a party with friends, after which the whole group moved to the town of Hafnarfjörður, 10 km from the capital. There, the young people continued to party hard, drinking alcohol and using drugs. In the midst of the party, Einarsson disappeared. Friends discovered he had gone home with an acquaintance he had met at a club.

It was later discovered that Gunmundur never made it to Reykjavik. Iceland has a harsh environment, so the search and rescue service there is well-organized. Specialists from this country are often invited to conduct searches in various parts of the world. In addition to the state system, there is also a volunteer organization, the Search and Rescue Association, with thousands of members. Therefore, everyone hoped that the young man would be found quickly.

Missing

Shelters have been set up for lost tourists across the island, where everything necessary is available, from clothing and food to medicine. The search operations utilize the most modern technology, including aviation. Needless to say, the search for the missing young man was organized at the highest level.





The search operation was covered by all Icelandic newspapers.

Police determined that Gunmundur and his companion had attempted to hitchhike. But since they were drunk, no one wanted to pick them up. So they decided to walk. They could have followed the road, but most likely decided to take a shortcut through the lava fields. This decision cost more than one traveler their lives in winter. Deep fissures in the lava, hidden under the snow, pose a mortal danger.

Search teams thoroughly checked all routes Einarsson might have taken. But neither his body nor even traces were found. After the legally mandated time, the operation was completed, and the young man was declared missing. There was no question of his companion, as no one knew for sure who was with Gunmundur or whether they had gone with him. Moreover, no one had reported another man missing.

Police are on the trail

The story of Gunmundur Einarsson could have become yet another disappearance mystery, of which Iceland is prolific due to its landscape and climate. But in January of that same year, 1974, another incident occurred, which police linked to the missing man's case.



Erla Bolladóttir

In 1975, two people came to the attention of the police. They were 20-year-old Erla Bolladóttir and her boyfriend, Saivar Ciesielski. Saivar had been in trouble with the law before. He had already been caught in financial fraud and drug trafficking. This time, he had committed something more serious.

Together with Erla, Ciesielski devised a complex fraud scheme. Using forged postal orders and counterfeit bank checks, the couple managed to obtain approximately one million kronor, which at the exchange rate of the time was approximately $10,000. First, Saivar was arrested, and then Erla. The girl was so frightened that she decided to tell everything she knew about the crime.



Winter Iceland

During one of the interrogations, the investigator showed the girl a photo of the missing Gunmundur Einarsson. When asked if she knew him, Erla replied that she had seen him at a classmate's party. After some time, she began to cry and told a very strange story.

Testimony of Erla Bolladóttir

On the day of Einarsson's disappearance, she arrived home late in the evening. Bolladóttir couldn't sleep for a long time, and when she finally did, she was awakened by men's voices. Saivar and his friends, Christian Vidarsson and Trygve Leifsson, were talking animatedly beneath her window. That morning, she saw the trio carrying a long object wrapped in burlap. The police realized they had finally found a clue.



Icelandic police officer

Erla was interrogated for nine days, eager to obtain as much information as possible. She had a newborn daughter waiting for her at home, and she was very nervous. This led to her losing the ability to distinguish reality from fiction and telling what the investigators wanted to hear.

Thanks to Erla Bolladóttir's testimony, four more people were arrested. All of them confessed, although they differed in some details. The police had come up with the main plotline for this story, and all that remained was to adapt the suspects' stories to it.



"The Icelandic Six"

The situation was paradoxical. The police had no evidence, not even a body. But they did have confessions from six of the detainees. Yes, they were contradictory, but they ignored that. The members of the "Icelandic Six" were tried and sentenced to varying prison terms.

An Unexpected Ending

Erla Bolladóttir received a three-year sentence, while one of the men who helped hide the body received a 15-month sentence. Saivar Cisielski and Christian Vidarsson were sentenced to life imprisonment. The others received more lenient sentences. In 1980, the Supreme Court of Iceland reviewed the case and changed the sentences. Cisielski served the longest prison term, eight years.



Erla Bolladóttir in Court

Upon his release, Saivar Cisielski began fighting for justice and a full acquittal. He put in a lot of effort, but to no avail. Sometime later, the daughter of one of the Icelandic Six members found her father's diary. He kept it in prison, recording his thoughts. The diary was added to the case file, which was reviewed again.

A new investigation concluded that the Icelandic Six were innocent, and that the case of Gunmundur Einarsson's murder was a hoax. In 2017, all defendants were found not guilty. But why did all these people confess?



Supreme Court of Iceland

It turned out that they all suffered from so-called memory mistrust syndrome. It involves a person's lack of self-confidence, to the point that, under the influence of external factors, their mind begins to create false memories. As for the unfortunate Gunmundur Einarsson, his fate remains unknown.