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The disappearance of Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen was no ordinary event in the quaint country of Norway, especially since the victim disappeared without a trace. In October 2018, Anne-Elisabeth Falkevik Hagen, the wife of the real-estate baron Tom Hagen, disappeared from her home. Shortly after, her husband received a ransom demand for a whopping $10 million in cryptocurrency. With little evidence, misleading scenarios, and murder suspicions, this case proves to be far more complicated than expected.
Despite the fact that the investigation is far from over, the Norwegian TV mini-series, The Lørenskog Disappearance, is all set to premiere on September 14, 2022, covering the case in detail. The synopsis for the series reads:
"What happened to Anne-Elisabeth Hagen? Where is she? Was she kidnapped by money launderers or is it her husband who may have made her disappear?"
Ahead of the series premiere, here are five facts about the fascinating case of Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen.
Five quick facts about Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen's disappearance
1) There was little to no forensic evidence in the case
After Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen disappeared from her house on Halloween 2018, the first approach was naturally to scan the house and gather any forensic evidence possible. However, police found nearly none of it apart from signs of a struggle where Anne-Elizabeth might have hidden from her kidnappers before they took her.
There was no sign of any forced entry. Anne-Elizabeth allegedly did not lock the doors often.
2) In 2020, the police arrested the billionaire businessman Tom Hagen
After investigating for a long time, the police alleged that this entire kidnapping and ransom scenario was a planned deception. Additionally, the kidnappers did not keep in touch frequently or provide any proof that Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen was alive.
In 2020, they narrowed their suspicions down to Tom Hagen and arrested him on the charges. Tommy Broeske, the lead investigator, said:
"The case is characterised by a clearly planned deception. As other hypotheses have been weakened, suspicions against Tom Hagen have gradually been strengthened...There was no kidnapping, no real negotiating counterpart or real negotiations. There are indications of a will to sidetrack [investigators]."
Tom Hagen was released shortly after this, with prosecutors failing to build a case around the man.
3) The police also charged an unnamed 30-year-old man who seemingly does not exist
In April 2020, the police arrested an unknown 30-year-old man, who later turned out to be Ole Henrik Golf. In a turn of events, it was revealed that the man did not exist at all. His identity was sold on the darknet web by a company called CardPass. It turned out that the identity had been originally sold to another Norwegian man, who had previously used it to buy drugs before he sold it to the company.
4) The typed letter revealed a ton of important information
Tom Hagen received a typed letter from the kidnappers after the disappearance of Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen. This letter was eventually the only clue for the authorities to figure.
At first, the police thought that the letter was written by a non-native speaker. But with a further thorough investigation, they have now deciphered that the letter was written by a native Norwegian speaker who intentionally tried to write it poorly. The mistakes in the language seemed intentional and deceptive.
5) New information from the kidnappers came from an encrypted chat feature on a bitcoin trading app
Over the past couple of years, the supposed kidnappers have used the encrypted chat feature on the bitcoin trading app to communicate with police through highly untraceable coded messages. They have also reportedly asked to use the lesser-known cryptocurrency Dash in a bid to hide the money trail.
Tom Hagen remains under the watchful eye of the authorities till date.
The Lørenskog Disappearance is all set to reveal more details about the Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen disappearance when it premieres on September 14, 2022.
