This is what we call in USA a "Cold Case". The perpetrator must have been a loner who never told anyone what he did. I would never go into the woods without a gun. Not sure if that is allowed in Finland. I saw part of a movie "Friday 13th" on TV. Teenagers in resort cabins being stalked and viciously murdered one by one. This movie had numerous sequels. I remember talking to a flea market vendor named Bob Berdella in Kansas City, Missouri. He seemed a little strange, but I thought nothing of it. Berdella was later discovered to have lured at least six young men into his home where he tortured and killed them. A seventh man escaped and Berdella was sentenced to life in prison, a life which was conveniently ended with a "heart attack" soon after he was behind bars. While talking to my cousin the other day she told me that she knew Lowell Lee Andrews. He rode the same school bus in the late 1950's or early 60's. Andrews killed his parents and was hanged on November 30, 1962, my ninth birthday. I also met Terry Nichols at a gun show, and probably Timothy McVeigh. I like your use of "Down By The River". A favorite song of mine. I think I used it once for a song about gambling casinos.

DKTOS and disturbing, but well-written, so 555!

Usually in such cold cases the first suspect is the survivor(s). In the Lake Bodom case, the sole survivor was too badly wounded and in places where he could not have done it by himself, so he was exonerated from the suspects' list.

There are three main suspects: a well-known Espoo psychopath Pentti Soininen, who had been sentenced for several felonies and other crimes and who was irrationally violent especially when drunk and/or drugged; Valdemar Gyllström, a nearby kiosk-keeper, who was known as a violent man and who had attacked campers and squatters before, and Hans Assmann, a German-Finnish painter who was an amphetamine addict, former SS concentration camp guard and had been suspected also of several murders in Sweden and Germany. Assmann has later been revealed to have been a Soviet spy, and Lake Bodom is the main freshwater supply for Espoo. To add to the mystery, Assmann and Gyllström knew each other.

Unfortunately, all main suspects are dead. Soininen hanged himself in 1969, Gyllström was drowned in Bodom in 1969 and Assmann overdosed in 1997. Jorma Palo, the late Finnish Surgeon General, who treated the sole survivor on his wounds as a young doctor, considered Assmann as the most likely culprit.

Sounds like the suspects inflicted on themselves the justice the law wasn't able to deliver. No great loss to humanity, any one of them. A friend of mine who rents weapons and costumes to theatrical productions asked me to research the Kansas City Union Station Massacre of 1933. Five lawmen escorting an escaped gangster through the train station were ambushed by mob gunmen and all but one were killed or wounded. I have two books on the subject and have seen several movies in which this event is depicted. No two renditions are the same. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ignored or planted evidence to frame Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd and Adam Richetti for the killings. Floyd was shot by an FBI agent after being wounded while running from police. Richetti was sent to the Missouri gas chamber in 1938. The key evidence was a fingerprint planted by the FBI on a beer bottle and the testimony of a witness whose identification of Richetti was also proven to be a mistake. Floyd and Richetti deserved what they got, but the law was certainly stretched or broken to get there.

Susan - I do know the OS, so had to read this although I am not familiar with the incident. Very dark, sad theme to such a bouncy song, although the theme of the OS was a tad dark too. Made for an interesting juxtaposition.

Hi Susannah. I also know the song, was a bit hit in Australia in the early 70s. A favourite of mine. A disturbing tale as others have already noted, but a good choice of OS to use nonetheless.

This song is even today extremely popular in Finland, although its Finnish version, "Varrella virran" by Kiril Babitzin. It is almost verbatim translation of the original.

Everyone knows the Butler did it its always the Butler who dose it or many its Professor Plum in the Kitchen with Lead Pipe