- Welcome to Scandinavian Crimes. My name is Devante and say hello to my lovely co-host Delila. - Hi. - And on this podcast, we cover famous Scandinavian criminals who made their mark throughout Scandinavian history. So today we are gonna be talking about a, not a small case per se, but just it's not gonna be as long of an episode, but it's something nice, still comfortable.
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And this is about Essa Okaland. This is a Finnish serial killer who was born July 5th,(...) 1969, who was initially sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in 1995 of his ex-wife. But he was paroled only to commit triple murder in 2010, of which he received 15 years for. Now this story has a lot to do with the Finnish criminal justice system and how they chose to kind of deal with this whole situation, especially because there seems to be multiple layers of his behavior dating back to the first initial incidents and what we'll get to in the story. But this is an interesting story and obviously we would love to hear your opinion about it when you know, finish the episode. So saying all that, grab your tea, grab your snacks.(...) If you're on the train or if you're on the bus, tuck yourself into a nice little corner and really turn the volume up so you can really lock in on this story.(...) Because today,(...) this is a story of Esa Okorland.
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In October, 1993, within the confines of a restaurant nestled in the heart of Ascola, a seemingly ordinary evening took a very tragic turn.
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Esa Okorland, a customer enjoying his meal, found himself in an escalating dispute that quickly spiraled into chaos.
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Tensions reached a boiling point as voices grew louder and tempers flare.
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Before anyone could intervene, the situation erupted into a physical altercation. Esa caught up in the heat of the moment, seized a knife.
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Despite the efforts of the restaurant staff to quail the violence, their attempts were met with fierce resistance.
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During the turmoil, the 28-year-old young man by the name of Veko, Nurmi, tragically lost his life in the confrontation.
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Veko was an off-duty staff member from the restaurant and was simply enjoying a rare evening of leisure when he courageously attempted to defuse the situation.
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However, his noble intentions were met with a cruel twist of fate as he became the unwitting victim of the violence that unfolded around him.
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Veko suffered fatal injuries sustaining two grievous stab wounds to his back. The suddenness and severity of the attack left him with no chance of survival and he passed away instantly. His promising life tragically cut short.
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As the authorities arrived at the scene, during the investigation, the weapon, a bloody knife, was discovered.
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Blood tests confirmed that it was Veko's blood and it later was revealed that the weapon belonged to none other than Esa.
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Though admitting ownership of the weapon, Esa denied responsibility for Veko's death when taken into custody.(...) Esa faced trial and was found guilty by the district court and received a sentence of eight and a half years behind bars.(...) However, Esa refused to accept this verdict and decided to appeal.
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Renowned attorney Haike Salo took on Esa's defense, arguing that the evidence presented was not sufficient to prove his client's guilt.
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During the appeal, the defense presented additional witnesses, none of whom testified against Esa. It missed the chaos in the restaurant during the incident. Witnesses were unable to provide a clear account of the stabbing.
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One witness recalled confronting Esa about his involvement, to which Esa denied any responsibility.(...) Haike's compelling arguments resonated with the jury. Although they acknowledged that the victim was murdered with Esa's knife, the Court of Appeal opted to dismiss the manslaughter charges due to lack of evidence.
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And thus, the Court of Appeal overturned the previous ruling and acquitted Esa of all charges.(...) Tragically, less than a year later, Esa committed another heinous crime in iceness.
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In September 1995,(...) Esa and his former wife, Parnaja, divorced. Their tumultuous relationship had been fraught with instances of abusive behavior, prompting her desperate escape from him. The aftermath of the separation also resulted in a custody dispute over their two-year-old son. With the divorce,(...) Parnaja received full custody of their two-year-old son, leaving Esa consumed by anger and resentment.
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Driven by this vengeful fury, Esa embarked on a relentless pursuit of Parnaja, eventually tracing her to a childhood home in Purno.
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In the middle of the night, he broke into Parnaja's residence and he stealthily made his way to her bedroom.
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Ignited by a storm of emotions, Esa mercilessly beat his ex-wife before ultimately resorting to shooting her with his semi-automatic pistol.
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The gunshot reverberated through the silent night, alerting Parnaja's brother and his girlfriend, who were visiting at the time. Rushing to his sister's aid, the brother confronted Esa with a gun and frantic exchange of gunfire began.
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The brother narrowly missed Esa and in retaliation, Esa shot him and his girlfriend, each receiving two hits.
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The ensuing chaos left both the brother and his girlfriend non-fadily wounded, becoming victims caught into the crossfire of a tumultuous family feud and the death of a family member.
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Esa was swiftly apprehended and faced charges of murdering his ex-wife, along with attempted murder of both the brother and his girlfriend.
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Despite his assertion of self-defense, this defense was immediately dismissed, leading to Esa receiving a life sentence.
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This verdict was later upheld by the Court of Appeal a year after his initial conviction. On December 1st, 2009, following a ruling by Halinsky Court of Appeals, Esa's life sentence was commuting and he was released from prison, having serving his time.
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On July 5th, 2010, Esa and his friend were celebrating his birthday in Porvoo.
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In the early hours of the following day, they decided to grab some food from McDonald's.
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As they queued at the drive-thru, another car with four men and a pregnant woman ahead of them sparked a dispute for reasons unspecified.
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Esa and a fitter rage brandished his revolver and fatally shot one of the passengers in the chest.
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He then targeted the other two occupants, shooting one in the mouth and the other in the head, before the pregnant woman and her boyfriend managed to escape.
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The entire ordeal unfolded in just 1.5 minutes, with three shots fired in total.
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Surveillance cameras captured the chilling incident. Esa and his friend attempted to flee towards Halinsky on the motorway, but were apprehended just 10 minutes later.
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According to the head of investigation, both men were found to be under the influence of alcohol.
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While in custody, police launched an investigation into how Esa, a convicted murderer, attained a firearm.
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They discovered that the 9mm SNW revolver had been illegally sold to him in May by two unidentified individuals.
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Despite efforts to obscure its origins, police traced the gun back to the original owner, a man born in 1944.
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He admitted to selling it without the proper authorizations.
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Although the gun seller claimed to have removed the gun's identification number himself, the police were unable to determine how the firearm ended up in Esa's possession. In October 2010, Esa stood trial for a triple murder, and two years later, he was found guilty on all accounts and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
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Claiming that his sentence was unjustly long, he made an appeal, and the Court of Appeal decided to uphold the verdict.
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The surveillance footage from the incident was sealed for 25 years at the request of the victim's family. The verdict sparked international attention, particularly from the United States, ironic,
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where it drew sharp criticisms of Finland's lenient sentencing practices.
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An article highlighted by CNN provoked a wave of scornful comments directed at Finland's justice system and its perceived lax gun control measures, and even called for reinstatement of the death penalty. This is very ironic coming from the US.
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Lax gun laws, are you serious?
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In CNN's news discussion platform, readers weighed in on Finland's gun legislation expressing concerns over the country's high prevalence of firearms related to its population.
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Many noted Finland's distinction as the third largest holder of legal handguns globally, trailing only the United States and Yemen. Some readers were struck by the eerie resemblance of the Porvoo shooting incident to those commonly witnessed in the United States, prompting reflections on the troubling trend of gun violence.
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Additionally, recent... - Stop being sassy when you're reading.
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- Additionally, recent school shootings in Finland added to a sense of disquiet among online commenters.
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Now, before we get into the discussion, as you probably heard, I kind of had an attitude at the end, because how is the US gonna say, "Oh, your gun laws are so lax." Are you serious, bro? We have school shootings every other week. What are you talking about, bro? They got lax gun laws? - I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh.
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- It's just like you just bombarded the discussion so fast.
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- That's mad stupid. Like, how you going, "Oh, Finland, your, first of all, "their crime rate is lower than ours." - You should have known my reaction when I wrote that. I was like, "Hmm, interesting." So I researched everything, okay? So the article that the CNN did was basically, I don't even know where they got their numbers from. I don't even know how they can write like that because... - Their imagination, that's where they got it from. - Like, the gun laws in Finland, and also generally like in the Scandinavia in general,
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the only reason you would own a gun
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is that you have to, like, first of all, do an exam.(...) I was depending on what type of,
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like, you need to have a reason. So if you go, if you're gonna hunt, like hunting, or sports, we have some sports that is like a shooting,(...) sports as well, when you go skiing and you shoot, like, there's a whole thing about that. And you need to have, go and get tested. And there's a lot of jurisdictions, and you can only use it when you do those activities. You have to carry the guns in a specific way. They have to be non-usable,(...) and only be transported to the event, and then back and then secured.(...) So there's like a whole thing where it's like, you can only use it for a specific thing you've been tested on, and that's it.
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And I have never heard that, like, the numbers, but I can read the small sections that I think is relevant for this whole... If you guys are interested in the gun laws in Finland, go ahead and research this, a lot of it online.
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But basically,(...) like,(...) individuals without a license may only use firearms under direct supervision. Unlawful possession of a firearm can result in fines or up to two years in prison, with harsher penalties for offenses involving fully automatic weapons or criminal activity.(...) So between 2010 and 2015, firearms were involved in 50% of all homicides in Finland, with the perpetrator illegally possessing the firearm in 73%(...) of cases.(...) The school shootings that they mentioned, or that is mentioned, there have been some school shootings between these years,
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each resulting in multiple fatalities, and the highlighted concerns from firearm and licensing.
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And in response, legislations was revised in 2011 to require two years of documented pistol shooting hobby for pistol licenses issued only to individuals aged 20 or older, aiming to enhance scrutiny and prevent misuses of firearms.
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So they did because of those events that happened, and also this case of Esa Okeland happened during those years also, kind of is the reason why I guess CNN kind of were doing that article,
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but they've been having a strict law when it comes to guns in general, so.
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- They still don't have the grounds to say anything(...) about anyone. - Yeah. - And this is coming from an American.
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Like gun laws are super lax in too many states,(...) and it sucks. - And it's not really lax, it's just I don't know how they're able to get the unlicensed guns in general.
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The laws here are very strict, and you can get fines and sentence in general, so I don't know why they think it's lax,(...) but yeah. - And also too, we have some states where basically you can just buy one, open carry,(...) doesn't matter if it's fully loaded. - Yeah, you can't do that over here. - And like some just like, you can't, I'm like, what are you talking about? - You have to do a whole thing to even be able to use them in activities like hunting or sports,(...) or other activities, but you can never own a gun for your own protection and use it for your own protection. You have to be a police officer and go a whole education. Like there are laws and structures,
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so I don't know why the article said that,
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but you know, yeah, it's drama, I guess, I don't know.
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- Yeah, I was just, I was just being a little sassy. But-- - Okay, sorry, yeah. - I was just being sassy, so I didn't wanna(...) strong arm the discussion with this consuming it, but I just found that ironic coming from America.
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But anyways,(...) there was also a lot of controversy regarding the whole Court of Appeals ruling on-- - Oh yeah. - But not just like whole situation,(...) and a lot of people felt like, okay, if he would have been in prison,
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convicted during this whole situation that this could have prevented later situations, and I'm just like, but it's hard to tell,(...) especially in this case, but not really in his case, but I don't know, let's just, I understand. I can just say that, I understand.(...) - I know when people say that, but also it's like,(...) I feel like they gave him a sentence, and then he's like, "Appeal, appeal." He's like throwing appeals everywhere.
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And then the only time the Court of Appeal(...) did not acquit him of anything was because of
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the last parvo incident, and they were like, yeah, we have evidence, we have cameras, we have everything, you did it. - And plus you've done this, or been in this situation two other times. - Yeah. - So now you're the pattern.(...) So it's undeniably not anyone else, it's you, you're the problem. - Yeah. And it's just like, I feel like he probably needed some anger kind of therapy or something, because every time he did everything, it was out of anger.(...) And I feel like they kind of just put him in jail, and then he did the whole, I guess after the wife,(...) he was in jail for, or in prison for 15 years.
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And then just like what, I guess a couple of months after that he did the parvo incident thing. - Wasn't even out that long. - He wasn't even out that long. And I'm like, come on guys, you have so much history of this guy.
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Like,(...) I don't know. - There should have been like some form, I don't know if they did an evaluation on him. - I mean, based on the situation of like, usually how they take care of,
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like try to not have criminals that repeat their crimes. Oh my God, I'm stumbling so much.
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It's like, usually they have countermeasures,(...) like, okay, you should get some help, do some therapy, as well as being in prison.
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So I don't know why they didn't really do that for him.
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Like, I don't know if he's still gonna be in prison or he's gonna be probably released because he got 50 years for the last one. - Yeah, so. - And then another thing's gonna happen and another thing and another thing is like,
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if it doesn't get help about his issues, he's gonna keep doing it, you know.
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- True. But what was the other thing as well that we didn't, what was it the,(...) I see here the racism.(...) So he was, what was his background again? He was. - Like the thing is, it was not really mentioned, but apparently he is a Finnish Romani.
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And I don't know if you guys know about Romani people in general and their history, but in Europe,
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the Romani community has not been seen as,
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they have been very mistreated and they're often associated or seen as like poor
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and they're usually blamed for like crimes and high crime rates and other things as well. And because they have a different culture and behaviors that is perceived as like an antisocial or inappropriate way(...) by the European society in general.(...) And for this reason,(...) discrimination against the Romani people keep existing and ongoing efforts about this is kind of like they try to address this issue and they try to like make people stop seeing Romani people this way, but it's not really doing anything. And after this incident, they kind of started mistreating even more the other Romani people living in Finland.
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So because like it's just not, you know, racism in general, but I don't know if you guys know about the history of the Romani community and if you're interested in that, there's also a ton of information about that as well. But a lot of the Romani community or the people in Finland was like feeling like because of this incident, their children and their family members are being mistreated and they shouldn't do that. - Yeah, it always sucks how like people find that excuse for like other groups of people like, oh, one person did this, oh, you're all like this. Oh, cause you know, I'm like, come on. - It's not like we're like, oh, I'm just very weak. He's white and he's, and all of every white people, oh my God, I'm just gonna give up in speaking. Thank you very much for coming. I'm just gonna go ahead and die, thank you.(...) - I'm so sorry. - What I was trying to say is that because somebody is doing something not that good, doesn't mean that everybody is bad. So, yes. - That's a very white, unfortunately,(...) thing.(...) But either way,(...) let us know what you think about this situation.
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It's not a long episode today, but interesting nonetheless, someone who just doesn't have any self control, who still technically, I guess, people classify as a serial killer due to the amount of people he killed, but you know, interesting. - Yeah, I wanted to talk about that as well, cause like I thought that being a serial killer was just like killing people more than once, that you are a serial killer, but you said that you have to be, you know, more than that. You have to have like a calculative methodical like reason you do things. And he was just going pure anger and stuff. - Not necessarily like methodical, like, oh yeah, so on 2 p.m. at this time, the sun is gonna hit the building at this point. Like not methodical in that sense. At least you, I don't know, maybe it's hard to describe, like usually when you say a serial killer, there's more intent,(...) you know, like there's more motivation behind the killing. - I mean, he was motivated to kill them. - He was motivated to kill them, but it was like, a situational, it was just situational. So let's say he was at home, it's not like you would leave his house and be like, I want to kill 10 people for such and such, but it was more like he would go out, something would happen, and then he would respond with violence. So that's kind of why I was like, I don't know if he's a serial killer per se, like I guess by the numbers, he would be classified as a serial killer, but in terms of like motivation and all that stuff, I feel like not really, he's just someone who had poor judgment, but like I said, I could be wrong, but that's just how I feel about it. - I mean, internet-wise, they have classified him as a, you know, as a serial killer, but you know, based on, I believe, I mean, you could be right as well, I just, in my opinion, I thought that being a serial killer was just, you know, killing a bunch of people, even if you're reactive or not reactive.
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- Mm-hmm. - Yeah. - But it could be like, because I feel like he just was mad every time, like somebody triggered him and he just like, boom, you know,
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compared to other serial killers that we have previously on the podcast, where it seemed to be more like targeting a certain people, a certain type of, you know,(...) and- - You know. - You just- - You just said, you know, targeting, you know, and then I was like, okay. - Yeah, I just, you know, I just give up. I can't, I'm sorry, guys, I can't speak today and I don't know why. I try, but it's not working. My brain is just lagging so much today and I apologize, I am trying. - So, just let me know what you think about this case and the situation and feel free to reach out. And if you enjoyed today's episode, or if you enjoy the podcast,
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be sure to leave us a nice little review, you know, we appreciate that, you know, we worked very hard in these episodes. - We're trying.(...) - And I guess to end everything on a good note, food. - I had an amazing dinner with some, it's like a pokeball, but like, it's like a healthy ball. I don't even know what else to call it. It's like a burger with some veggies and some yogurt and it was really yummy.
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- Mm,(...) sounds good.
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I would like,(...) I don't know. I don't know what I'm gonna move for today, you know? I'm kind of just like, you know, whatever. Nope, I'll go simple today. Nah, I don't want that.(...) I don't know. - How about some,(...) do you like pork?
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- What are you saying, do I like pork? Of course I like pork, you know this. I don't know, some people don't like pork.
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- I've made and eaten ribs. - I mean, I know, but like ribs and other parts are different.
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- Now you could have been like, oh, do you like pork loin? Did you just said pork? I'm like, what are you, I like bacon, I like ribs, I like pork belly, like. - Okay, pork belly, how about like a slow cooked like pork belly? - I'm not gonna lie, when I said that, I was like, yeah, I kind of want that now. - Because I saw a video and I'm still not. - There we go. (laughing)(...) - Yeah, it looked good. So I think I could probably go with some pork belly right now. - I saw a guy braid like pork belly. He's like braided it and then put it in a stove thingy. I smoked it. - That sounds nice. You know what, I should do that. You know, that sounds good.(...) But yeah, that's today's episode and we shall see you guys next time.
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Bye. - Bye.
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(upbeat music)