Found Deceased Norway - Arne Odd Torgersen, 22, Mandal, 18 January 1955

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

A recent discovery in the Norwegian town of Mandal might end the mystery of the disappearance of Arne Odd Torgersen in 1955. 64 years after his disappearance, the 22 year old might finally have been located.

Torgersen disappeared the day before he and a friend were to appear in court, charged with burglary. The friend and his family were considered POIs, even arrested, but had to be released due to the lack of evidence, and the case went cold.

In May, Kjell Norli discovered a skull while planting potatoes on his property and called the local police. However, LE concluded that the skull was "several hundreds years old" at the time, but this might have been an error on the LE's part since Norli recently discovered rubber boots containing skeletal remains in the same area where he earlier found the skull. The grave also contained a rifle, a clock, an pen, and a bottle containing an unknown substance.
The remains have been taken to Rikshospitalet, but any results will probably take months.

– I am 99% sure of it [that this is Torgersen], especially because of the rifle found with the remains. The rifle was never found and was even sought after in the media at the time. I assume the conclusion will be that these remains are those of Torgersen, says Norli.

Fant beinrester – kan stamme fra 64 år gammel forsvinningssak

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

A recent discovery in the Norwegian town of Mandal might end the mystery of the disappearance of Arne Odd Torgersen in 1955. 64 years after his disappearance, the 22 year old might finally have been located.

Torgersen disappeared the day before he and a friend were to appear in court, charged with burglary. The friend and his family were considered POIs, even arrested, but had to be released due to the lack of evidence, and the case went cold.

In May, Kjell Norli discovered a skull while planting potatoes on his property and called the local police. However, LE concluded that the skull was "several hundreds years old" at the time, but this might have been an error on the LE's part since Norli recently discovered rubber boots containing skeletal remains in the same area where he earlier found the skull. The grave also contained a rifle, a clock, an pen, and a bottle containing an unknown substance.
The remains have been taken to Rikshospitalet, but any results will probably take months.

– I am 99% sure of it [that this is Torgersen], especially because of the rifle found with the remains. The rifle was never found and was even sought after in the media at the time. I assume the conclusion will be that these remains are those of Torgersen, says Norli.

Fant beinrester – kan stamme fra 64 år gammel forsvinningssak

The bones found in September 2019 was identified in November being those of Arne Odd Torgersen. A 64 year old mystery has come to an end.

Forsvant i 1955 - likfunn identifisert
The human remains were identified by dental comparison to the missing man. Other collected material (which was vast) from the original investigation in the 50s were also used in the identification process, according to the local LE.

This interview with Torgersen's cousin is very touching. She's obviously relieved to finally get answers to what happened to her family member and talks about being able to bury him decently.
I 64 år har Elin (75) lurt på hvor fetteren ble av: – Han skal få en grav

 

[Richard]

Arne Odd Torgersen, 22, went missing 18 January 1955. Photo at right was a search conducted at the time which was unsuccessful.

His body has now been found and identified - 65 years after his murder.

 

[Richard]

It would be interesting to know more about the circumstances of Arne's murder and secret burial. Have police developed any suspects?

This case is a hot topic in Norway as noted by all their news articles about it.

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

This case is a hot topic in Norway as noted by all their news articles about it.

Is it? There's really been only one update since the identification of his remains last winter, and that is his funeral a couple a months ago. All the news articles you are referring to might just be all the local newspapers throughout the country reporting the same updates.

It would be interesting to know more about the circumstances of Arne's murder and secret burial. Have police developed any suspects?

There are several theories (one of them in the first post of this thread), but it seems like his family has accepted that his case might not be fully solved. Due to the circumstances of Arne's disappearance, homicide is suspected, though.

I am not sure if the case will be further investigated since it happened before July 1st 1989, and the statute of limitations has passed (the statute of limitations on murder was abolished by a change in law on July 1st 2014, causing any murders committed after July 1st 1989 to have no statute of limitations).


Arne Odd Torgersen bisettes i hjembygda

64 år gammel forsvinningssak løst