Police in east Jutland have confirmed that human remains discovered in a wooded area close to Tirstrup Lufthavn near Aarhus belongs to Lisbet Nielsen, the 46-year-old nurse who went missing nine years ago.
Bjarne Østergaard, the former partner of Nielsen, was arrested in October 2009 and charged with killing Nielsen, but he committed suicide shortly after being arrested and was therefore never convicted.
“It’s a very tragic case, which has now reached its conclusion,” said Rene Raffo, a police inspector with East Jutland Police.
“The coroners will try to find a cause of death, but it could be very difficult based on the few items we have that have been exposed to the elements for so many years.”
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Three times a lady killer
Østergaard had already killed two women before meeting Nielsen. In 1983, and just 16, he strangled 15-year-old Birthe Simonsen in an act of jealousy, and he did the same to Vivian Nielsen, 21, in 1991.
The high court sent him to a psychiatric hospital as he was found to be a schizophrenic, but in 2005 he was released after being declared healthy.
Nielsen’s next of kin have been informed of the discovery, which was made by a group of hunters and a dog on Sunday. She was officially declared dead by a court in Aarhus in 2010.
