Norwegian man charged with murder of Swedish woman in 2024

Norwegian national Steinar Wangen has been formally charged with the murder of a Swedish woman in Trollhättan in autumn 2024, NRK reports. The trial is set to begin in Tønsberg District Court on 4 June.

Wangen, who gained notoriety after admitting in a 2024 TV 2 documentary to assisting in multiple deaths, denies criminal liability. According to the indictment, he allegedly smothered the victim with a pillow. His defence lawyer, Gaute Nilsen, confirmed to Dagbladet that Wangen disputes the charges and will present his account when the trial opens.

The prosecution has not ruled out seeking preventive detention (forvaring), a Norwegian legal measure allowing indefinite imprisonment for offenders deemed a persistent danger to society.

Wangen was previously convicted in 2024 by Søndre Østfold District Court for aiding the suicide of a Norwegian woman in Strömstad, Sweden, receiving an eight-year sentence with five years suspended. Swedish authorities have linked him to four additional cases of encouraged or assisted suicides.

In hidden-camera footage from the TV 2 documentary Dødsenglene (Angels of Death), Wangen described his method as placing a pillow over a person’s face and sitting on it with a coffee cup while they died. He was arrested in Strömstad in November 2024 immediately after an interview with TV 2’s investigative programme Norge bak fasaden (Norway Behind the Façade), believing he was meeting a woman seeking help to end her life.