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.