Court to examine remote site where Saara Arva’s remains were found

Yle visited the remote peninsula where Saara Arva’s remains were found before the trial of Mika Moring, 54, begins on Thursday in the Northern Savonia District Court. Moring faces charges of manslaughter and aggravated deprivation of liberty.

Arva’s remains were discovered in Vesanto, a municipality in Northern Savonia, in April 2024. She had been missing for almost five years.

Arva was last reliably seen alive on 31 August 2019 at Neituri Canal, on the border between Vesanto and Konnevesi in Central Finland. She was 35 when she died.

The discovery site is difficult to reach on foot. From a quiet gravel road, a smaller forest road leads into the woods. After about 15 minutes by car and more than half an hour walking through difficult terrain, the route reaches a point roughly half a kilometre from the peninsula, where an ice fisherman found Arva’s remains.

The terrain includes steep changes in elevation and slippery, moss-covered rocks. Reaching the peninsula by boat would be considerably easier than travelling there on foot.

Moring denies the charges. He has told police that he last saw Arva on 1 September 2019, after they had argued and she had walked away.

Arva and Moring met in Helsinki in April 2019. They then travelled together in Moring’s car to Lapland before arriving in Northern Savonia at the beginning of May.

Prosecutors allege that Moring kept Arva against her will from late April or early May until her death.

Moring has been described in the media as a serial predator because he drove several women around Finland and subjected them to physical and sexual violence. This is the first time he has faced a homicide charge in court.

In December 2025, the Helsinki Court of Appeal sentenced Moring to six years in prison for several violent and sexual offences. In June 2024, the Turku Court of Appeal sentenced him to more than two years in prison for rape, assault and deprivation of liberty.

The peninsula will be a central part of the trial. At the prosecutor’s request, the court will conduct an inspection at the place where Arva’s remains were found. Such inspections are rare in court proceedings.

Prosecutor Antti Lampén said the purpose was to demonstrate how much easier it would be to reach the site by boat than on foot, and how unlikely it would be for someone to arrive there through the forest without a specific reason.

Arva’s disappearance and the discovery of her remains have been widely discussed in Vesanto, which has fewer than 1,800 residents. The case has also deeply affected people living near the discovery site.

Esko Salo, a criminal commissioner with the Eastern Finland Police Department, led the investigation into Arva’s disappearance. He has described the case as the most challenging of his career, partly because police were never certain they were searching for the remains in the correct area.