Police files reveal how man froze parents for 30 years

An 81-year-old man accused of freezing his parents’ bodies for 30 years appeared in court on Friday, Yle reports. He faces two charges of disturbing the peace of the dead in the Southwest Finland District Court.

The prosecutor is seeking a suspended prison sentence or, at minimum, a substantial fine.

Police found the bodies two years ago during a search of a detached house in Turku. The man’s father had died in October 1994 and his mother in March 1995.

One body came from a university, the other from a hospital

Police have investigated how the man obtained the bodies and brought them to freezers in an outbuilding at the house.

According to the preliminary investigation material, the father’s body was handed to the man’s elder son after a forensic autopsy. A person who worked at the University of Turku at the time told police that the body had been stored in a freezer there for about six months.

The witness was not present when the body was taken away, but said the professor who headed the forensic medicine department at the time knew the man planned to freeze his father.

The man collected his mother’s body from a hospital in Mariehamn using a van. He told police that nobody at the hospital questioned the transfer. The body was transported from Åland to Turku and placed in a freezer next to her already deceased husband.

The accused has said that his mother’s wish was to be placed next to her husband.

Parents allegedly wanted cryogenic preservation

No clear motive has been established. The man has said that he was following instructions from his father and that both parents wanted to be transferred to a specialised cryogenic facility in the United States. He told police that he did not have the resources to carry out the move.

The man also said he had not knowingly disturbed the peace of the dead. Both parents died of natural causes, and police found no crime connected to their deaths.

The parents’ names were engraved on a gravestone at a cemetery in Turku. In police interviews, the elder son said the stone had been made at their parents’ instruction as a cover, so it would not be revealed that they had not been buried in the grave.

The man has worked as a doctor and holds a senior position in a company whose stated business is providing services for funeral industry offices.

Freezers found in an outbuilding

Neither brother visited the freezers in the outbuilding. When police found them in 2024, only one was running. Asked about this in an interview, the man said his own problems had been overwhelming and that he had been unable to think about the matter.

One of the freezers was secured with a chain and a padlock. Its edges had also been sealed with duct tape.