New documents reveal tragic life of killer in forgotten mass murder

New archival documents obtained by Yle have shed light on a 150-year-old mass murder in Finland, revealing that the killer’s life was marked by personal tragedy. Heikki Antinpoika Kempe, suffering from mental health problems, killed five people with an axe at the Vähätryykärin farm in Huittinen in early June 1875 and seriously wounded a sixth.

A district court in Huittinen examined the case two months later. Officials declared Kempe insane, using the contemporary term “mielipuoli” or “houru”, and he was not sentenced. The case was then sent to the Turku Court of Appeal, which also ruled that Kempe had been “afvita” (insane) and could not be punished. The ruling was recently located in the court’s archives after a tip to Yle.

Church records detail Kempe’s tragic life. Born in 1834, he lost both parents in the 1850s and worked as a farmhand before marrying Johanna Kallentyttären in 1862. The couple’s first child died at six months. In 1868, his wife and three-year-old son Fredrik died of illnesses. Church records then noted that Kempe was “inte vetande” (without understanding).

Newspapers reported in June 1875 that Kempe had been cared for in a farm in the village of Sammun for five years, where he was chained to a wall, indicating his dangerousness was known. After the court proceedings, he was returned to Huittinen. He died in May 1879 in the same village where he committed the killings. The cause of death was listed as “oangifven” (undefined).

The case has drawn renewed attention, with a Wikipedia article now created and activity on the genealogy site geni.com.