Police suspect man of two murders after Vaasa killing and fatal crash

Yle reports that a 27-year-old man has been remanded in custody on suspicion of two murders and two attempted murders linked to two incidents in the Vaasa region on Saturday.

A woman was found dead early Saturday in an apartment building fire in Palosaari, a district of Vaasa. Police suspect the man killed her and deliberately started the fire. The woman and the suspect were in a relationship.

Police allege that the man then fled by car and deliberately crashed into another vehicle in Laihia. The driver of the oncoming car died, while both passengers were injured. Police are investigating the driver’s death as murder and the acts against the passengers as two attempted murders.

A third car was also damaged in the collision, and its driver suffered minor injuries.

The suspect left the crash scene on foot. Police used a dog to track him for about three kilometres before finding him in a residential area, where he had gone to ask for help.

After the suspect was detained, police learned that the crash had been preceded by the fire in Palosaari. Officers who arrived at the apartment found the door extremely hot and the flat filled with smoke. They did not enter, instead calling the rescue service and evacuating other residents of the building. The rescue service extinguished the fire.

According to the police, the fire was deliberately started. The car involved in the crash, however, appears to have been selected at random. The suspect is also being investigated for aggravated criminal damage and aggravated endangerment of traffic safety. Police said they have no records of intimate partner violence between the suspect and the woman.