On the last day of the brutal murder of Kyllikki Saari, strange things happened. They were revealed in long-hidden papers that the Central Criminal Police made public in the spring of 2018.
■ It will be 70 years since Kiliki Sari’s death on Wednesday. This story was originally published in the summer of 2018 as part of an eight-part story series.
There was something very extraordinary about that Sunday, May 17, 1953. Sister Alli drew attention to it, as Kyaliki was never in the habit of doing so.
Kiliki went to rest in the middle of the day.
Otherwise the day passed quite normally. Killicky had gone to church and returned from there at about one o’clock in the day. As for his father Ino, he laughed with joy that it rained a little and got wet. Then he started drying his socks.
Then Kilikki went to rest. The mother thought that the tiredness was due to the Calmette vaccination given to Kylik a few days earlier. Kylecky was careful not to tell her mother about her pain, as she did not want to cause her worry.
Sister Allie thought that the rest was caused by a bicycle accident some years earlier in which Kilikki suffered a head injury.
At 5 pm, Maiju and Salme went to meet her friends from Kilikki. Tilailainen’s 22-year-old daughter Maiju and 17-year-old Kyllikki agreed to attend a spiritual festival in the evening at Kortinkila Public School, about 13 kilometers away. And at about 6 o’clock in the evening he went to Kylliki and, as usual, happily said to his mother Wilhelmina, “Okay, good-bye.”
These were the last words the mother heard Kylik say.
Before leaving, Kyliki takes Alli’s gloves as his own got wet on the rainy trip to church. To Alli, Kyliki whispered “Hey, that’s it.” Kyliki wraps Alli’s scarf around her neck.
On May 17, 1953, Kyllikki Sari was assassinated in Isojoki in his uniform. Photo: E. Peraluoma
The Study Club of Honkajoki Lauhlankyla Evangelical Youth Association visited the public school in Kortati village.
On Maundy Thursday, 14 May, Maiju and Kiliki had already tentatively agreed that they would go to the event, but Kiliki was a bit unsure about the outcome.
Kiliki had complained to Maiju that he had a head injury on Thursday. According to Kylik, it was at its worst when the head was tilted downward.
On Sunday, at Sarte’s house, the girls decided to meet at Dairy Crossing at 6.30 pm. Kilikki tells Maizu that he was scared about going home, but did not say why he was scared.
However, due to wrong timing the girls never met at the crossroads. They only met at Kortinckilla school. Both of them thought that the other would not come and waited for the other in vain and went to school alone.
It was very crowded on Sunday. Kailiki’s sister Auli and brother Kalevi also went to dance. Many youths went to dances in community halls, and families visited each other’s homes. Men in need of encouragement left their booze a mile or two away from the dance floor. Most of them danced with bright eyes in the early summer evenings.
The devotion ended before ten in the evening. Around 11:30 the girls started going home. In the yard, they still enjoy caramels offered by Eero, the farmer’s 23-year-old son.
Sirka, 21, asked Kilikki to come over to her house for the night, as Kilikki had announced earlier in the evening that she was afraid to go home. Kyllikki said that “in front of them was 6 kilometers of uninhabited forest, where there can be drunkards walking”, especially when the wedding was celebrated somewhere nearby. Despite her fears, Kyliki did not want to go to Sirka alone. Kyliki pleads that he still has to go home to change his clothes in the morning before going to work.
In the yard, Vinegar asks Killiki to come to his Pentecost. Then Kyliki joked that Sirka would come to his funeral. When Sirka points out that it is not appropriate to talk about funerals and again urges Kyliki to come for coffee on Pentecost, Kyliki promises to come and not talk more about his funeral. Sirka found Kylik’s statement special.
Kortteenkylä Folk School from where Kyllikki left for the spiritual occasion towards her home. Photo: Seppo Karki, IS
On the way home, Maizu and Kyllikki pass the Isozaki Savings Bank, which had become the pastor’s office due to renovations.
– Come back there tomorrow, Kilikki told Maizu.
At the beginning of the patch of woods along the road leading to Isojoki Church, there were some young men who passed their bicycles in front of the girls and said “we will not let the girls go anymore”.
A boy in military uniform followed the girls. The girls drove fast despite the weather being heavy after rain earlier in the day. At the first houses in Isojoki Church Village, Maiju’s skirt got caught between the rear wheel and the frame, when a boy in a military uniform approached the girls and asked: “What happened now?”
Maiju didn’t answer anything. The bursting of the skirt was inevitable. Kilikki said he saw a young man in military uniform at the church that same day. Kilikki was afraid of the young man because of his strange behavior, but did not tell Maizu about the matter in more detail.
The girls left behind a young man in military uniform, and he followed them with his eyes.
In front of the pharmacy, they see their friend Eila, whom Kilikki asks if her sister Alli was at Yettalo’s dance. When Kilikki received a positive answer, he asked Eela to send congratulations to her sister.
Some young men on bicycles met him at Liha-Oscu’s house. At the fork in the road leading to Honkanemi village, he saw a couple returning from the same spiritual festival and a woman.
Maijukin asked Kyaliki to walk him home for the night, but Kyaliki wanted to go home. Kiliki complained that his legs were tired.
At the crossroads of the dairy the young women parted.
– Is it not going to happen now, as it used to happen before. Goodbye, Maiju, Kilikki said and started paddling alone towards their home in Hikkila village.
Here Kilikki parted ways with her friend Maiju and started paddling towards home. Photo: Seppo Karki, IS
Jakko, a 46-year-old road worker, returned on Sunday evening from the village of Heikila from a meeting of the Pentecostal movement, where Veiko Vahmus preached. When they had traveled about 1.5 kilometers from “Siltsund” towards Isojoki, a 42-year-old rental car driver Vilho drove against them. Before the Peterinkanga intersection, a young woman rode against them on a bicycle.
Jakko had only seen Kylliki once before, in Victor’s office, so he could not be 100% certain that the woman who was driving hard was Kylliki. The signs matched. Jakko, who is hard of hearing, didn’t hear any strange noises on his way home. He went home with his sick wife.
According to the police, Jakos was the last person to see Kylic alive. The next opponent was an assassin.
Kailiki’s brother Kalevi, 22, came home from dancing around 0:20. On the way home, only a truck and two motorcyclists met Kalev between the road leading to the dance floor and the Pantani Road crossing. On the road leading to Isojoki, Kalev was met by two men on bicycles.
When he got home, Kalevi immediately noticed that Kyliki was not at home. Kylik’s overcoat was also missing from its usual place on the coat rack. Kalevi thought that his sister had stayed in the church village for the night, as this had happened before, and fell asleep.
Concerned family members of Kyaliki photographed the time when Kyaliki was still missing.
When there was no response from Kylik on Monday, my mother became worried. The family thought that Kylick was also working at the rectory and was still living with his friends. On Tuesday, the concern increased so much that the relatives called the priest at 8 pm. The news came from there that Kyliki had not turned up for work.
It was not girlish at all. The father reported Kyaliki’s disappearance to his namesake Eino Sipila in Isojoki District. The next morning, the first search was conducted. One after another was discovered, but those who went in chains had to return to their homes empty-handed and with their heads down.
The police asked the parents what could have happened to the girl. The mother told the police that Kyliki could not be persuaded to go on any adventure through reconciliation, much less that Kyliki would get into a car through reconciliation.
The father told police “there is nothing to be seen in Kyaliki now that would give reason to suspect that she set her own day”. Anna, an 18-year-old friend, also said that she did not see any “soulful pregnancy” in Kailiki before she disappeared.
It was also the father’s understanding that Kailiki had been violently abducted in a car or else run away from the village.
In October 2012, a sign leading to the moored grave of Kyaliki Sari was scratched off and covered with Isozaki’s autograph. Photo: Pirjo Latva-Mantila
There is only one strange auditory observation in the early summer night. Hilma, a 66-year-old farm worker, went to see her cows in their mouths and when she returned to her apartment, she heard a cry: “For God’s sake, come and help.” The shout scared Hilma, she thought a fight was going on.
Hilma could not say with certainty that the scream was from a woman, but her understanding was that at least it was not from a man. According to Hilma, it was half past twelve at that time.
Sources: KRP: The Killiki Saari Murder Investigation, Kallio and Vesa: The Kiliki Saari Riddle.
In early 2018, the Central Criminal Police announced an investigation into Kiliki Saari’s murder, containing thousands of pages of classified material. Ilta-Sanomat went through the material and based on it told the story of Kylik and the open murder investigation in an eight-part story series.
fact
This is how events unfolded
19 May: Missing person reported from Kailiki.
May 20: About 30 men from the neighborhood begin at 6 a.m. searching the forest on both sides of the Panten-Isojoki road and up to the dairy intersection.
May 21: “The Big Expensive”. Around 500-600 local people participate in the search.
May 23: Area search in Karhukanka locality with the help of Vasa LP constables and local residents.
June 7: Field exploration in the area of Loha. About 300 men from Koujoki and a large number from Isojoki, as well as men from the Wasa and Senajoki LP commandos.
June 18: Searches in the area of Karhukanka. Two non-commissioned officers of the Kaletoman depot inspect Iso- and Pieni Kaivoneva with mine detectors. About 150 people are looking for Vasa LP men and citizens.
June 19: Search with mine rake at same location and alleged scene at Petukanka.
July 19: Field search in the area of Langinkoski in Merikarvia to trace the movements of the strange woman seen there. Inspector Axel Skogman and about 30 civilians are involved in the search.
