S04 Episode 17: Appearing is Being (Pt.2 of 2)

in store. Airport Home Appliance unbeatable price selection and people You're listening to unexplained. Season four, episode seventeen, appearing is being part two of two. The night was still safe for the ghostly clanking of the boats in the harbor as they bulbed gent up and down in the ice cold water. Up above, thick dark clouds swirled as a ceaseless barrage of snow fell steadily onto everything in sight.

From opposite the harbor, the doors of the half naf Chudda town hall swung open, rupturing for a moment the silence of the sleepy Icelandic fishing town with a blast of ecstatic rock music. Eighteen year old Guthmunda Insen and his friend stumbled out of the doorway into the snow as the door whipped shut behind them, muffling the music

from inside. Laughing together, Kuthmunda took a swig from a bottle of brandy while his friend lit up a cigarette and gazed out across the harbor for a moment before the pair of them disappeared into the snow elsewhere and half Nafudda. That night, just around the corner from the harbor, Urtler was returning to her flat since her boyfriend Cyvar, who had the only key, wasn't in. Ergler made her way to the basement window, prized it open, and carefully

squeezed herself into the apartment. Stumbling toward her bed, she collapsed on to it, exhausted. Some time later, Ergler was awoken by the sound of voices in the apartment. Getting up to investigate, she traced them to the storage room, where she discovered Civar, his friend Christian, and another man carrying something heavy in a fetid sheet. She watched as they placed it on the floor, and Civar and Christian

tied each end into a knot. Though she couldn't see what was in it, She had the horrible sense that it was a body. It was only then that Christian saw Urgler standing in the doorway. Angered by her presence, he ordered the others to pick up the bundle, and together they bashed past Ergler and disappeared out of the apartment. Civar returned moments later and told Ergler, under no uncertain terms, never to breathe a word of what she had just

seen to anyone, and then left again. Confused and scared, Ergler went back to bed and eventually fell asleep. The next morning, she noticed a bedsheet at the bottom of the rubbish been outside that was covered in fieces Ergla sat back and waited for a response from the three men sat opposite her, investigating Magistrate orn Hoskuldsen, Detective Sigibune Eggertson, and Detective Eggart Janissen, but it was already clear from the look on their faces that this answer had been

far more satisfactory. Over the next six hours, as the detectives dug into the specifics, suggesting other possibilities to Urdler, they finally had a statement they were happy with. After thanking the young woman for contributing to justice. Os Gooldsen told her she was now free to go, vowing that she would no doubt sleep peacefully, knowing the real truth

was now out. That afternoon, Urdler was released and returned home to her baby Julia, But the real nightmare had only just begun, and Urdler would not be awakening from this one anytime soon. Having been placed back in solitary confinement, Urdler had laid down on the thin mattress and gazed up at the ceiling as the light slowly ebbed away.

Alone in the pitch black, Urdler thought hard about that night, trying desperately to make solid any of the half formed images that were swirling about in the stuttering zeotrope of her mind. She had read once before that trauma could affect memory. Maybe she really had suppressed what actually took place. Maybe the men really had been in her apartment, as her scoldson suggested, and maybe it was them who put

the sheet in the bin and not her. In the end, Urdler had decided just to give them what they wanted, a plausible version of a truth, anything to see her three month old baby again. Later that afternoon, a bleary eyed Cyvar was dragged from his cell and taken to the corner interview room. Having been re arrested a few days before, he'd been questioned numerous times about the post office scam, denying everything before the officers shifted their focus

on to GUTHMUNDA. Ineson's disappearance, but Civar had been utterly bamboozled, telling them that he had absolutely nothing to do with it. Oskoldsen threw some papers towards Cyvar and told him to read them. Civar seemed confused, so Hoskoldsen saved him the trouble and detailed to him exactly what Erdler had told

them only hours before. Cyvar was dumb struck. It just wasn't true, he insisted, But as the officers explained just how bad this looked for him, his own partner, placing him not only at the scene of the crime, but as perhaps one of its main instigators. How did he

think the courts might see it? Did he really expect them to side with the drug dealing, feckless young man who'd spent time growing up in care or the young woman whose only focus in life was to protect and look after the child that he barely even acknowledged, not that they were in any rush to get to the bottom of it. After all, they'd already had a court order to keep him in solitary confinement for the next forty days, and it wouldn't be difficult to ask for

a few more. And soon Civar was beginning to question his memories of that night too. After another six hour interrogation, as plumes of thick cigarette smoke swirled about the room, Civar shifted uncomfortably in his seat and began to talk. It had been late in the evening when he returned to the apartment in harn Afterda, having just got back from a trip abroad to buy hash. He remembered his friends Christian Vdersen and Trigg v Leeson came over to see him, and that the three of them had hung

out for a short while. At some point, though he didn't know who invited him, Gudmunda Ineson had joined them too. That had been a discussion about buying alcohol, and it was decided that Gudmunda should pay for it, but when he refused to, a fight broke out. The next thing they knew, good Wunda was dead. Though it had been an accident, He Christian and Triggviy decided in fear to dispose of the body and try their best to cover it up. Since they didn't have a car, Civar called

his friend Albert Scaffson to pick them up. When he arrived soon after, they placed the body in the boot of his car and dumped it down a crevasse somewhere in the lava fields just south of half an Alford, and that was everything he could remember. Later that afternoon, having returned to her mother's home, Hurdler broke down in tears at the sight of her baby, taking her into her arms for the first time in over a week.

At night, she will lie awake, replaying the days earlier events and over in her head as strange and confused flashbacks from the night of Guthmunder's disappearance echoed throughout her mind. She'd given the detectives what they wanted, making up the first version that seemed to make sense, But now when she thought hard about it, with so many versions of the story in her mind, she was no longer quite sure what she had made up and what she hadn't.

At least, she thought all they had was a story without a body or any other evidence, surely they would have no choice but to let Civar go. For a start, with their apartment block being as small as it was, there was no way a fight could have broken out that night without the neighbors having heard it. But the police never spoke to the neighbors to find out. Instead, armed with what they believed to be two solid confessions

born Hoskuldson's team moved fast. Within days had Christian, Triggvie, and Albert all under arrest and placed in solitary confinement. Twenty year old Christian, who was brought over from another prison where he was already serving time for theft. He'd known good munder back from when they were both at school together, but as he repeatedly insisted to the frustrated police officers, contrary to Ertler and Cyvar's statement, he had

nothing to do with his disappearance. After hours of interrogation, he remained resolute, eventually refusing to answer any more questions without a lawyer present in response, while Scoldson presented Earler and Cyvar's signed statements to the nation's High Court and successfully argued to have Christian remanded in solitary confinement for

another ninety days. Next up was twenty four year old triggvi Like Civar and Christian, Triggvie had been in and out to prison for various petty crimes and was well versed in the mechanations of the law. Like Christian, he too maintained that he hadn't been at Urdin's flat on the night in question. He too was remanded in custody and placed in solitary confinement for a minimum of ninety days, in the hope that he might better remember the events of that night. Albert was the last to be picked up.

He was different from the others, having come from a more academic background, his father being a member of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra. A big weed smoker, Albert had been smoking for some time when the police arrived at his

apartment to arrest him. Unused to interrogation procedures and with no lawyer present, it wasn't long before the insistent investigators began to get under his skin as they pressed harder and harder, telling him how they knew he was involved and what he'd done that night, making it very clear how much trouble he was in and how much worse it might get should he not comply. Finally, Albert began to talk, confirming Civar's statement that he'd received his call

late that night. He recounted how he pulled up to Saivar and Erdler's apartment in his dad's yellow Toyota and sat in the dim sodium glow of a nearby streetlight, watching through the rear view mirror as Civar, Christian and Trygvey placed something heavy in the boot of his car. They then ordered him to drive out to the lava fields,

where he assumed they dumped the body. Thirty minutes later, Albert was driven out to the Raikivik Peninsula and to the lava fields just south of Half Naftyuda in the hope that he might be able to recollect exactly where they'd stopped that night. However, forty five minutes Albert had seen nothing that he recognized. He was taken immediately back to Siddamuli Prison and remanded in custody for another forty

five days. At night, alone in their cells, it was a constant battle to get to sleep, as each endless minute dissolved into the next with the sound of distant waves crashing against rocks. On the shoreline their only sense of the outside world. All notions of reality were fast becoming unstable. Perhaps they really had been there, they thought, suddenly confronted with the uncertainty of their own paths. But no,

they would keep telling themselves they knew they hadn't done it. Angered, scared and confused, most of them would go days without any rest at all, sometimes being kept up deliberately by the guards under instruction to keep them on their toes. Some nights, voices could be heard coming from the cells as the prisoners talk to themselves, and all were given

numerous drugs to help calm them down. As nineteen seventy six dawned, though they had some fairly incriminating statements, Ornhoskoldsen's team were yet to find any concrete evidence linking any of their suspects to Gudmunda's murder, and as each suspect was confronted and reconfronted with each other's supposed version of events, soon the accounts of what actually took place that night

began to morph and mutate. A new account by Ciba had him as an innocent bystander caught up in Christian and triggvi's nefarious schemes, with Christian delivering the fatal blow to Gudmunda and Albert later arriving in a Volkswagen not

at Toyota. When told this new account by investigators, Christian finally appeared to crack, telling the officers he had been there after, but in fact it was him who was the innocent bystander, too stoned out of his mind to have done anything with Civar and trigg V killing Guthmunda

in a vicious fight. After twenty two hours of questioning, trig V two appeared to crack, only in his version it was Christian and Civar who'd beaten Guthmunda to death, though he had no recollection of where exactly it had taken place. Are you always taking care of your family? Do you often take care of others and not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself, to make time for you. You deserve it. TELEODOC gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you get back to

feeling your best to feeling like yourself again. With tele ADOC, you can speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven days a week from seven am to nine pm. Low good time. If you feel overwhelmed. Sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely, or you might be struggling with a personal or family issue,

teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy to change counselors if needed. For free. Teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or visit teledoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained podcast Today to get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained Podcast. Back at Earthless Mother's house, Earthler was puzzled as to why Civar and his friends had not

yet been released. A few days later, detective Sigibu and Eggerson called at the property to let her know that she had nothing more to worry about. The others had confessed to the murder. Urgler sat dumfounded for a moment, trying to take it in. So it hadn't been a dream after all. She thought they really had been there,

but Urgler was at a loss to explain it. Over the next few weeks, Detective Eggutson would make a number of visits to Ergler's mother's house to check up on Urdler, who, with Civar in custody and few friends to call on, was thankful for his support. At one point, Ergler asked if Eggutsson would escort her to get some clothes from her apartment in Hanaf Judah, the place having been sealed off as a crime scene ever since her arrest. Eggertsson was happy to oblige and offered to take her there

himself while she gathered what she needed. Eggertson surprised her with an unexpected question. Had she ever heard of geffener Inesen, he asked, the man who disappeared mysteriously back in November of the previous year, Yes, she said, Like many people, she'd watched the reports about it on the news. Then Eggittson asked her, was there any chance that Cyvar had

something to do with his disappearance? Taken aback, Burgler thought for a moment, trying to remember that night that she and Cyber had heard about it on the news, and how blase he'd seemed about it. The question seemed innocent enough, and Eggertson had been so kind to her that she thought it at least worth, mentioning what Cyva had said that night, that Geffener had obviously said something out of

line and be murdered for it. Later, when Detective Eggertson dropped her back at her mother's, Urdler insisted that Cyva hadn't meant anything by the comment and asked if they could keep it between the two of them as friends. The next day, there was a knock at the door. Urdler opened it to find Detective Eggittson standing there next to another man she recognized all too well, Investigative Magistrate

Orn Hoskoldsen. Referring to what Urtler had told Eggotson only the day before, Hoskoldsen explained that he had reason to believe that she had experienced another trauma regarding Geffner Einesen, and once again he wanted to help her to remember. For whatever reason, Orn Hooskoldsen's team had come to regard Civar as the focal point of their investigation. Head of Customs Christian Petersen, who'd long had his own suspicions about him,

had also been pushing his theories about Civar. It was his belief that Geffner Einesen's disappearance had in some way been connected to an alcohol smuggling ring that he had reason to believe Civar might have been involved with. Two Petersen had also been running checks on any individuals who left the country around the time of Geffner's disappearance. It just so happened that only days after Geffenner was last seen at the Harbor Cafe in Kevlovich, Cyvar and Erler

fled to Denmark. In late January nineteen seventy six, a wholly disorientated Cyvar was pulled out a solitary confinement and asked if he knew Geffenner Einesen like everyone else. He explained he'd heard about him on the news, but nothing more. Then Hoskoldsen slipped a piece of paper in front of him. It seemed innocuous at first, a story from Erdler recounting how her half brother Einar had orchestrated a pyramid scheme that resulted in him and his friends receiving numerous free

bottles of whisky to the police. However, it was a vital thread. Einar a friend of Voldemir Olsen's brother of Erla's friend Holder, who was in turn a friend of Magnus Leah Poldsen, the manager of Klubrin nightclub in Reikyovik, the man who some police suspected of making the corps that had summoned Geffner Esen to the Harbor Cafe and Kevlovich before he disappeared. Ainah had always been suspicious and

dismissive of Civar. At one point early in his and Erdler's relationship, Einah had even convinced his father to sell his apartment in half Nafjorda, where Erdler lived, in an attempt to disrupt the relationship. So when Herskoldson presented Civar with this new story, he saw an opportunity to get his revenge. He had been with geffenner Essen that night he disappeared, after all, he told the police, and Aina

had been there too that afternoon. He went on to recount how on the night of Geffner's disappearance, Aina Bolason, Magnus Leopoldsen and Voldemir Olsen had picked him up from his mother's house and taken him to Kevlevik, where soon after they met up with Geffner. While Magnus and Voldemar accompanied Geffner out onto the water to retrieve a shipment of alcohol. Einer and Civar were told to wait for them.

After driving round Kevlevik for an hour, they returned to the harbor to find only Magnus and Voldemar waiting for them. Looking distressed, Geffner had somehow fallen overboard and drowned. Oskoldsen ordered the officers to bring Urtler back in for questioning immediately. At first, she insisted she had no knowledge of where Civar had apparently been that night, But slowly she began to open up to the officers, and soon the story was morphing again. Yes, Civa had been there, she said,

but so had she. In fact, it was her who'd accompanied Cyvar and Magnus Leopoldsen to Kevlevich, not Einar and Voldemar, and christ Jan had been there too, waiting at the harbor when they arrived, alongside Aina and Geffena. The last thing she remembered was seeing a fight break out and running away, scared to hide in a derelict building nearby. Next christ Jan was pulled out a solitary and told

to explain his whereabouts that night. So Weary and scrambled by sleeping pills and anxiety suppressants, he was barely able to string a sentence together. However, despite first denying any involvement, by the end of the interview, Christian had placed himself at the scene with a vague account of large boats silhouetted in a dimly lit dock and the cases of

people that may or may not have been there. Irritated by his incomprehensible statement, the police sent him back to his cell to think a little harder about that night and turned their attentions to Einar Magnus and Voldemar. Thankfully, for Triggviy, he had a cast iron alibi for the knight of Geffenner's disappearance, and so for the next few months was more or less forgotten about, left to stew alone in his cell while hos Gooldsen's team concentrated on

the Geffener case. Sadly, for them, despite the apparent witness statements from Earler, Saivar and Christian, neither Eina Magnus of Voldemar were so easily swayed. Each denied emphatically that they'd been anywhere near Kevlevik harbor on the night in question. Much less were involved in Geffener's disappearance. All had strong alibis too, Regardless, Thus Goldson's team once again convinced the courts to keep them in custody and were all duly

placed in solitary confinement. Since the turn of the new year, news of the investigation had been steadily drip fed to the media, and by March the nation was gripped. For a country not used to reading about violent crimes on its own doorstep, the fact that good Munder's and Geffener's disappearances might not only be the result of murder but could also be linked was especially thrilling. That a small group of what were effectively kids might be involved was

all the more titillating. Focus inevitably turned to Urdler and Civar's relationship, with many reporters keen to portray Saivar as Iceland's own version of Charles Manson, with Erdler his ever faithful disciple. In March, born Hos Goodsen held a press conference detailing his team's latest findings. Civar, Christian Tryg v Albert Einar Magnus Voldemar, and Erdler were all implicated in the supposed murder of either Guthmunda or Gefferson, and in

some cases both. Over the next few months, the police, having begun to suspect that Geffener's body had also been dumped somewhere in the lava fields, scoured every inch of the area for any sign of that or Guthmunder's body, but found nothing, nor did they find anything in Erdler

and Civar's flat to incriminate any of the suspects. Becoming increasingly desperate, they continued to bring each of the suspects out to the apparent scene of the crime in the hope of jogging their memory as to where the bodies were. Christian was even made to re enact a possible version of Geffener's murder, but none of it brought any real evidence to light. In May, Ertler was brought back in for questioning, and by the following day her story had

changed again. Not only had she seen Geffera killed, but it was her that had killed him, shooting him with the rifle that Civer had handed to her on the night. A few days later, with the combination of good legal representation and their solid alibis, the police were forced to let Einar, Voldemar and Magnus go. Each had been kept for a hundred and five days in solitary confinement, with not one shred of evidence connecting them to either Guthmunda

or Gefferson's disappearance. Not one of them would fully recover from the ordeal, with many thanks to the reports and the press continuing to suspect that perhaps they had been

involved after all. Now without a driver for the narrative of how Civar, Ler and Christian had met Geffener at Keflevik Harbor, the police swiftly arrested Civar's old drug smuggling companion, Gujean Skephardinson, kept under similar circumstances to the other suspects, Gudjohn would too, eventually confess to assisting in the murder

of Geffner Einesen. Throughout the summer of nineteen seventy seven, all suspects were brought before the High Court to give their testimonies regarding Guthmunder and Gefferson's apparent murders in December, despite not having a single piece of evidence to support it, save for the various and conflicting confessions, all of which

each defendant would retract at one point or another. The High Court of Iceland found Civar Christian trygv Gujon, Albert and Erdler all guilty for being involved in the murder of Guthmunder een and Geffenner Einesen, having both spent over six hundred and fifty days in solitary confinement. Chris Jane and Triggvie were sentenced to sixteen and thirteen years, respectively. Gudjohn, having eventually been kept for four hundred and twelve days

in solitary confinement, was sentenced to twelve years. Albert Scafteson was given only twelve months, since it was decided that he'd only helped to barry Guthmunder's body. For her part, Earthler, having spent two hundred and forty one days in solitary confinement being questioned over a hundred times, was sentenced to

three years for perverting the course of justice. Siva Sizelski, the perceived ringleader of the group, would spend almost seven hundred and fifty days in solitary confinement and was sentenced to seventeen years in prison. Having been young when they were convicted or suspect served out their sentences and did their best to rejoin society afterwards, and or claimed that

they had been completely innocent of the crimes. On his release, Civar began a very public campaign to have their convictions quashed, claiming that they'd all been coerced, in many cases violently into confessing. In nineteen ninety seven, the High Court decided against reopening the case, claiming there was no new evidence to do so. However, many including then Prime Minister David Odson, believed grave mistakes had been made and there was good

reason to believe the convictions had been unsound. In two thousand and nine, Trygvey died of cancer. He is said to have protested his innocence even on his deathbed. The case was once more in the public eye. By then, Civar, who despite everything that had happened to him, had retained much of the charm and charisma of his younger self, had become something of a minor celebrity. However, the years

of battling for justice had taken their toll. Civar would eventually find himself homeless and heavily dependent on alcohol in two thousand and eleven, By then living in Copenhagen, he fell from a tree that he'd been camping in and died from his injuries, With his death prompting a renewed interest in the case. Along with the growing body of evidence to support the reality of false confessions, the state

prosecutor finally began a formal investigation into the convictions. In two and eighteen, Siva Sizelski, Chris Jan Vedersen, Trig v Leifson, Albert Scarfteson, and Gudjohn Scarfettensen were finally acquitted and their convictions quashed. Urtler Voladattier's conviction, however, was not reversed. Today, Ertler remains convinced of her and the other's innocence, although admits to no longer being able to distinguish her real memories from those that had inadvertently been planted by poor

interrogation techniques. The whereabouts and fate of gudmunda Ininesen and Geffener Ineson remained to this day unexplained unexplained. The book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before been covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones among other bookstores. All elements have unexplained, including the show's music,

are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an ex nation of your own you'd like to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com, or Twitter at Unexplained pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com orward slash unexplained Now. It's time to take care

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