COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Authorities in Norway announced on Friday that they have officially closed the case against a prominent real estate mogul who was under suspicion of either murder or being an accessory to murder linked to the disappearance of his wife nearly six years ago.
Initially, law enforcement reported that 68-year-old Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen had been abducted from their residence on October 31, 2018. However, in April 2020, her husband Tom Hagen, a reclusive investor and one of Norway’s richest individuals, was arrested en route to work, with police stating that the suspicions surrounding him “had gradually intensified.”
This case has caught the attention of the wealthy Scandinavian nation, which has a population of 5.3 million and notoriously low homicide rates.
Hagen was released from custody in May 2020 after a court ruled insufficient evidence existed for his continued detention. He has consistently maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings.
Despite being regarded as a suspect during subsequent investigations, police confirmed on Friday that the allegations against him had been officially dismissed.
“There is no evidence that Tom Hagen was involved in his wife’s disappearance,” stated police spokesperson Vibeke Schøyen during a news briefing broadcast across Norwegian media. The Norwegian Prosecution Authority concluded that “no criminal matter is considered proven,” prompting police to abandon the case.
The investigation was extensive, involving around 700 interviews, over 26,000 tips, and more than 6,000 hours of surveillance footage, alongside rigorous technical analysis. Schøyen remarked that the case had been “extensive and complex” and described it as “one of the most significant projects we’ve undertaken in recent years.”
“This marks a complete exoneration of Tom Hagen,” emphasized Svein Holden, Hagen’s legal representative.
The disappearance of Anne-Elizabeth, who married Tom Hagen at just 19, took place in their home in Loerenskog, east of Oslo, on Halloween 2018. However, police only made the case public on January 9, 2019, leading to an influx of tips from the public.
Initially, police indicated that a ransom had been sought for her safe return, but they withheld the exact figure. Nonetheless, reports from a Norwegian newspaper suggested that the ransom demand was for 9 million euros (approximately $9.8 million) to be paid using cryptocurrency.
In the wake of her disappearance, authorities released surveillance footage capturing individuals loitering near Hagen’s workplace, and police units alongside sniffer dogs were seen investigating the couple’s residence. Additionally, divers conducted searches in a nearby pond as a large-scale investigation unfolded both domestically and internationally.
By June 2019, officials altered their primary theory due to the lack of evidence suggesting that the missing woman was alive or had maintained contact with possible abductors. They began to suspect that Falkevik Hagen had been murdered, suggesting that a staged kidnapping might have been orchestrated to conceal that fact.
The industrious Tom Hagen, raised in a large farming family as the second eldest of twelve children, amassed considerable wealth through his real estate ventures, which commenced in 1978.
Authorities emphasized that the case remains open, revealing that three individuals continue to be considered as suspects, although none have been officially identified.