26-year-old man murdered in Oulu – Kiviaho sentenced to life imprisonment
Oulu District Court has sentenced Janne Kiviaho to life imprisonment for the murder of a 26-year-old man in Sairaalaranta. The victim was beaten for hours before his death.
Oulu District Court: life sentence for Sairaalaranta murder
Oulu District Court has sentenced 36-year-old Janne Tapani Kiviaho to life imprisonment for the murder of a 26-year-old man, is.fi reported on Friday, 24 April.
The victim was killed in October 2025 in a flat-block apartment in Sairaalaranta, Oulu. According to the court, the motive for the act was debt collection.
Victim lured to flat under guise of drugs
A second defendant, 36-year-old Lasse Henrikki Mäkelä, was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison for aiding and abetting manslaughter. The court found that he had participated in the act, although Kiviaho was the principal perpetrator.
According to the sentence, Mäkelä lured the victim to the flat on the evening of Friday, 17 October. According to police preliminary investigation, the victim was led there under the guise of drugs. Mäkelä described the arrangement as follows: Kiviaho had "a matter to settle" with the man.
When the suspicious victim finally arrived at the flat, his trail disappeared for over 12 hours, according to police.
Violence lasted for hours
According to the sentence, violence began shortly after midnight between Friday and Saturday night when Kiviaho arrived at the flat. The victim was struck on the head and elsewhere on the body by hand and with an axe handle. His hands, feet and mouth were taped shut several times, and used toilet paper was forced into his mouth.
The victim was able to communicate with his attackers only by writing on pieces of paper. He attempted through notes to ask whether he could request money from his parents, and gave the perpetrators his personal and bank details to get the violence to stop. One note read, written in pink marker: "Can I ask my parents?"
The man was eventually taken, his head taped, to a bedroom. According to the prosecutor, the victim died as a result of intentional suffocation, which caused great suffering to the man who was in a helpless state.
Body found days later
An attempt was made to call from the victim's phone the next day, Saturday, 18 October, at 10:41 to Oulu police station switchboard. It remained unclear in the preliminary investigation who made the call.
The man's body was found only after several days of the murder, when police went to the flat to carry out an eviction as an official duty. The body was packaged in the flat.
Background: stabbing in Mannerheim Park
According to police understanding, the chain of events had its roots a couple of months earlier. A 28-year-old woman played a central role, having communicated extensively with the victim. The messages contained extortion and threats.
According to police, the woman had stabbed another person in Mannerheim Park in Oulu in August, and the 26-year-old victim had been present. The woman accused the man of "grassing", or informing the police.
Recorded in the preliminary investigation: "The said Mannerheim Park stabbing has been an influential factor in the fact that [the victim] ultimately dies two months later as a victim of a homicide."
The woman had repeatedly threatened the man with "a family member" – police identified this as ex-spouse Janne Kiviaho. The woman had written to the victim: "And that person is such a sick sadist that you, poor boy, won't be yourself anymore after that."
Other individuals questioned by police also described Kiviaho as sadistic and as someone who enjoyed violence.
Four defendants, differing sentences
A 37-year-old woman was also charged with murder and unlawful confinement, but the court dismissed all her charges. Kiviaho and Mäkelä were also charged with unlawful confinement, but those charges were also dismissed.
Instead, the 28-year-old woman was sentenced to three months in prison for attempted extortion, incitement to assault and three instances of unlawful threat. She arrived at court on bail more than half an hour late.
Kiviaho denied the murder and claimed he had only been involved in wrestling and taping the victim's mouth – assault at most. According to him, Mäkelä and the 37-year-old woman had ultimately killed the victim.
Source: Google News FI — Crime (fi)