Seinäjoki murderers convicted of manslaughter – victim's body found in apartment building basement
Tero Vuohenoja and Pertti Hautamäki were convicted of manslaughter to 10 and 8 years' imprisonment respectively. Kai-Pekka Savolainen was killed in Seinäjoki in November 2020.
Seinäjoki killing receives conviction – victim's body was hidden in apartment building basement
The District Court of South Ostrobothnia has delivered its verdict in the murder of Kai-Pekka Savolainen, 40, Ilta-Sanomat reported. The court convicted 55-year-old Tero Keijo Johannes Vuohenoja and 35-year-old Pertti Antero Hautamäki of manslaughter to prison sentences. The crime took place in Seinäjoki in November 2020, but the trial began only on Friday, 2 October.
Vuohenoja was sentenced to 10 years' and Hautamäki to 8 years' imprisonment. Hautamäki's sentence comes on top of his previous convictions, as he has been imprisoned before. The prosecutor had demanded life sentences for murder for both men, but the court found insufficient evidence for the murder charges.
Violent killing and months of mystery
According to the verdict, the men kicked and struck Savolainen multiple times in the head and strangled him. Savolainen died from injuries to his head. The duration of the violence remained unclear, however, which is why the court did not consider the act particularly brutal or cruel in the legal sense – for this reason, the court determined it was not murder.
After the crime, the victim's body was dismembered and hidden in the crawl space of the apartment building's basement. Savolainen was searched for for six months before a resident of the building found the remains in the basement in June 2021. The last confirmed sightings of Savolainen were in winter 2020, when he was recorded by surveillance camera at an R-kiosk.
Both defendants had strenuously denied the murder charge. Hautamäki, however, admitted to police that he dismembered the victim's body. The court's verdict is not yet final.
Hautamäki suspected in another homicide case
Hautamäki also awaits verdict in a separate homicide case. In May this year, he stabbed two men at Kasper in Seinäjoki: a 51-year-old man died and a 36-year-old was seriously injured. The court has already determined that Hautamäki is guilty of the acts, but the charges and sentence will be decided only after a psychiatric assessment is completed. The prosecutor is demanding that he be sentenced for murder and attempted manslaughter.
Source: Ilta-Sanomat