1986 Viking Sally murder

The 1986 Viking Sally murder took place in July 1986, aboard the cruiseferry MS Viking Sally en route from Turku, Finland, to Stockholm, Sweden, when Reijo Hammar (born 1953) killed businessman Antti Eljaala (born c. 1942).[1] The case is particularly notable for two reasons: Hammar was later described as the most dangerous known criminal in Finland,[2] and a year later, another murder took place aboard the same ship.[1]

Not to be confused with 1987 Viking Sally murder.

MS Viking Sally, pictured in Stockholm harbour in the 1980s

Murder

On the morning of 10 July 1986, towards the end of their journey, Eljaala, Hammar, and an associate of the latter had gone into Eljaala's cabin, where Hammar stole money from Eljaala's wallet.[1] Eljaala intended to report this to the police, but as he was leaving the cabin to do so, Hammar stabbed him five times in the throat with a dinner knife,[1] followed by strangling him to death with a strip of fabric torn from the cabin's bedsheet, assisted by his accomplice.[3]

Reijo Hammar

Hammar was found guilty of murdering Eljaala and sentenced to life imprisonment.[3] Approximately two years later, in July 1988, he escaped from prison with two other inmates, in the process shooting a prison guard in the arm with a sawn-off shotgun.[4] The escapees went on to carry out a number of bank robberies. Hammar later killed one of the men, by hitting him on the head with an axe following an argument.[4] Eventually Hammar was caught in Stockholm, after a few weeks on the run.[4] Due to his record of murders, armed robberies and other serious crimes, he was considered at the time the most dangerous criminal in Finland.[4] Nevertheless, Hammar was pardoned by President Tarja Halonen in December 2004.[4] In 2011, now called Andreas Hammar, he was found guilty of attempted manslaughter.[2]

Viking Sally

The ship in question, MS Viking Sally, was part of the Viking Line ferry fleet, which provides daily cruise ferry services between Sweden, Finland and Åland.

A year after the Eljaala murder, another passenger was murdered on the same ship.[1]

Viking Sally later became MS Estonia, which in 1994 sank in the Baltic sea claiming 852 lives in one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century (after the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff in 1945).[5]

References
  1. "Viking Sallyn 32 vuotta vanha murhamysteeri nousi uudestaan tapetille, poliisi uskoo ratkaisuun" [32-year-old murder mystery on Viking Sally back on the agenda, police confident of solution] (in Finnish). Iltalehti. 3 August 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  2. "Ex-elinkautisvangille neljä vuotta tapon yrityksestä" [Ex-lifer gets four years for attempted manslaughter] (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  3. "Sarjakuristaja on ainoa suomalainen, jonka FBI on määritellyt sarjamurhaajaksi - mutta on Suomessa muitakin karuja rikollisia: tässä osa pahimmista" (in Finnish). Iltalehti. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  4. "Reijo Hammar armahdettiin" [Reijo Hammar pardoned] (in Finnish). Turun Sanomat. 4 January 2005. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  5. "Estonia ferry disaster: French court rejects compensation claim". BBC. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
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