Edgar Antonsen

Edgar Antonsen (1940 – 2 August 1993) was a Norwegian serial killer and rapist who was responsible for at least three murders and rapes committed in Vestfold og Telemark and Møre og Romsdal from 1962 to 1974, some with the aid of his half-brother. Convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975, he was prematurely released in 1988 and committed suicide five years later to avoid an impending arrest for sexually abusing a young girl.

In early August 1993, the Alta Police Department received a report that a man named 'Olav Stensrud' was wanted for the rape of a 10-year-old girl, allegedly the daughter of his supervisor. For the next two days, a search operation was initiated so they could locate the man, and on the final day, authorities found his body on some stones outside the village. Further investigation confirmed that the man was indeed Antonsen, and an autopsy concluded that he had taken his own life. Strangely, the Brungots had received another call just three days prior, informing them that their daughter's killer's days were near an end.

In spite of their harsh punishments, both brothers were later released from prison. Terje was released in 1981, was given a new identity, and permanently moved to Oslo, where he reportedly died in December 2015. Edgar was released on unsupervised parole in 1988 and moved to the village of Alta in Troms og Finnmark, changing his name to "Olav Edgar Stensrud". He lived in a small house isolated from any neighbors, and in his free time reportedly enjoyed painting roses on various objects and attending fairs and exhibitions.

After being released on probation in the spring of 1974, he moved to Ørsta, where he found a job at a local knitting factory and eventually became engaged to the woman. While living there, Antonsen reconnected with his younger half-brother, 21-year-old Terje, a drug addict who had been detained in several youth detention centers throughout his teenage years. While Terje lived in nearby Ulsteinvik, he visited his older half-brother whenever he had free time, and they were often seen together.

After moving to Ørsta, Antonsen started committing new crimes with the help of Terje. In late July 1974, the two men were driving in a car when they chanced upon 31-year-old Oddbjørg Helene Jystad, a photographer from Oslo who was trying to hitchhike home after attending Moldejazz. They gave her a lift but soon drove to an isolated location where both brothers took turns raping her before Edgar ultimately strangled her to death. The pair then put her body in the trunk of the car and drove to Åndalsnes, where they hid it in a tunnel.

While awaiting formal charges for their crimes, a local newspaper, the Avisa Dagbladet, wrote an article in which they brought forward allegations that Edgar was responsible for murdering Holten, whose case was reopened and reclassified as a murder in 1971. In the article, the author wrote that the killing occurred while Antonsen was supposedly on unpaid leave for theft – upon reading this, he became infuriated and contacted lead investigator Leif Lier, requesting that the article be corrected in exchange for a confession in the case. Lier agreed, and after Avisa Dagbladet made a retraction, Antonsen made an official confession to killing Holten.

From 1962 until the mid-1960s, he served in the Norwegian Armed Forces, and during this time, he remarried and had two children with his new wife. After completing his mandatory service, Antonsen returned to seafaring. In 1971, he was charged with several violent crimes, among which the rapes of his wife, sister, and a 15-year-old girl, for which he was subsequently convicted and given a 5-year prison term at the Ullersmo Prison. After his imprisonment, his wife divorced him, and using this fact to his advantage, he began answering lonely hearts ads posted in the newspaper. One of these ads was posted by a woman living in Ørsta, and after corresponding with her for some time, Antonsen decided to move there.

Antonsen's first confirmed murder took place in the summer of 1962, while he was on leave from the military. He briefly returned to his hometown of Horten, where he encountered his 80-year-old neighbor, Bertha Holten. She invited him inside her apartment, and once he was inside, Antonsen took a lamp cord and tied it around her neck in two knots, strangling her to death. After stealing 800 kroner from the apartment, he exited the apartment without being seen. Not long after, Holten's body was found, but despite the suspicious circumstances, authorities erroneously concluded that her death was a suicide and closed the case.

Edgar Antonsen was born in 1940 in Horten. He spent his early childhood in Horten, with his parents frequently fighting and getting drunk. They eventually divorced when he was aged 10, resulting in Antonsen being sent away to a local orphanage, where he stayed for the next five years. At age 15, he escaped from the orphanage and soon found work as a sailor on a trade ship, travelling to locations such as England and Beirut, Lebanon. After spending four years at sea, Antonsen briefly returned to Norway where he married and had a child, but the couple divorced not long after.