Murder of Auli Kyllikki Saari

 

Auli Kyllikki Saari(back right) with her sisters

On May 17, 1953, 17-year-old Auli Kyllikki Saari was cycling to her home in Isojoki, Finland from a prayer meeting in Merikarvia. On this particular day, she stated that she was tired, and others found this unusual. She stated that she was going to attend another prayer meeting at Kortteenkylä village schoolhouse. At 6pm she left on her bike and rode 40 minutes to the prayer meeting.

Maiju, a friend of Kyllikki, also attended this meeting. The two would ride home together at 10 p.m. and at 10:30 the two would separate at an intersection. Maiju noted that her friend seemed apprehensive and depressed. When they had gotten to where they needed to separate she seemed nervous to go on alone stating, "Probably it goes now as it has before. Bye then, Maiju." 

A man named Tie-Jaska saw her a mile further from where she and her friend separated. After this, no one saw Kyllikki alive again. She did not arrive home and her family assumed that she stayed the night with Maiju. When she didn't arrive home two days later they assumed she was staying with someone in Isojoki to be closer to work. They would find out she didn't show up to work and didn't see her. She would be reported missing two days after she disappeared.

In the weeks after her disappearance witnesses stated that there was a suspicious cream-hues car with a bike in a nearby storage compartment. Others state that they have heard cries and sobs for help neat the lake in Karrankaja. No one knew what had happened to Kyllikki until October 11, 1953. Her body would be pulled from a bog. 

The bog was close by to where Kyllikki was last seen and it was obvious she had been killed. She had been pushed down with a pine branch into the bog. She was nude from the waist down and her jacket was wrapped around her head.  She had either been suffocated or died from blunt force trauma to her head. It's unknown if she had been sexually assaulted or not.

The pine branch used to push her and keep her in the bog was freshly cut. It had been sharpened by someone who was left-handed. Her shoe, scarf, and a man's sock were also found there. Items of hers were missing though, her wristwatch, red cloth purse, and hymn book were never found.

Kyllikki wasn't one to go out to dances or entertainments. It's believed that she did not have a boyfriend as she didn't tell anyone about having one. She had told an older female friend she had no interest in men and didn't want to get married.

The person who killed Kyllikki had to of been strong. Alli, her older sister, said that Kyllikki was strong and had good arm strength. Not only that, but the person must have carried the girl a distance to the bog, dig, and then refill the grave. Which would have taken some strength to do.

There were several suspects in the crime, but no ones been convicted in the girls murder.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia

Mysteries Unsolved

History of Yesterday

UNIDENTIFIED: May 13, 1937 McNairy County, Tennessee John Doe

 On May 13, 1937, the body of an elderly man around 70 was found on the railroad tracks about 10 miles north of Selmer, Tennessee. His cause of death was unknown.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

UNIDENTIFIED: May 12, 1915 Colton, California

 On May 12, 1915, a Rancher happened to take a walk off the road 2 miles outside of Colton, California. The rancher saw a man hanging from a willow tree on the banks of the Santa Ana River bottom. It was initially believed to have been a man who disappeared earlier in the month, but it was not. It was obvious that foul play was not involved and the man had committed suicide. He had been dead for weeks.

He was a white male between 40 and 60 years old. He was around 5'11" and 160 lbs. He had slightly balding chestnut brown hair and a dark sandy mustache. He may have walked with a limp as a heavy hickory walking stick was found with him.

There were no clothes described that he was described as wearing. The ones described were hanging on the tree. Which was a "Ransom & Salsbee" tan raincoat/ overcoat, a "Joske Bros. Co Department Store" and a shirt with a collar and tie. Both the jacket and hat were from San Antonio, Texas.

(The namus page lists him found on May 13, 1915, but a newspaper from May 12 listed the finding of the body happening earlier on the 12th.)

SOURCES:
San Bernadino News May 12, 1915

NamUs

Murdered Saints: Saint Solange

Solange was born into a poor, but devout family in the town of Villemont, France near Bourges. She was devoted and consecrated her virginity at 7-years-old. Solange was popular and very beautiful some even said her mere presence cured the sick and exorcised devils. She caught the eye of many including the son of the count Poitiers who was highly taken.

In 880 the man would come to Solange as she tended her sheep. He would get rejected by the shepherdess. He did not take the rejection well and planned to take her for himself. One night he would kidnap her by force. She would struggle against him. While they were crossing a stream she struggled greatly and fell from the horse. She would then try to flee him for him to catch up. He would then behead her with his sword. 

Legend states that Solange's severed head invoked three times the Holy Name of Jesus and she was able to pick up her head and walk to the church of Saint-Martin (now Saint-Solange) in the village of Sain-Martin-du-Crot and dropping dead there. 

Immediately there was a cult surrounding her grew. Many miraculous cures were attributed to her intercession. In 1281 an altar was erected in her honor at that church, now known as the church of Saint-Solange. Her head is preserved there as a relic. A nearby field where she prayed is referred as the field of Saint Solange and locals would go there during great times of stress to form a procession through Bourges with the reliquary head to invoke her against drought. 

Her feast day is May 10th. She is the patron saint of Berry, France, Bourges, France, for rain, rape victims, and shepherds.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Catholic Online

Catholic Readings

UNIDENTIFIED: May 1893 Hampton, Minnesota John Doe

 In May of 1893 the body of a man was found in Anton Doffing's granary in Hampton, Minnesota. It's believed that the man was a transient and went into the building for shelter and died from an illness. He was between 50 to 60-years-old.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

GHOSTS: The Midnight Washer Women

 

The Washer Women of the Night are Breton-Celtic ghost women in France that are connected to death. They wash clothes in the banks of rivers around midnight. Typically they will be isolated areas of water. It's believed that they are washing the clothes of those to die soon or their own clothes. Sometimes they are washing the clothes of those they've done wrong.

The Washer Women are typically women who are tall and gaunt, and strong. They most likely died a violent death and or were punished for being greedy and stingy with clothes. In some areas, they are three old women. In Chantepie a stingy woman who buried her husband in a dirty shroud is punished by washing it every night. In Noes Gourdais, near Dinan, the asher women have skulls

The women call out to passers-by in hopes of helping to wring out the laundry. So it's recommended if you hear the sounds of laundry being washed to high-tale it out of there. There are those who accept to help or refuse to.

If you agree to help out of ill will their arms will be broken and those who refuse are drowned. Another way to die from them is to wring the sheet or clothing wrong. In order to survive, you must wring the same way they do, but it will last all night doing so. The Washer Women do not tire easily. One wrong move equals the person being crushed and wrung out as the Washerwomen have great strength.

Another way to get out is to tell them "Diwasket ho poan ha me diwasko ma hini" or in English "Wring out your sins, and I will wring out mine". You will then have to run at top speeds to get away to the nearest recently plowed field as they cannot cross them.

In some legends of the Washer Women, they make you clean your own death clothes before they kill you. Or if you pass all the tests they give you, you will be granted three wishes.

SOURCES:
A Book of Creatures
Michigan Publishing
Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology Pg 150

INFANTICIDE: May 4, 1922 Epping Forest, England

On May 4, 1922, a decapitated newborn girl was found in Epping Forest. The baby was decapitated with one cut with a knife. The body was then left in Epping Forest. 

SOURCES:

Unsolved Murders UK