A long record of lethal violence
Penttilä, born in 1965 and previously known under another name, had three homicide convictions before 2018. Yle reported that those earlier cases included the deaths of his mother, a 12-year-old girl and another woman. Many of his violent convictions involved strangulation.
The 2018 Helsinki killing
In April 2018, a 52-year-old woman was killed in her Helsinki apartment. Her body was found several weeks later. Penttilä admitted strangling her but disputed the prosecution's characterization of the act as murder, arguing for a lesser homicide conviction.
Murder conviction and life sentence
Helsinki District Court convicted Penttilä of murder in July 2018 and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The court found the killing premeditated and especially brutal and cruel. The case was notable because it was his fourth homicide conviction and the first of those four to result in a murder conviction carrying a life sentence.
Appeals exhausted
In April 2020, Helsinki Court of Appeal upheld the life sentence. Penttilä sought permission to take the case to Finland's Supreme Court, but in September 2020 the court denied leave to appeal. The life sentence therefore remained in force.
Sources and verification
- Yle News — Serial strangler gets life in prison for murder
- Yle News — Helsinki serial strangler has life sentence upheld
- Yle News — Serial strangler denied leave to appeal life sentence
The homicide record, 2018 conviction, appellate ruling and final appeal status were checked against the sources above.