The disappearance and discovery
In late May 2024, a 15-year-old girl in Valkeakoski spent the evening with friends and was expected home during the night. When she did not return, family members and friends searched for her. Her body was found the following morning in a wooded area near her route home.
Investigators identified Tuomas Sakari Matias Salminen, who was 18 at the time of the crime, as the offender. Reporting and the later judgments established that he did not know the victim before encountering and following her that night.
District court judgment
Pirkanmaa District Court convicted Salminen in October 2024 of murder and aggravated child rape and imposed a life sentence. Salminen admitted sexual violence and causing the girl's death but disputed that the homicide met the legal threshold for murder.
The court concluded that the killing was intentional, premeditated and sufficiently serious as a whole to constitute murder. The judgment was notable because the court adopted the more serious homicide classification sought through the victim family's rights in the proceedings.
Appeal and finality
Salminen appealed. In July 2025, the Turku Court of Appeal upheld the life sentence and the central findings of the district court. The appeal court agreed that the homicide was intentional and premeditated.
Salminen then sought leave to appeal to Finland's Supreme Court. On 11 December 2025, the Supreme Court refused leave, leaving the Court of Appeal judgment in force. The life sentence therefore became final.
Documenting the case responsibly
The case drew national attention because of the victim's age, the circumstances of the attack and the unusual procedural path to a murder conviction. Public discussion also focused on how the legal system responds to violence against girls and young women.
This archive uses the court outcomes as the basis for describing Salminen as convicted. Details not necessary to understand the investigation and judgment are omitted out of respect for the victim and her family.