An attack during an overnight crossing
On 28 July 1987, German students Klaus Schelkle, 20, and Bettina Taxis, 22, were traveling through the Nordic region and boarded the Viking Sally for a crossing from Stockholm to Turku. They slept outside on an upper deck rather than book a cabin.
During the voyage, both were attacked. Schelkle died and Taxis survived with serious injuries. Finnish reporting has described the ship as almost certainly being in Finnish waters at the time, and Finnish authorities investigated the case.
A cold case reopened decades later
The original investigation did not identify a proven offender. Decades later, Finnish authorities reopened the case and focused on a Danish man who had been an 18-year-old scout passenger on the ferry in 1987 and was among people associated with the discovery of the victims.
Prosecutors charged the man, later publicly identified as Herman Himle, with murder and attempted murder. He denied guilt. The prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence and statements made during later questioning, but important evidentiary issues became central to the case.
Acquittal in 2021
On 30 June 2021, the District Court of Southwest Finland dismissed the charges. The court found that the prosecution had not proved that Himle was the only person with the opportunity to commit the crimes or that he possessed knowledge of the weapon that only the perpetrator could have known.
The acquittal is a critical part of the record: Himle was not convicted of the Viking Sally attack, and this archive does not attribute the killing to him.
The acquittal becomes final
Prosecutors initially appealed. Litigation then focused partly on whether statements from the later investigation could be used as evidence. In October 2022, prosecutors withdrew their appeal, and on 21 October 2022 the Turku Court of Appeal left the district court's acquittal in force.
With the prosecution unsuccessful, the identity of the person who killed Schelkle and attacked Taxis remains unresolved. The case stands as both a long-running maritime homicide investigation and an example of the high evidentiary threshold required when a cold case reaches trial decades later.