Tooth killer and arsonist Ismo Junni
Time of the event: August 1980-November 1988
Ismo Junni was the one of the few Finnish serial killers.
Kaija had died under suspicious circumstances. The father of the family, Ismo was suspected, but insufficient evidence was found. The couple had underage children
at the time of the incident. When the case was re-investigated several years later, it was revealed that more murders had been committed by him.
Ismo dragged Kaija from the bathroom to the dressing room and tried to have sex with her. When this didn't work, he had raped Kaija with a drain pump, the handle
was covered in blood. The murderer removed a healthy tooth with long roots from his wife with pliers (while she was still alive) as a souvenir. He wanted to know
if she was playing dead. The causes of death were mainly a skull injury and the water in the bathtub getting into her lungs.
Ismo used to carry a small tin box in his pocket, where he had kept his dead wife's tooth and some small items. Ismo had also pulled out his children's milk teeth
with tongs. At some point, he wanted to work at the morgue, so that he could steal gold teeth from the rich. Ismo did not get the job.
In July 1986, the first cabin burned down and two men died in the fire.
Ismo's drinking buddy Matti was sure that Ismo had killed Kaija. On November 25th 1986 another cabin burned down and killed Matti and his dog. Matti and Ismo had
gotten into a fight, Matti had driven his friend to the yard. Ismo hit Matti in the face with a glass vase. As a result, one tooth had come through the jaw. Ismo
retrieved the tooth and put it in the same small tin box as his wife's tooth.
While Matti was lying in the cottage, Ismo poured lamp oil into the cabin. He knew what he was doing. Slow-burning lamp oil gives the arsonist a good head start
to leave the scene, while gasoline bursts into flames at an explosive rate. Ismo closed the doors and moved a few hundred meters away to watch as the flames
engulfed the cabin. Matti's wife knew that Ismo has beaten him up and burned down the cabin. Police though that it was a clear accident, because the cabin had
caught fire from the stove.
In the trial, it appeared that Ismo had pulled teeth from Kaija's and Matti's mouths. It was told that Ismo was showing off several of Kaija's teeth in his
wallet like victory signs. During the trial, Ismo was also ordered to undergo a mental state examination, which concluded that there was nothing wrong with his
mind, but that he was fully responsible for his actions.
The court sentenced him to nine years in prison for one manslaughter and three murders, even though there were five victims.
Kaija Junni was 36 years old when she died. Ismo Junni died (age 51) 1995 while serving his life sentence.