Killing of a Young Woman Grips Iceland
Iceland’s crime rates aren’t typically plagued with carnage—an average of two people are murdered per year—which why the case of Birna Brjansdottir, a 20-year-old sales associate who disappeared after a night out in Reykjavik in early January and whose body was recently found on a beach south of the city, has thrown the country into a tailspin. There have been no arrests so far, though two sailors from Greenland (a country with similarly low crime statistics) have been questioned, so come for the still-unfolding murder mystery and stay for the Viking SWAT Team, the special ops group that features prominently in the investigation.
A Revenge Plot So Intricate, the Prosecutors Were Pawns
In her first extensive interview about her ordeal, she recalled sitting in jail, consumed by one thought: “Jerry is behind this.” But when she insisted to the authorities that he had set her up, they belittled her claims. Now, though, they concede that Ms. Sumasar was right — an astonishing turn of events that has transformed her case into one of the most bizarre in the city’s recent history.
