Isabella Mueller (crime writer) 
In Finland, there has been only one convicted serial killer in the last 100 years, and that was Antti Olavi Taskinen. His first victim, in 1996, was a 20-year-old student from Tampere, to whom Taskinen – who was homosexual – had administered an overdose of Dolcontin, an opiate, which led to the student’s death. In February 1997, Taskinen’s next victim was his new partner. He was a 30-year-old medical student, also from Tampere. Taskinen administered a lethal mixture of the prescription painkiller Abalgin and alcohol to him. Even before his death, the medical student had named Taskinen as his sole heir in his will. Taskinen’s third and final victim was the 54-year-old wealthy manager Markku Heino Juhani Franssila. Taskinen lived with him in a villa in Heinola. The two were in a registered partnership. As with his second victim, Taskinen administered a lethal mixture of the painkiller Abalgin and alcohol to Franssila. Franssila, too, had drawn up a will in Taskinen’s favour before his death. In the event of his death, Taskinen stood to inherit a fortune worth millions. However, this came to nothing, as Taskinen was quickly exposed as Franssila’s murderer and thus lost all claim to the inheritance. Taskinen was even ordered to pay 15,000 euros in compensation to his partner’s mother and 10,000 euros to his partner’s brother. The other two deaths were discovered in the course of the investigation. On 31 May 2006, Taskinen – who denied the three homicides and claimed they were unfortunate accidents – was sentenced to life imprisonment for involuntary manslaughter in the case of his first victim, manslaughter in the case of his second victim, and the murder of his husband. An appeal in May 2007 was rejected by the Supreme Court, as was a request for a pardon from the President in July 2007. Whilst in prison, Taskinen changed his name and completed a law degree. In April 2022, the Helsinki Court of Appeal ruled that Taskinen would be released from prison on 31 July 2023, which did indeed happen due to his positive social prognosis.
