Matti Haapoja
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Matti Haapoja (born September 16, 1845 in Isokyrö, Finland; died January 8, 1895 in Turku, Finland) was a Finnish murderer. He was very famous at that time and the press wrote much about him.
The exact number of his victims is unknown. He was convicted of two murders and was scheduled for a trial for his third murder trial when he committed suicide in his cell. He can be linked to seven other identified murder cases, but most of those happened during his exile in Siberia and they are poorly documented, so his involvement is not certain. It is claimed that he confessed 18 murders, but there are no details about this supposed confession, and that figure should be regarded unreliable. Some sources estimate his total number of murders as 22-25. He also wounded at least six men in several knife fights where the victims survived.
Haapoja started his criminal career as a brawler, graduating quickly into stealing horses. His first known murder happened on December 6, 1867 when he stabbed his drinking partner Heikki Impponen in a drunken brawl. He was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison at Turku for his murder. During the next 10 years of his life he escaped from prison four times, spending months at large at all occasions. Around this time he gained great notoriety as a jailbreaker and a thief. His fame as a robber started to grow after the newspapers reported that he had robbed and shot at Esa Nyrhinen on August 12, 1876. Later it was found that Nyrhinen had been hiding Haapoja at his home and the men had an argument.
As a result of his escapes and continued thievery, Haapoja was sentenced for life in prison in 1874. After his last escape he petitioned that his sentence to be changed into an exile to Siberia. This was accepted and he was sent to Omsk oblast in 1880. During his stay there is reputed to have killed a man in 1886 after which he was exiled to East Siberia. Folk stories claim that during this time Haapoja killed two other famous Finnish criminals, Anssin Jukka and Kaappo Sutki but these tales are likely false.
Around 1889 Haapoja decided to escape Siberia and return Finland. He later claimed that he intended to emigrate to America. He raised money for this escape by committing a series of robberies and murders. He probably killed at least three men and participated in the murder of fourth. He also obtained a passport that belonged to a Russian man who's fate remains unclear.
Haapoja returned to Finland in September 1890. A month later he murdered and robbed a prostitute, Jemina Salo. He was captured at Porvoo a couple of days later and recognized. At his trial Haapoja behaved arrogantly, confessing the murder as well as one of the murders he did in Siberia. He hoped that he would be sent back to Siberia but instead the court gave him his second life term in prison.
On October 10, 1894 Haapoja tried to escape from prison yet again. During his attempt he killed a guard and wounded two others. When he realised that he couldn't get out, he attempted to commit suicide by stabbing himself, but the wound was not fatal. However, as soon as he had recovered from the self-inflicted stabbing wound, he hanged himself in his cell on January 8, 1895. His skeleton was kept in the Museum of Crime in Vantaa for a long time, until he was finally buried in Ylistaro in 1995.
Writer Kaijus Ervasti wrote a book about Matti Haapoja called Murhamiehen muotokuva - Matti Haapoja 1845-1895 ("Portrait of a murderer - Matti Haapoja 1845-1895").
[edit] The list of Matti Haapoja's victims
The three certain victims of Matti Haapoja were:
- Farmer Heikki Antinpoika Impponen, who was stabbed to death on December 6, 1867.
- Prison guard Juho Rosted, stabbed on October 10, 1894.
In addition, he likely killed seven other persons:
- Farmers Matti Heikkilä and Hermanni Hautamäki who were clubbed to death by an unidentified man at Hämeenkyrö on November 15, 1869. Haapoja was in the area at the time and years later he confessed an unspecified murder "that had happened in November 1869".
- An unknown man who was killed in Siberia in 1886.
- Convict identified only as "Jaakko H." from Alajärvi, Finland, who was killed in Siberia in 1888.
- Estonian barkeeper Rugis was killed by Haapoja and another convict "Rich-Matti" Kuivalainen in Tomsk in 1889.
- "Rich-Matti" Kuivalainen, who was killed in Tomsk in 1889.
- Estonian convict Gustaf Sepp vanished without trace at Simonjovka, Siberia in 1889 after he was last seen in company of Haapoja.
It is possible that there were more victims but only these ten cases be identified as certain or probable.
We know of six cases where Matti Haapoja wounded someone. They were:
- Brawler Juho Tenkku who was stabbed around Christmas, 1866.
- Farmer Hermanni Hösö was stabbed on December 6, 1867.
- Farmer identified as "Koivuniemi from Vähäkyrö" who was stabbed when Haapoja was apprehended after his last prison escape in January 1879.
- Prison guards Juho Jernvall and Sven Nyman were stabbed during Haapoja's last escape attempt.
During his last escape he got a chance to attack one more guard but he left him alone because the guard had always been nice to the prisoners.
