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Helge Martin Haugan misses his best friend. He thinks about Terje every day.
It has now been two years since Terje Johansen’s mysterious disappearance on Muskö outside Stockholm.
– I think someone has taken him, says Helge Martin.
Helge Martin Haugan waved off Terje as he left his home in Nykirke outside Oslo to drive to his newly purchased house in Northern Norway.
He thought his friend would be back soon. But Terje Johansen seems to have had a secret plan.
Without saying anything, neither to Helge Martin nor to anyone else in the circle of acquaintances, he drove in a completely different direction.
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Helge Martin Haugan misses his best friend. Terje has now been missing for two years.
1 / 2Photo: NAINA HELÉN JÅMA
Instead of going north, Terje went east. The journey ended at Muskö. After hitting a locked road barrier, Terje’s car got stuck in the forest.
Since then, Terje Johansen has disappeared without a trace.
Mysterious phone call
The case is surrounded by mysterious details and question marks. Despite intensive police work, it remains unsolved.
In the Aftonbladet Krim podcast, police officer Lotta Thyni tells about the case, including about the very last phone call from Terje’s cell phone. A call that baffles the investigators.
Helge Martin Haugan has known Terje Johansen since his youth. In recent years, Helge Martin has lived in a house on Terje’s farm in Nykirke.
He still lives on the farm, where he looks after the houses and takes care of the maintenance.
Helge Martin walks around his friend’s life’s work and feels the loss.
– Terje is the only good friend I had in this world whom I trusted 100 percent. There are others, but none like him.
“So very strange”
They used to keep no secrets from each other. But when they spoke on the phone during Terje’s trip, Terje said that he was on his way to Northern Norway – although he was already in the Stockholm region.
– There is so much that is strange. Just that Terje must have bought food at McDonalds during the trip. Terje never ate at McDonalds. And that he drove to Muskö through the long tunnel. He didn’t like driving in tunnels, if possible he always avoided tunnels here at home in Norway too.
– And he would never, never have destroyed his new nice car by hitting a road barrier. It is completely unthinkable.
If the friend really wanted to get past the locked barrier, he could have solved the problem in a different way.
– He had tools with him in the car and he is handy. Terje could have opened the barrier without having to damage the car.
The biggest question mark for Helge Martin is about the money. He says the friend had at least NOK 16,000 in cash with him, probably more.
– The wallet and credit cards were still in the car, but the money was gone. What I’m wondering that I haven’t received an answer to is where is the money. Someone has taken them.
“He took no risks”
According to Helge Martin, Terje was a seasoned driver. Among other things, he had driven aid shipments to Romania.
– He drove carefully and always thought about safety. He wasn’t stupid and he could defend himself. For example, he never picked up hitchhikers or got into fights with strangers. He used to spend the night in the car, but then always parked in places where there were cameras.
The mind is racing about what could have happened.
Helge Martin believes that it was someone else who drove the car, at least at the end of the journey in Muskö.
He hopes to one day get an answer and closure. But he has given up hope that his friend will be alive.
– I think he is taken aback. I think someone has taken him, says Helge Martin Haugan.