World's most peaceful nation rattled by rare murder
LONDON -- Iceland, ranked the world’s most peaceful country, is shaken after police said a young woman whose body was found on a beach was murdered.
Birna Brjansdottir, 20, went missing on Jan. 14 after a night out with friends. She was last seen on surveillance footage around 5am wondering the streets alone and buying a kebab.
Hours before her body was discovered, her shoes were found earlier at a nearby town called Hafnarfjordur. Gunnar Runar Sveinejornsson, spokesman for the Reykjavik Metropolitan Police, said her body was found near the capital after a week-long search.
Brjansdottir’s close friend Matthildur Soffia Jonsdottir posted a message on Facebook on Tuesday, expressing her grief and remembering the young woman as “one of the best people I’ve ever met.”
“I loved her and how she looked at life,” Jonsdottir said. “I’m angry... She was not supposed to go like this, no one deserves to.”
“The nation is shocked,” Sveinejornsson said Wednesday.
Two men from Greenland in their 20s are being held in connection to the murder Sveinejornsson said. No charges have been filed.
Murders are rare in Iceland, with a population of 331,000. The country tops the Institute for Economics and Peace’s global peace index.
According to the Homicide Monitor group, Iceland has the third lowest murder rate in the world, with an overall intentional homicide rate of 0.3/100,000 inhabitants.
Iceland Monitor, an English language news website, reports there were no murders at all reported in 2003, 2006 and 2008.
According to The Guardian, Iceland has registered an average of 1.8 murders per year since 2001, according to police statistics, with the killers often under the influence of alcohol or having mental health issues.