Iceland spellbound by retrial of notorious murder case – from 1828

Residents on Iceland’s remote farm of Stapakot were jolted awake on March 14, 1828, when a maid from a neighbouring property burst in to tell them that a fire was raging and two men were trapped inside. It was a lie.

The men were already dead – clubbed with a hammer and stabbed 12 times before the house was set ablaze with shark oil.

Despite the years, it’s a crime that Icelanders have never forgotten, since the convicted killers were the last people ever executed on this North Atlantic island nation. On Saturday, the crime will be analysed by a mock court that will once again weigh the evidence.

The retrial, conducted under modern rules before a three-judge panel, may shed light on the motivation for the slayings, the fairness of the original proceeding, and whether the two maids – Agnes Magnusdottir and Sigridur Gudmundsdottir – had been abused by the man they eventually killed.

The case has sparked endless speculation, a feature film and a pop song. The 10th book in Icelandic about the murders is set to be published and a documentary is in production. Seats for the retrial have long been sold out. It will be held at the community centre in Hvammstangi, a northwestern village near the murder scene.

The handwritten court records from the 1828 case are carefully preserved in the National Library.