Therese Johannessen

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

drammen-police

Missing From:

Fjell, Drammen, Norway

Summary:

Therese Johannessen was a Norwegian girl who disappeared at age nine on 3 July 1988 from outside her residence in Fjell in Drammen Municipality. She has not been found, despite many search operations and police investigations. In 1998, Swedish man Thomas Quick was convicted in the case after confessing to kidnapping and killing the nine-year-old. Quick later retracted his confession, and the Swedish Prosecution Authority overturned the sentence in March 2011.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On the evening of Sunday, 3 July 1988, nine-year-old Therese Johannesen was playing outside where she lived, in Fjell, Drammen with three friends and her little sister. At 19:25 it started to rain and Therese got an umbrella. The other children she was playing with wanted to stop at the kiosk she was at earlier in the day. The woman who worked at the kiosk saw Therese earlier, when she bought cola with money she got from her grandparents. The children asked Therese to join them at the kiosk, but she wanted to wait for them. When they returned, Therese was gone. Therese Johannesen was then wearing a white t-shirt, denim skirt, striped socks, and gray shoes. When Therese did not come home, Inger-Lise searched the area and went upstairs to check with Jesús. The family then contacted the police.

Additional Details:

Crews from the Red Cross and Civil Defense assisted in an extensive search using helicopters and other equipment, but the girl remained missing. Police soon began to treat the disappearance as a criminal case, believing Therese had been abducted and was likely killed. Over 100 law enforcement officers from Drammen Police and Kripos participated in the investigation. It was the most expensive and thorough investigation in Norway at the time. Nothing was ever heard of her again until March 30, 1996, when Quick confessed to abducting and killing her. On 2 June 1998, he was convicted of kidnapping and killing Therese Johannessen. He was convicted in six other trials for seven other murders. In an SVT documentary in 2008, Quick retracted his confession and requested a new trial. He claimed he had read about the case in VG and fabricated the story. In March 2011, the Swedish Prosecution Authority overturned the sentence. In July 2013, 25 years after the disappearance, the case was no longer being considered because of the then 25-year time limit for serious criminal cases. That same autumn, police received a tip that Therese had been abducted and killed in 1988, leading to a brief reopening of the case. In 2017, police decided to transfer the case to the cold case group, even though the statute of limitations had expired. In November 2020, it was publicly revealed that her DNA had been found on a pillowcase and an eraser. In 2020, NRK broadcast Therese — the girl who disappeared, a series about the Therese case. The documentary series also reveals that the police have closed the much-discussed Pakistani connection trail of the investigation. Therese's mother was in a relationship with a Pakistani man before she met Therese's biological father.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 04, 2026