Raisa Räisänen

Status:

Open

Missing From:

Tampere, Finland

Summary:

Raisa Maria Räisänen was a 16-year-old Finnish basketball player who disappeared on October 16, 1999, in Tampere after a girls' night out. Her case, described as the most infamous disappearance in Finnish history, remains unsolved. She was declared dead in absentia in 2004, and the case is now investigated as a murder.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On October 16, 1999, Raisa Räisänen attended a basketball game in which she scored over 20 points for her team. That evening, she went out celebrating with a female friend using fake identification documents. They visited the restaurant Casablanca in downtown Tampere around 21:30. Shortly after 22:00, Räisänen's friend received a phone call inviting her to a party outside the city. The friend left with others, but Räisänen stayed behind as there was no room in the car. At 22:18, Räisänen called her boyfriend on her Nokia 2110i mobile phone, indicating she wanted to join him at a house party in the suburbs if she could get a lift. The last confirmed sighting of Räisänen was at 22:50 near the Sokos department store in central Tampere. Police believe CCTV footage shows her in the city centre at around 23:50, an hour after the last confirmed sighting. After this time, her whereabouts became unknown. Despite extensive searching in lakes and waterways around Tampere, her remains have never been found.

Additional Details:

The investigation was initially classified as a disappearance but was changed to manslaughter five days later. In September 2019, the case designation was changed to murder, as the statute of limitations for manslaughter would have expired after 20 years. Police have received approximately 3,000 tips over the years. Three main investigative theories have been pursued: the 'taxi to Multisilta' theory, the 'older woman' theory, and a theory involving a foreign man. In 2015, a retired taxi driver came forward claiming he had picked up a passenger matching Räisänen's description around midnight on the night she disappeared. The passenger appeared cold and afraid, and reportedly said 'I wonder what will happen to me?' A shorter man of possibly Turkish origin got into the car with her. The driver offered to take the girl home, but the man ordered him to drive to Multisilta, a suburb about 10 kilometers away. In 2022, it was reported that police had considered the involvement of Virpi Butt, a convicted murderer who died in 2021. Butt was active in the Tampere area at the time of Räisänen's disappearance and matched eyewitness descriptions of an older, heavy-built woman seen with Räisänen. Several witnesses reported seeing a woman resembling Räisänen with an older woman in various locations in Tampere's city centre on the night of the disappearance, including near Koskipuisto. Butt is the only known suspect currently under investigation, though she has neither been ruled out nor definitively confirmed as the perpetrator. Police conducted surveillance of Butt's Bulgarian phone line in 2019-2020. The case remains active, with authorities responding to both old and new leads. The EU Summit was being held in Tampere on the day of disappearance, resulting in heightened security and increased police presence, though CCTV monitoring was still limited in 1999.

Case Last Updated:

Oct 17, 2026