Three Reindeer

The time is approximately 9:15 on the 19th of February 2009 and I’m going to retrieve Kåre Vye from the holding cell and bring him in for an interview.

Thank you for coming into the interview today to talk with me Kåre. My name is detective Vossen with the Norway police.

I’ve been asked to come and speak with you today, first I’m going to explain and make sure that you fully understand what is going to be happening. I know that you have spoken with some of the officers, but I need you to understand why we are here talking with you today.

Why do you think that you are here today?

I’m here so you can try to incriminate me for something I haven’t done. I think it’s pretty obvious you think I had something to do with the death of my wife.

Well that’s not entirely true, but yes, I certainly am interested in what the truth is. My understanding is that you were arrested for being involved with the death of your wife, Heidi Vye and this is the reason why we are having this chat today.

So Kåre, if you have any questions please feel free to ask me at any time, and now that you understand why you have been arrested, do you have any questions involving that?

No, I didn’t murder my wife. I loved my wife. Why would I do that?

If you would like to phone a lawyer then I can arrange that for you now.

What for? I don’t want to talk to anyone right now.

I understand that you spoke to an officer straight after the accident,

I don’t know, I was still in shock from the accident. I don’t think I knew what the hell I was talking about.

Did you notice anything unusual about Heidi on that day ?

No, nothing out of the ordinary, I knew she was struggling with her mental health but I didn’t think anything of it. It was usual for her to be that way.

What way?

Depressed, angry at me, there was always something getting her down.

What happened at the lake that day, can you talk me through it from the beginning?

It was just like any other day, I had just picked up my father and we were on our way to visit my mother who is in hospital. We stopped off at the lake so that Sasha, my daughter, could stretch her legs, you know what children are like. And that’s when Heidi just ran off with Sasha.

Why did she run off?

We had been arguing, she was having a bad day.

What were you arguing over?

My wife was very confrontational and no matter what I did, there was always something wrong. She was always criticising me. It affected how I was. She would always flare up in emotional outburst very easily.

It was scary for me, but not as scary as her using my daughter to get back at me. I pleaded with her. My daughter was crying, it was really, really stressful.

Has she ever attempted something like this before?

Her depression often made her feel like giving up in life. No matter what I said she would always feel like an inconvenience to my family which is not true. It’s been going on for a number of years and it very nearly broke me. There were times I wanted to grab my daughter and run away from her, but I knew I couldn’t because she was so vulnerable.

I don't have mental health problems myself so I can’t understand it, I never thought she would do something like this though.

We had something that Heidi wrote before she died, accusing you of hurting Sasha. Heidi claimed you pushed her off of the swing and broke Sasha’s wrist, is this true?

My wife often made things up. She was on a range of tablets, she would often take too many or not enough. She didn’t have a proper grip on reality. Sometimes she would dream scenarios that didn’t happen. We tried to get help but the doctor kept handing out tablets. And mixed with her binge drinking it made her a very unstable person. Her grip on reality wasn’t always right, she accused me of having an affair with her sister, with her daughter’s teacher, and with her friend’s wife. Sometimes the arguments got out of hand, I felt like I was sharing the house with a wild animal sometimes. She was unpredictable, it was very scary for me and Sasha.

We have also been informed that your daughter Sasha, was in the stages of referral for the social services. Can you think why Heidi would have wanted to hurt her?

My wife changed when we moved to our new house. It was like she was a completely different person, someone that I didn’t know anymore. I found out that she had started drinking in the daytime and not taking Sasha to school. I think she was desperate for help, for attention, but the doctors didn’t take her seriously. They failed her as much as I did, I should have gotten her more help but whenever I tried to talk to her about it it would send her into a fit of rage. She was always so defensive if someone brought up Sasha.

Do you think that your behaviour hurt your wife?

I have tried to make a good life for us, recently I have been working away, I’m a structural engineer, and the job has been very demanding. I only took it so I could give my family better things. I’ve been working long days and I’m exhausted when I get home. I couldn’t give Heidi all my attention because I had to pay off the mortgage and renovations by myself since she got fired from her job. I don’t think having a purpose made her feel better, she was always calling me when I was at work, threatening to leave me if I didn’t come back straight away. What else could I do?

Is there anything more you would like to add before we finish the interview? Anything that will help us in the investigation?

I know deep down she loved her daughter and me. She didn’t get the help in time that she needed. She could have even needed sectioning. I’ve done my best and it wasn’t good enough. I’ve let myself down, my wife down and my daughter down.

Ok thank you Kåre, we will be in touch. I hope that your daughter wakes up from her coma.