Police suspect homicide after woman falls from Helsinki balcony

By admin On Sep 18, 2025

Balcony (centre, fourth from the top) with a missing section of railing, in an apartment building on Hietalahdenkatu in Helsinki on Thursday, 18 September 2025. Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva

A middle-aged woman died on Wednesday evening after falling from a fifth-floor balcony in Helsinki’s Hietalahti district. Police confirmed they are treating the case as both a potential accident and a possible homicide.

“We are investigating both the cause of death and the possibility of manslaughter,” said Juha Piippo, lead investigator and detective chief inspector at Helsinki Police.

According to police, the woman was a resident of the apartment from which she fell. A panel from the lower section of the balcony had broken off, and fragments were found on the ground beneath. Piippo said the current assumption is that the woman fell through the resulting gap.

“There is a criminal suspicion, so there is also a suspect,” Piippo told Helsingin Sanomat. He declined to say whether the suspect had been detained.

The victim lived in the flat with a man who, according to Ilta-Sanomat, has a prior criminal record and has previously been convicted of fraud and firearms offences. Police have not confirmed his identity or whether he is the person under suspicion.

Neighbours say the man and woman had moved into the building roughly six months ago. One neighbour told Ilta-Sanomat that she had once encountered the man in the courtyard acting erratically and under the influence of alcohol, wearing only a partly open bathrobe.

“He was staggering around half-naked. I didn’t want to stay near him,” she said.

She also said this was the first time in nearly ten years of living in the building that she had felt afraid inside the property.

Emergency services received the call at around 18:00 on Wednesday. A man working in a nearby restaurant said he saw the woman’s body lying on the ground.

“I couldn’t sleep at all last night,” he said.

Police were seen entering the apartment on Thursday morning. The door remained sealed with police tape.

According to public records and neighbour accounts, the victim was over 50 and had worked in the media and cultural sectors. No public statement has been made about her identity.

A mother living in the same stairwell described the atmosphere as “quiet but unnerving” since the incident.

“I’m saddened and worried. This is a bit frightening,” she said.

No official cause of death has yet been confirmed. Investigators are still determining what role, if any, the man played in the woman’s fall.

“We are still investigating the circumstances that led to or contributed to her fall,” Piippo said.

The apartment building was constructed in 1954. The balconies were renovated in 2006. The housing company’s property manager Tero Varis said a structural inspection had been conducted just a month before the incident.

“There were no structural deficiencies in the balcony elements under the housing company’s responsibility,” Varis told Yle.

Neighbours who spoke with Ilta-Sanomat said the pair mostly kept to themselves. No disturbances had been heard from the flat prior to the incident.

Police are asking anyone with information or who may have witnessed events related to the fall to contact them by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi