Björn Pétursson, known as "Axlar Björn" and "the farmer killer", was the only serial killer in Icelandic history, who confessed to killing eight people, but investigators estimate there were more than 18.
Born in 1555, he was known as "Axlar," as it was the genitive of Öxl, his place of residence. Pétursson, the youngest of three children of an Icelandic farming couple, began working at the age of 15 as an assistant on a neighbor's farm. The neighbor, Ormur, was well-off, and Pétursson worked for him in exchange for lodging and food.
The employer died a few years later of natural causes and left his properties to his son, Guðmundur, who had become a good friend of "Axlar-Björn." Due to this close relationship, the new owner gifted a farm called Öxl in the region of Breiðavík, in Snæfellsnes, where Pétursson settled with his wife, Þórdís Ólafsdóttir.
Although there are different details about how his murders were committed, many of which form part of a popular legend created 300 years after his execution, it is estimated that the crimes committed by this individual were between nine and 18. Most of the victims were travelers and day laborers who came to Öxl looking for work, but the data on his modus operandi differs, as some pointed out that he cut them with his axe and others that he drowned them.
People were disappearing without leaving a trace, and suspicions about "Axlar-Björn" grew, as the victims had last been seen at the serial killer's farm or in its vicinity. On top of that, the farmer's horses and other possessions increased, which became even more suspicious, but he was safe due to the protection Guðmundur gave him, according to period documents that the Argentine News Agency became aware of.
"Hrokur" was also a third-generation criminal and was executed in 1657 for the robbery and subsequent murder of a man named Hrafna Gunnarsson and his servant Hiloki.
The last words of "Axlar Björn's" grandson before his execution were: "If I were free, I would kill them all and eat their flesh!"
"Axlar-Björn" was finally arrested and confessed to nine murders, but investigators found more bodies when they searched his farm. However, when asked about those bodies, the now-imprisoned man said he had found remains buried on his land and decided to bury them elsewhere without notifying the authorities or taking them to a cemetery. The judicial officials did not believe this version, and a judge in 1596 condemned "Axlar-Björn" (he was 41 years old) to death by hanging and subsequently by breaking on the wheel, so his body was dismembered and each piece was placed on a stake.
His wife, Þórdís, who was pregnant at the time, was forced to witness the execution and then was accused of being an accomplice to her husband in the murders and even of having committed some of them herself. The woman was also sentenced to death, but the sentence was not carried out. Months later, her son, Sveinn "Skotti" Björnsson, was born, who grew up to be a vagrant and a criminal.
"Skotti" was hanged for a rape committed in 1648 when he was 52 years old and was the father of Gísli "Hrokur" Sveinsson.
