About This Episode
On January 1, 1990, a man named Jan made a discovery no one should ever have to make: his girlfriend, Hanne With, lying dead. What followed was not a swift resolution but decades of silence — a case that sat unsolved while Jan carried the memory of that morning alone.
The episode, part of the Danish-language true crime podcast Danske Drabssager, focuses less on the crime scene itself and more on what happens to the people left behind when a homicide case goes cold. Hosted by journalist and author Maya Westander, the installment titled 'DET VÆRSTE SYN - Jan fandt sin kæreste dræbt' — which translates roughly to 'The Worst Sight — Jan Found His Girlfriend Killed' — traces Jan's experience from the day he found Hanne's body through the long years that followed with no answers.
For over three decades, the case of Hanne With's murder remained open, a fact that meant Jan lived with unresolved grief and unanswered questions about who had killed the woman he loved and why. The podcast frames this stretch of time as its own kind of ordeal, separate from the violence itself — the slow erosion that comes from waiting, without knowing whether justice will ever arrive.
Then, 34 years after that New Year's Day discovery, police contacted Jan again. According to the episode, investigators told him they believed they had identified the person responsible for Hanne's death. For a case that had gone cold for so long, the news marked a dramatic and unexpected turn — one that reopened both the investigation and, presumably, the emotional wounds Jan had lived with for most of his adult life.
The episode brings in two key voices to unpack the case from different angles. Martin Wittrup Enggaard, a homicide investigator, offers insight into how police work on cold cases and what can shift after so many years — whether through advances in forensic science, new witness information, or renewed investigative attention. Louise Dalsgaard, a journalist, author, and legal analyst, provides context on the legal and procedural dimensions of a case reopened after decades, helping listeners understand what it takes to move from suspicion to potential prosecution after so much time has passed.
What the episode does not resolve — at least according to available information — is the final legal outcome. There is no confirmation of a trial verdict or conviction tied to the new information police brought to Jan. The narrative, as described, centers on the moment of contact and the weight of that 34-year gap rather than on courtroom proceedings that may or may not have followed.
That framing is deliberate. Danske Drabssager, as a series, has built its identity around examining not just crimes but their long aftermath — the family members, partners, and friends who continue living in the shadow of an unsolved death long after headlines fade and investigations stall. Jan's story fits squarely into that mission: a man who lived with the worst possible memory for over three decades before receiving any indication that answers might finally be within reach.
For international audiences unfamiliar with the case, the details remain sparse by design — no surname for Jan, no confirmed identity for a suspect, no verdict. What the episode offers instead is a portrait of endurance: what it means to carry unresolved loss for 34 years, and what it feels like when the past unexpectedly resurfaces with the possibility of closure.
Whether that closure ultimately came, and in what form, remains outside the scope of the information currently available. For now, the case of Hanne With stands as a reminder of how long the search for truth can stretch — and how those left behind carry that search with them, year after year, long after everyone else has stopped asking.
**Sources**
- https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/det-v%C3%A6rste-syn-jan-fandt-sin-k%C3%A6reste-dr%C3%A6bt/id1472183999?i=1000757143899 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/38O0U1319ypp2lYMaUlXRw - https://podcasts.apple.com/hn/podcast/det-v%C3%A6rste-syn-jan-fandt-sin-k%C3%A6reste-dr%C3%A6bt/id1472183999?i=1000757143899 - https://podcasts.apple.com/cz/podcast/det-v%C3%A6rste-syn-jan-fandt-sin-k%C3%A6reste-dr%C3%A6bt/id1472183999?i=1000757143899&l=cs - https://www.listennotes.com/es/podcasts/danske-drabssager/det-v%C3%A6rste-syn-jan-fandt-sin-SbQwkBhKleN/
