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Death on the Top Deck: The Killing of Klaus Schelkle and Attempted Murder of Bettina Taxis
Will there ever be justice in this 1980s case?
On the evening of 27 July 1987, after cuddling up for a photo at Stockholm harbour, Klaus Schelkle, 20, and his girlfriend Bettina Taxis, 22, boarded the cruise ship Viking Sally to sail from Stockholm, Sweden to Turku, Finland along with Klaus’s friend Thomas Schmid. When they got to Finland they planned to take the train north to Lapland and on into Norway.
The sailing would be overnight and the young West German trio— who were backpacking around the Nordic countries — decided not to spend money on a cabin. Schmid would sleep in a public area inside the ship whilst Klaus and Bettina decided to sleep one deck above him, on the public open-air 9th deck towards the rear of the ship, so that they could watch the sunrise at 5 am.
Klaus and Bettina found a suitable spot, which was dimly lit due to a broken lamp, and settled down for the night in their sleeping bags at about 1 am. Though others had been on the deck earlier in the evening, the now dark night and chilly wind meant the couple had the deck to themselves.
