Bjarni Matthías Sigurðsson

**Bjarni Matthías Sigurðsson** (Born November 29, 1894) was an elderly man who disappeared while picking berries with his family. His family suspect he was a victim of a hit and run with the driver hiding his body. The Icelandic Police declared him dead in absentia later that year. Even if he didn't die on the day of his disappearance due to his advanced age he is most certainly deceased. In 2013, a psychic told police where his body was although nothing came of this lead.

## Case

Bjarni Matthías Sigurðsson was born on November 29, 1894, in Ólafsvík, Iceland. He married a woman named Vigdís Lydía Sigurgeirsdóttir and he fathered six children with her. Bjarni worked as a carpenter and blacksmith and owned a machine shop that was well respected by the residents of Ólafsvík. Bjarni was described as a great outdoorsman and was in good health despite his age however by the early 70s he became to suffer from memory problems and started to suffer from the early stages of Alzheimer's which is supported by the death of one of his children in 2016 due to the disease.

On August 25, 1974, Bjarni and his family left their home in a rural area on the Snæfellsnes peninsula. Bjarni was dressed in a blue suit, with a checkered hat or so-called sixpence. He had a red bucket under the berries and a berry picker that he had made himself. After an unknown amount of time picking berries, he told his family that he was going to go to his car to have a coffee. 15 minutes later, his family went to where they parked the car and Bjarni was nowhere to be found and called the police after they briefly attempted to look for him.

The search was extensive with over 3000 people taking part with the entire area being searched and with the police using a helicopter. The police utilized sniffer dogs starting from where Bjarni parked his car and found that the scent had ended at the main road. After learning this his family believed that someone had struck Bjarni with their car likely by mistake and disposed of his body somewhere later stating that the area was so thoroughly searched that his body would've been found if he was in the area. A man who participated in the search would later tell one of Bjarni's sons that he saw police officers at the road examining a pile of berries found off the side of the road close to where Bjarni's car was parked and overheard the officers stating that somebody likely poured them out onto the ground intentionally. It is however unknown if this was observed as the police never commented on this claim.

Despite the massive search no trace of Bjarni was ever found although police circulated his case in the various newspapers printing information in both Icelandic and English. He was later declared dead in absentia and a memorial service was held on November 30. In the spring of 1975 after the weather calmed down the police conducted another search although Bjarni's body was still never recovered.

In 2012, an electrician in his 90s took pictures when we were exploring a cave in Snæfellsnes and after returning home to check the pictures he noticed an unknown man in one of the photos. When they were uploaded, people were quick to notice that he closely resembled Bjarni and was wearing the same clothing as the day he went missing. The photos went viral in Iceland and Bjarni's family even believed that it was him in the photo, despite how he would be 114 years old by that time.

In 2013, a psychic contacted the police stating that they knew what happened to Bjarni and where his body was. The psychic stated that he was struck by a vehicle driven by two men and that they placed his body in their vehicle and drove him to a deserted house 56 kilometers away in a rural area where they proceeded to cover his body with rocks. The police investigated a few deserted houses in nearby rural areas but did not find his body in any of them.

## Sources

* *Facebook*
* Vísir
* *DV*
* *Fréttatíminn*