district court of ravnkær

case no. 2026-r-0041

the state v. jens møller

opening statement — prosecution

senior prosecutor anders kirk nielsen rises and addresses the court.

your honour, lay judges.

this case is about a man who saw a way out.

jens møller’s farm was failing. the company he co-owned with erik bredahl — bredahl & møller agricultural supply — had been bleeding money for a year and a half. erik wanted out. he wanted to dissolve the partnership. and if that happened, jens møller would lose everything. the equipment, the contracts, the farm itself. all of it liquidated. all of it gone.

but there was another option.

there was a life insurance policy — 2.4 million kroner — taken out twelve years ago as part of the partnership agreement. payable to the surviving partner upon death. 2.4 million kroner that would pay off the debts, save the farm, and eliminate the one person who wanted to tear it all apart.

on the evening of 14 january 2026, erik bredahl came to møllergården. he had been drinking — that is not in dispute. he and jens spoke in the kitchen. and at some point that evening, erik went up to the silo platform.

he did not come down alive.

the defense will tell you this was an accident. a drunk man, a broken railing, a dark night. and i understand why they will tell you that. because the alternative is terrible.

but the evidence will not support their story.

the evidence will show you a boot print on that platform — size 44. erik bredahl wore size 42. jens møller wears size 44. jens møller told police he never went up to the platform that night. the boot print says he is lying.

the evidence will show you bruises on both of erik’s forearms — not from a fall, but from hands. from someone gripping him. holding him. before pushing him over a railing that jens møller knew was broken.

the evidence will show you erik’s mobile phone — not in erik’s pocket, not on the platform where he fell, but in the cab of jens møller’s truck. how did it get there? the prosecution will demonstrate that jens møller took that phone from erik. why? because something on it — a message, a call, a record — needed to disappear.

and the evidence will show you the thirty minutes. the thirty minutes between when jens møller says he heard erik fall and when he finally called for help. thirty minutes. what does a man do for thirty minutes while his partner lies dying at the bottom of a silo?

i will tell you what he does. he thinks. he cleans up. he moves a phone. he decides what story to tell.

over the coming days, you will hear from the people who knew these two men. you will hear from erik’s wife. from the forensic pathologist who examined erik’s body. from the neighbor who heard them arguing that night. from the accountant who traced the money. from the safety inspector who examined that platform.

and when you have heard it all, i am confident you will reach the same conclusion: jens møller killed erik bredahl. not in a moment of rage, though the anger was real. but because he had run out of other options, and 2.4 million kroner was enough to make a man believe he could get away with it.

thank you.