The Amager Man: Marcel Lychau Hansen – 23 Years of Terror Exposed

Edith Andrup's murder: Start of Amager Man's terror in 1987

On a cold February morning in 1987, 73-year-old widow Edith Louise Andrup was found lifeless in her apartment on Frederikssundsvej in Valby. She had been strangled with bare hands, and the perpetrator, in a chilling attempt to erase traces, had left four gas taps open and a lit candle. This brutal act in Copenhagen marked the beginning of a 23-year period of shocking crimes that would horrify all of Denmark. The perpetrator turned out to be Marcel Lychau Hansen, later infamous as the Amager Man – a man who outwardly lived a seemingly normal life as a family man and respected youth football coach on Amager, while secretly hiding a dark and dangerous double identity. His true face was only revealed in 2010 through a crucial DNA match.

The facade: Family man, SAS employee, football coach life

Marcel Lychau Hansen was born in Dragør in 1965 and grew up on Amager. As a young man, he worked for his older brother's removal company and was an active football player. In 1988, he started a family in Kastrup and had two sons. Until his arrest in 2010, he worked night shifts as a cleaner for SAS at Copenhagen Airport and coached a youth football team at AB Tårnby, where he was well-liked and seen as a trustworthy figure.

Investigation: Ether, arson, and an overlooked clue

When the police investigated Edith Andrup's apartment after the murder in 1987, they found signs of an assault. Ether had been used for sedation, followed by manual strangulation and an attempt to disguise the crime as a robbery with arson. It later emerged that Marcel Hansen had helped Edith Andrup move furniture just a month before the murder – a detail that became centrally important in 2010 when handprints and his DNA profile definitively linked him to the case.

Lene Buchardt Rasmussen: DNA implicated Hansen 20 years later

Three years later, in August 1990, 40-year-old teacher Lene Buchardt Rasmussen disappeared during a bicycle ride on Amager Fælled. Her body was found five days later in Fasanskoven, a victim of rape and strangulation. Although DNA from the perpetrator was secured, the technology of the time did not allow for identification. It wasn't until 2010, when semen traces from a brutal rape in an allotment garden on Amager matched DNA evidence from both the Fasanskoven case and a rape at Amagerkollegiet in 2005, that the police net began to close in on Hansen.

Systematic terror: Rapes, crucial role of a milk carton

Between 1995 and 2010, Marcel Hansen developed a more systematic criminal pattern. In October 1995, he broke into a villa on Ingolfs Allé on Amager, where he tied up and raped four women for four hours: two 14-year-olds, a 15-year-old, and a 23-year-old. Jewellery worth DKK 65,000, stolen during the assault, was later found with Hansen's eldest son during a search in 2011 – a tragic testament to the family's unwitting involvement. In May 2005, he spread terror again, this time at Amagerkollegiet, where he assaulted a 24-year-old student. He threatened her with a knife, forced her to wear a blindfold, and sexually assaulted her for two hours. Here, Hansen made a crucial mistake: he drank from a milk carton, the handprints and DNA traces from which would become the key to his identification five years later.

Kastrup arrest: Condom finding and crushing DNA evidence

At 3:23 PM on November 12, 2010, the police struck, storming Hansen's home in Kastrup. During the search, investigators found a pack of Thin condoms, RFSU brand – exactly the same brand used in the rape at the allotment garden on Amager that same year. This discovery, combined with Hansen's DNA profile matching the case's evidence with a probability of 1 in 1,000,000, eliminated any doubt about his guilt.

2011 trial: Denials and attempt to forge DNA evidence

During the subsequent trial at the Copenhagen City Court in late 2011, Hansen maintained his innocence. He argued that 'the real perpetrator would strike again,' and that his continued imprisonment would prove his innocence. However, the prosecutor, Marie Tullin, uncovered a horrifying pattern of sadism and manipulation. Shockingly, police revealed during the case that Hansen had attempted to smuggle semen samples out of prison in rubber glove fingers, presumably to plant them on a new victim and create confusion about the crucial DNA evidence.

Verdict: Life sentence for sadistic murders, continued deceit

On December 22, 2011, the verdict was delivered: life imprisonment for two murders and six rapes. The court emphasized Hansen's 'pronounced sadistic and psychopathic behavior,' which combined gross sexual violence with psychological terror. Victims were forced into impossible choices and threatened with death, and Hansen deliberately used methods such as gas, candles, and hand sanitizer to remove traces. Even after the verdict, Marcel Lychau Hansen's manipulation continued. In 2012, he was convicted of encouraging his son to commit fake assaults using his semen to construct an alibi – a plan that further underscored his narcissistic traits and total lack of remorse.

Victims' trauma: Psychologist's profile of a calculated killer

Behind the cold facts about the Amager Man lies deep human suffering. Mandy Johnsen, who was assaulted at age 17 in 2010, described the 90 minutes of torture as 'an eternity.' The four women from the Ingolfs Allé case in 1995 broke down during the trial, and their testimonies revealed lasting trauma – one of the girls' fathers committed suicide a few years after the tragedy. Forensic psychologist Henrik Day Poulsen characterized Hansen as a 'psychopath with narcissistic traits,' whose ability to maintain a facade of normality for decades attests to his dangerousness. His methodical planning, including using his job as a removal man to identify potential victims, underscores a cold, calculated criminal intelligence that made him a feared serial killer in the shadows.

Unsolved cases: Amager Man's hidden crimes during the 'quiet'?

Journalist Sebastian Richelsen has pointed to a 10-year period (1997-2007) during which Hansen's criminal activity seemingly stopped, which could indicate undiscovered crimes. Several unsolved cases of murdered women in the Copenhagen area from 1989-1990 have been subjects of speculation regarding the Amager Man's possible involvement, but a lack of crucial DNA evidence has so far prevented an official link.

Future: Parole possibility, experts' views and lasting impact

Marcel Lychau Hansen's life sentence is not necessarily final. As one of the few Danes given this sentence, Hansen could theoretically apply for parole from 2023. However, experts assess that his lack of cooperation with prison psychiatrists and his persistent dangerousness profile will likely extend his imprisonment significantly. The Amager Man's case stands as a chilling reminder of how effectively evil can hide behind a facade of normality, and how even trivial mistakes – like a forgotten milk carton or a dropped condom – can ultimately expose a serial killer and bring the truth to light.

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