I. THE DRIVING INSTRUCTOR AND THE GIRL FROM THE INTERNET

Helge Over Irg was a simple, respected man in Bergen, Norway. A 61-year-old driving instructor, he lived a quiet life after separating from his first wife, Linda. He was a devoted father to his two daughters, Regina and Emily. For years, Helge was content being single. But the loneliness of the Norwegian winters eventually pushed him to seek companionship online. He met Ruby Rosa Verano, a 20-something Filipina. To his daughters, the relationship seemed odd. Ruby was young enough to be his daughter. The age gap was nearly 30 years. “Why would she want him?” they wondered. But when Ruby arrived in Norway in 2007, she silenced the doubters. She worked hard as a waitress, helped Helge with his driving school, and treated him with affection. She seemed like the perfect immigrant success story: hardworking, loving, and integrated. Or so everyone thought.

II. THE “HEART ATTACK” (JUNE 25, 2014)

On the early morning of June 25, 2014, Ruby called 113 (Norway’s emergency number). “My husband isn’t breathing!” she cried. When paramedics arrived, they found Helge dead in his bed. Ruby was hysterical. She claimed she found him unresponsive. Initially, it looked like a natural death. Helge was 61 and a large man; a heart attack seemed plausible. The grieving widow played her part perfectly. At the funeral, she knelt before the coffin, sobbing uncontrollably while “Time to Say Goodbye” played. Friends and family comforted her, moved by her display of devotion.

The Renovation and the Red Flags But grief has a shelf life, and Ruby’s expired unusually fast. Almost immediately after the funeral, she began renovating the house. She ripped out carpets, painted walls, and changed the furniture, specifically in the bedroom where Helge died. She told his daughters, Regina and Emily, that she planned to sell the house and move on. When the daughters visited for a dinner at the newly renovated home, something felt wrong. Ruby wasn’t sad. She was excited. She cracked jokes about Helge’s death. The daughters left that dinner with a sinking feeling: Did she kill him?

III. THE AUTOPSY BOMBSHELL

The police had routine questions, but the autopsy results turned the case into a homicide investigation. Helge didn’t die of a heart attack. His blood contained 64% Carbon Monoxide—a lethal level impossible to reach naturally. Furthermore, toxicology reports found traces of sleeping pills in his system. He had been sedated and gassed.

Police interrogated Ruby. She denied everything. Without a smoking gun, they had to let her go. Ruby, emboldened, flew back to the Philippines for Christmas in 2014. She spent the holidays partying with her family, buying gifts, and living the high life with Helge’s money, thinking she had gotten away with the perfect crime.

IV. THE EVIDENCE IN THE GARAGE

While Ruby was in the Philippines, a breakthrough happened in Norway. Linda, Helge’s ex-wife, volunteered to clean the garage of the house Ruby was trying to sell. There, hidden away, she found a disposable barbecue grill. It looked unused, but it was out of place. Why would anyone keep a cheap, disposable grill in the garage? She called the police. Forensic analysis of the grill matched the carbon monoxide poisoning. Simultaneously, cyber-forensics experts cracked Ruby’s personal computer. The search history was damning.

Ruby’s Google Searches (Translated):

“Will rat poison kill a human?”

“Is nicotine lethal?”

“Can eyedrops cause an overdose?”

“How to poison someone without getting caught?”

“What poison disappears from the system?”

“How to kill someone with carbon monoxide?”

“What happens if your husband dies without a will?”

She had been researching methods of murder for months. The “grieving widow” was actually a cold-blooded researcher of death.

V. THE ARREST AND THE MOTIVE

Police kept the investigation quiet, fearing Ruby wouldn’t return if she knew she was a suspect. On February 15, 2015, Ruby flew back to Oslo, expecting to finalize the sale of the house and cash out. Instead, she was greeted by handcuffs at the airport. She was charged with Premeditated Murder.

The Confession Faced with the overwhelming evidence—the Google searches, the grill, the autopsy—Ruby finally cracked. She accepted a plea deal to reduce her sentence. She admitted to killing Helge. Her motive? Money and Freedom. She confessed that the marriage had soured. She claimed Helge was abusive and called her a “gold digger,” though his daughters vehemently denied this. She admitted she was sending 30,000 NOK (approx. Php 150,000) a month to her family in the Philippines, draining Helge’s finances. More explosively, she revealed she had a Filipino boyfriend she met in 2013. She wanted to leave Helge for him, but her family in the Philippines pressured her to stay because they needed the money. Killing Helge was the “solution”: she would get the inheritance, the house money, and the freedom to be with her lover.

The Method On the night of the murder, they argued. After Helge went to sleep (likely sedated), Ruby lit the disposable barbecue grill. She placed it in the bedroom, closed the windows and doors to seal the room, and waited downstairs. She let her husband suffocate for two hours before calling 113. She then ventilated the room to clear the smoke before paramedics arrived.

VI. THE VERDICT AND THE SECRET BABY

In May 2016, Ruby was sentenced to 21 years in prison (the maximum in Norway at the time, though likely eligible for parole sooner). She was also ordered to pay 200,000 NOK to Regina and Emily. In a final twist of irony, it was revealed that Ruby was not in Helge’s will. She killed him for money she would never receive.

But the story had one last shock. In April 2023, it was revealed to the public that Ruby was pregnant when she killed Helge. She gave birth to a baby boy named Leonel while in custody. The child looked exactly like Helge. Ruby had killed the father of her unborn child. The boy is reportedly in foster care in Norway.

Ruby Rosa Verano remains in a Norwegian prison. Her story is a grim warning about the dangers of greed and the terrifying lengths some will go to secure a “better life.”