In the morning he was lying dead on one of the beds fully clothed. He was dead. I got the impression he wanted to go, and I must have killed him. I can't remember strangling him. I just sat there shocked.

Nilsen served eight months as a policeman before resigning. Nilsen could not recall how he had murdered Sutherland; however it was later revealed that Sutherland had been strangled with bare hands. Nilsen is awaiting an appeal on this decision at the European Court of Human Rights.

The description Kindly Killer came from his own belief that his method of murder strangulation and drowning followed by a ritual in which he bathed and dressed the bodies was the most humane method of murder. He retained his victims' bodies for extended periods of time before dissecting their remains and disposing of them via burning or flushing the remains down a lavatory. ".