Night had barely turned to day when Knud Brix and his girlfriend woke up to the dog barking.
His girlfriend, Mathilde, was sitting in bed with their two-day-old baby and asked him to go out of the bedroom and down to the living room to see what was happening.
He was only wearing his underwear as he cautiously went down the stairs. The sight stopped him cold.
“Then I could see her. She was sitting down and holding onto our dog,” says Knud Brix.
The woman sitting by the couple’s barking dog had been stalking him for months. She had sent countless text messages and emails, alternately declaring her love for him, scolding him, and apologizing.
We will call the woman Edith. That is not her real name, but DR is aware of her identity.
“Then she looks up. It’s a look I will never forget,” says Knud Brix in today’s episode of Genstart (https://www.dr.dk/lyd/special-radio/genstart/genstart-2026/knud-brix-stalker-11802650191).
Knud Brix is now editor-in-chief at Ekstra Bladet. Next year he will move to Kenya, where he will work as an Africa correspondent for DR.
On Tuesday, Knud Brix publishes the novel ‘Paranoia’. The book is inspired by his encounter with Edith.
Knud Brix is now editor-in-chief at Ekstra Bladet. From next year he will return to DR, where a job as Africa correspondent awaits. (Photo: © Ólafur Steinar Rye Gestsson, Ritzau Scanpix)
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‘Hej Knud’
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Let’s first rewind to when Knud Brix was on the other side of the table, himself hosting DR’s news podcast Genstart. The first episode aired in March 2020.
He had recently gotten divorced and had caught COVID-19. But one day, a text message came in from an unknown number.
In the text, the woman also praised Knud Brix for his journalistic work on the podcast. He was flattered.
He replied and assured her that he remembered her well. Soon after, Edith replied.
Knud Brix wanted to have coffee with Edith, so they agreed to meet at his home on Amager in Copenhagen a few days later. Coffee was replaced with wine when Edith came by. The chemistry was good, and in Brix’s own words, there was a flirtatious atmosphere between the two.
“We talked about the media industry. She praised the radio programs and my diction. I can’t deny that I basked in that,” says Knud Brix.
You invited her to your own home and poured a glass of wine. She was almost a stranger. Why did you do that?
“Maybe it was nice that someone thought the program was great. And I did know her a little bit. I have replayed that meeting a million times in my head,” says Knud Brix in Genstart.
DR has presented Knud Brix’s story to Edith. She writes, among other things, that she never had bad intentions. You can read her full response at the bottom of the article.
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Stalking in Denmark
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Up to 100,000 Danes are subjected to stalking each year.
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35 percent of victims are men.
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The Danish Stalking Center defines stalking as a systematic series of contact attempts and behavior that is unwanted and persistent and is experienced as transgressive and intimidating by the victim.
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Stalking can take many forms and may include surveillance, unwanted phone calls, text messages, emails, threats, physical approaches, and pursuit.
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Since 2022, stalking has had its own provision in the Danish Criminal Code, ensuring that stalking can be punished – even if the stalker has not previously been issued a restraining order.
Source: Danish Stalking Center and the Ministry of Justice
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Edith wants answers
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Already the next day, Knud and Edith texted again. They agreed to meet again, but the former podcast host changed his mind.
Edith accepted that. At first, at least.
“But then the questions started coming,” says Brix.
Edith could not understand why Knud Brix would not give her a chance. She was crazy about him, she wrote. He rejected her several times, but she would not stop contacting him. The messages poured in.
Edith kept at it, and the messages became increasingly angry. Knud Brix began to feel the fear of what she might do. He blocked Edith’s number, but soon she started emailing him. Texts from new numbers also came in.
Finally, he went to the police. The situation was not serious enough for a restraining order, he was told. But the officer subsequently called Edith and gave her a serious talking to. It helped. For a while.
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New teacher at the school
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After some time, Edith started writing again. It culminated one spring evening when Knud, his new girlfriend Mathilde, and some friends were barbecuing in the garden. There, Knud heard that a new teacher was starting at his son’s school soon. Her name was Edith.
“I remember the feeling of the floor opening up beneath me. I had to go upstairs, and I sat there with my head in my hands. And then I started sobbing,” says Knud Brix.
He went to the school administration and explained the situation, and Edith was not hired at the school after all. But the stalking escalated, and the messages began piling up in his inbox again. The police stressed that he must not reply to Edith, because that would weaken the chances of getting a restraining order.
Knud Brix felt how “the floor opened up” under him when he heard that Edith had been hired at his son’s school:
About a year later, Knud and Mathilde became parents to a baby girl. They had barely come home from the hospital when they were woken by the dog’s noise.
Edith was down in the living room, shouting at Knud. She was angry that he had gotten her fired from the school. He hurried back to the bedroom, barricaded the door, and called the police.
Edith was charged with trespassing and unlawful entry. At that time, stalking had not yet been made a separate crime in Denmark. However, in August 2021, Edith received a five-year restraining order against Knud Brix, writes Politiken (https://politiken.dk/kultur/boger/art10904758/%C2%BBHun-skrev-at-hun-var-forelsket-i-mig%C2%AB), which spoke with both the editor-in-chief and the stalker.
DR has presented Edith with Knud Brix’s account of the events.
She responds:
“Actually, I would like to comment on everything, but I don’t feel I’m getting a real chance. It is overstepping boundaries to have a chapter that was otherwise closed reopened in full public view without my consent.”
“I can say with my hand on my heart that I never had bad intentions, and I want to apologize to both Knud Brix and his wife for the harm I may potentially have caused. There should be no doubt that I am not particularly proud, but I was in a difficult place in my life and acted out of helplessness. Meeting Knud was a real misfortune for me, but Knud has nothing to fear. Maybe our story can open up an important discussion about stalking and serve as a starting point to help the many people caught in these dysfunctional spirals.”
Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.