Nichlas had known Philip Patrick Westh for 15 years.
They met in high school in Korsør, a quiet coastal town in Denmark. They built a friendship that outlasted school, outlasted moves, outlasted everything. Philip was the kind of person who showed up. The kind who made people feel at ease. Nichlas once said he had spent more time with Philip than with anyone else in his adult life.
And for the seven years that Philip was kidnapping, assaulting, and murdering young girls — Nichlas had no idea.
That is the premise of A Friend, A Murderer, a three-part Netflix documentary that dropped on March 5, 2026. It follows three of Philip's closest friends — Nichlas, Amanda, and Kiri — as they reckon with who he really was. But the story it tells goes far beyond Denmark. It forces a question most of us would rather not answer: do we actually know the people we love?
The Town That Trusted Everyone
Korsør is the kind of place where people leave their doors unlocked. A small port town on the western coast of Zealand, it has the relaxed rhythm of a community where everyone more or less knows everyone else. That familiarity is supposed to be safety.
In the early hours of July 10, 2016, 17-year-old Emilie Anine Skovgaard Meng went out with friends in Slagelse. They took the train back to Korsør station around 4 a.m. Her friends went home. Emilie never made it to hers.
A massive search followed. Police, volunteers, dogs. Six months of nothing. Then, on Christmas Eve 2016, her body was found in a lake at Regnemark Hill near Borup. Prosecutors would later allege that Philip had abducted her near the station, asphyxiated her with packing tape, and dumped her body in that lake.
The case went unsolved for nearly seven years.
The Crimes That Stayed Hidden
While Korsør grieved and the investigation stalled, Philip went on living his life. He socialized. He laughed. He was, by all accounts, a good friend.
In November 2022, a 15-year-old girl was attacked in the nearby town of Sorø. She managed to escape. The incident was serious but didn't immediately connect to Emilie's case.
Then, on April 15, 2023, Philip drove his car into a 13-year-old girl who was delivering newspapers in Kirkerup. He took her to his house in Svenstrup and held her captive for 27 hours.
That was the mistake that unravelled everything.
Police traced the car. They arrived at Philip's address on April 16. He didn't open the door. They broke in and found him in the kitchen. The girl was rescued, alive. And as investigators went through his home and his devices, the full picture began to emerge.
On his computer: over 3,500 images and 500 videos of child sexual abuse material. A document he'd written himself — a kidnapping planning list, with girls' names, ages, home addresses, and bus schedules. DNA evidence linking him to Emilie's murder and to the attack on the 15-year-old in Sorø.
He had been planning kidnappings. Systematically. For years.
The Trial, and What Came After
Philip was arrested on April 16, 2023. His trial began about a year later. Philip pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and rape of the 13-year-old and to child pornography possession. For everything else — Emilie's murder, the attack on the 15-year-old — he pleaded not guilty.
The jury disagreed.
On June 28, 2024, Philip Patrick Westh was found guilty of murder, attempted rape, attempted kidnapping, attempted murder, unlawful coercion, aggravated assault, and more. He was 33. The sentence was life — Denmark's most severe punishment.
His lawyer filed an appeal. Philip withdrew it himself in September 2025. In December 2025, his home in Svenstrup was seized by authorities to recover legal costs. He is currently serving his sentence at Storstrøm Prison.
During the period between arrest and trial, Philip wrote two novels. Both featured a protagonist who was a glorified predator who assaulted and murdered young girls. No remorse. No self-reflection. Just a man apparently still living inside the world he had constructed in his head.
After sentencing, he wrote a letter to Nichlas. He said he was sorry he wouldn't be there to watch Nichlas's family grow. He asked for a photo of Nichlas, his partner, and their child.
Nichlas did not send one.
What His Friends Had to Carry
The Netflix documentary does something unusual. Instead of centering on the investigation or the victims' families, it stays with the friends.
Amanda, Kiri, and Nichlas are not criminals. They did nothing wrong. And yet each of them carries a weight that has no clean name.
The guilt is irrational — they know that. They couldn't have known. There were no obvious signs. Philip didn't slip up around them. He never hinted. He maintained his warmth and his humor and his reliability while, on other days, he was hunting children.
That is what makes this case so hard to sit with. We want predators to be detectable. We want the cold eyes, the off-putting remark, the social friction that signals danger. Philip gave none of that to the people who were closest to him.
Nichlas was later briefly suspected as a possible accomplice — simply because of how close they were. He was cleared. But the experience of being investigated for the crimes of a man he loved added another layer of damage to an already shattered friendship.
Nichlas has said publicly that he is still processing it. That he doesn't know how to separate fifteen years of real memories from what he now knows those years contained.
The Question This Case Leaves You With
Philip Patrick Westh was not a stranger who crept in from the edges. He was woven in. He was trusted. He was loved.
And that is the part that's hard to resolve.
We build our sense of safety on the idea that we can read people — that intimacy gives us access to the truth of who someone is. The Westh case says otherwise. It says that a person can show you a completely genuine version of friendship, warmth, and care while maintaining an entirely separate inner world that you will never see.
Nichlas, Amanda, and Kiri didn't fail to see the signs. There were no signs to see. That is not a comfort. It is the entire problem.
Do you really know the people you trust the most?
Maybe. Probably. Philip Patrick Westh's friends would have said the same about him.
Shambhavi Thakur is an investigative writer covering true crime, health journalism, and systemic failures. Based in Vrindavan, India. Watch the video versions on Crime Beat Daily.
