Spain’s Guardia Civil yesterday arrested a 46-year-old man following the fatal collision that killed Nikoline Piwoni Høie on the Costa del Sol.
It has now been confirmed that the 17-year-old Norwegian was accompanied by two young men when she entered an Uber car outside the Funky Buddha nightclub in Puerto Banús, bound for Fuengirola.
The police still do not know who the two men are. Nor is it known when the journey, lasting barely 20 minutes, began. An Uber spokesperson says, according to El Español, that they are cooperating with the Guardia Civil.
– There are many questions that need to be clarified with these young men, according to the newspaper’s source in the Guardia Civil. Where were they going? Why did Nikoline ask to be allowed out before they arrived? Was she subjected to coercion in the car? Did she feel unwell, or did she change her mind about where they were going?
Nikoline Piwoni Høie (17) fra Arendal ble funnet død i Spania
According to the police, Nikoline Høie appeared to have been disoriented when she attempted to cross the road instead of using the nearby underpass.
To cross, she would have had to climb over a safety barrier on the central reservation that is approximately 170 centimetres high. As we know from the family’s description, she was wearing a pink dress that night.
The police state that blood samples have been taken that may shed light on whether the girl from Arendal had ingested hallucinogenic substances. In this connection, the police mention that they are interested in making contact with the two young men.
According to the local newspaper SUR in Málaga, the police were working yesterday to establish whether the arrested man is the driver who, according to an eyewitness, fled after the fatal accident.
The witness is said to have been the only person who saw the accident, although several people called the emergency number shortly afterwards.
Late on Monday evening, the online newspaper El Español wrote that it had received confirmation that the driver involved in the accident is the person who has been arrested. He was then due to be brought in for questioning a few hours later.
Searching for a vehicle with a shattered windscreen
After it emerged that investigators had found shattered glass at the scene, the original witness statement that a lorry had struck the 17-year-old was reassessed.
The police instead issued an appeal for a van or larger commercial vehicle with a shattered windscreen.
The arrested man is a family man in his thirties who owns a van with both frontal damage and a shattered windscreen.
According to SUR’s police sources, the Uber vehicle that Nikoline and the two young men took from Puerto Banús towards Fuengirola was located early in the investigation.
The driver has been questioned, and it appears that he has been ruled out of the case. He explained that the teenager asked to be let out on the road, at a taxi rank by the exit from the Riviera del Sol area in the municipality of Mijas.
A few metres from the taxi rank is an underpass with pavements on both sides.
Despite this, according to the newspaper, Nikoline Høie attempted to cross the motorway on foot.
Underpass beneath the A-7 motorway at Riviera del Sol, Mijas, Spain. (Photo: Document)
El Español has conflicting information. It writes that Nikoline was dropped off on the seaward side of the motorway, where it would be natural to be dropped off when travelling from Puerto Banús.
She is then said to have attempted to cross on foot to reach the taxi rank on the opposite side.
– Thrown across the central reservation
Two taxi drivers whom Document spoke to at this rank on the upper side of the road on Sunday had heard that Høie was struck on the seaward side of the road and that the collision was so violent that she was thrown across the central reservation into the opposite carriageway.
This corresponds with what El Español writes in the article it published yesterday evening. It reports statements from the witness, who was driving a lorry towards Marbella and saw part of the accident.
It is not known why the Uber driver did not leave the motorway at this exit and drive Nikoline Høie through the tunnel pictured in order to reach the correct side of the road. The detour would have taken only one additional minute. (Photo: Document)
The arrested man was identified through analysis of images from surveillance cameras in the direction of Fuengirola, in which investigators searched for damaged windscreens. This must mean that the police have no surveillance footage of the accident itself, which accords with what the taxi drivers told Document. They did not believe there were any traffic cameras on this particular stretch.
According to SUR’s sources, Nikoline Høie lived in the area where she wanted to leave the car, but several other newspapers state that her mother and stepfather live in Fuengirola, 11 kilometres farther along the same motorway.
The Guardia Civil are uncertain whether the arrested man can be blamed for the accident itself:
– He was driving on the motorway when the teenager crossed the carriageway, and he fled after striking her. Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that the driver cannot be charged with negligent homicide. He was driving his van normally, while the teenager acted negligently by walking onto the motorway, one of the newspapers’ police sources says.
Pedestrians are strictly prohibited from using the motorway. It is also a criminal offence to flee the scene of an accident. Excessive speed is another possibility that the Guardia Civil is keeping open.
Nikoline’s parents received the last sign of life from their daughter when she sent a message at around 1.30 a.m., following Norway’s victory over Brazil. Her message at the time was that everything was fine.
Update 15.02.2026 02:20: It was initially reported that the arrested man was between 30 and 40 years old. The police stated on Tuesday evening that he is 46 years old.
Norske Nikoline (17) meid ned og drept av lastebil etter Norge–Brasil-feiringen