We take a look at some of Swedish most notorious mass killers (mass murderers, spree and serial killers), some of whom will be in prison until they die, with no chance of parole.
This is a list of notable mass killers (mass murderers, spree and serial killers) from Sweden, ranked by number of proven victims (deadliest):
| # | Name: | Number of victims: |
| 15. | Dr. Teet Härm | 0 – 9 |
| 14. | Juha Veikko Valjakkala (Nikita Bergenström) | 3 |
| 13. | Mohammed Beck Hadjetlaché | 3+ |
| 12. | Alva Nordberg | 4 |
| 11. | Fredrik von Sydow | 4 |
| 10. | Tommy Zethraeus | 4 |
| 9. | John Ingvar Lövgren | 4 |
| 8. | John Filip Nordlund | 5 |
| 7. | Mattias Flink | 7 |
| 6. | Hilda Nilsson | 8 – 8+ |
| 5. | Sture Bergwall (Thomas Quick) | 8 – 15+ ??? |
| 4. | Tore Hedin | 9 |
| 3. | Anders Hansson | 27 |
| 2. | Maria & Anders Persson | 73+ |
| 1. | Gustav Holmen & “Wife” | 1,000+ |
(See also 7 Myths About Serial Killers)
(See also The Last Words of 30 Famous Serial Killers)
(See also Top 30 Intelligent Serial Killers With Highest IQ)
(See also Top 30 Serial Killers By Number of Victims (20th century))
(See also Top 7 Famous Finnish Serial Killers)
(See also Top 7 Famous Norwegian Mass Killers)
15. Dr. Teet Härm (0 – 9)
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| (Dr. Teet Härm) |
Born in Stockholm during 1953, Dr. Teet Harm was a criminal pathologist, renowned for helping the authorities discover evidence in local homicides. Unknown to the detectives he befriended, Harm was also a practicing vampire and cannibal, ultimately credited with slaughtering at least seven victims in late 1987 and early 1988.
According to investigators, Harm -- a widower whose wife "committed suicide" in 1982 -- would cruise the Stockholm nightclubs in his search for female prey. Instead of winding up at Harm's apartment, the unlucky ladies were delivered to the morgue where Harm solved crimes by day, then murdered and dismembered on the operating table.
An accomplice, Dr. Thomas Allgren, was occasionally called upon to join Harm in a feast of human flesh, though he apparently did not initiate the murder scheme. Harm's final victim, model Katrina da Costa, was decapitated with a power saw in the presence of Harm's five-year-old daughter, the child later recreating the crime for police by plucking the head from a doll.
Convicted of da Costa's murder in the spring of 1988, Harm and Allgren were committed for psychiatric evaluation, detectives estimating that at least six other slayings might be charged against them at a later time. With Harm's bizarre activities in mind, a new investigation has been opened in the death of his wife, Christine, found hanging in their bedroom six years prior to Harm's arrest.
Unfortunately, the trial was overturned on a technicality by the Swedish Supreme Court. When the retrial was held in May and both defendants were found 'Not Guilty'. Odd as it may sound, the court wrote that reasonable cause existed to find the defendants guilty, yet both men were released.
Classification: Murderer?
Characteristics: Rape - Mutilation
Number of victims: 0 - 9
Date of murders: 1984 - 1987
Date of arrest: October 28, 1987
Date of birth: 1953
Victims profile: Women (seven prostitutes, his wife and a Japanese student)
Method of murder: Strangulation
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Status: On September 16, 1988, at the end of the murder trial, the jury returned a guilty verdict at the District Court. However, before the verdict could be confirmed by the judge, a number of jurors gave interviews to the press. As a result, the High Court overturned the conviction. Acquitted on a second trial
The Vampire Doctor
STOCKHOLM, Sweden: The brutal murder of Katrina de Costa, a prostitute in the red light district. Began the case against two rather unlikely suspects. Over a five-year-period, between 1982 and 1987, at least seven prostitutes solicited by the night stalking pair were pulled from the streets and seedy nightclubs. Dismembered and bloodless bodies were found strewn around fields, parks, and ravines in the city suburbs. The deaths of two socialites and a Japanese student were also believed to be the work of the same pair.
What the investigating detectives were unprepared for was the identity of the perpetrator. The medical mind they had been searching for was none other than their friend and valued colleague, Dr. Teet Haerm, the senior police medical examiner. Haerm was one of the world's most respected pathologists, and his best friend, Dr. Thomas Allgen was a family doctor and dermatologist.
At their trial, information was brougth forth that shocked the entire nation. Dr. Haerm was regularly called in to perform official autopsies on his own victims. The good doctor had a few skeletons scattered around his office as well - literally. He kept the skulls and brains of some of his victims, and the heart of his young wife on prominent display. (He is also believed to be responsible for the death of his wife, Anne Catherine, but the death was officially ruled as a suicide.)
The body of Annika Mors was found in Hagensten Park. Under a bridge leading to the suburb of Sollentuna, police found the body of Kristine Cravache. In both cases Dr. Haerm preformed the autopsies, showing nothing but cold detachment to the investigators. Playmate and confidante of the country's leading citizens, Lena Grans and her close friend, television announcer, Cats Falk were reported missing. Shortly after, prostitute Lena Bofors dropped some interesting information on the police. She told them the murders were being committed by a team, and she thought she knew who they were. That visit to the police station was to be her last. She was never found, neither was the next victim, Lota Svenson.
Detectives, out of anger, anguish, and an overwhelming frustration began cross-checking and re-interviewing more than 600 street walkers. The description of a boyish-looking, well-dressed young man kept appearing, as did the mention of the white Volkswagen Rabbit he drove. One terrified young woman, who refused to be identified in any way, told police she had been beaten by a client matching the same description before having sex, then he dropped her off at her home as if nothing had happened. The quick-witted and badly abused hooker had the presence of mind to note the attackers appearance and clothing, as well as the liscence number off the VW Rabbit.
When police ran a check on the number, it turned out to be none other than the medical examiner, Dr. Haerm. It was at this time that the police put the good doctor under heavy surveillance and did a thourough background check on him. The bizzarre story of his wife's death came to light a short time later. She was found hanging from the end of her bed by Haerm and (coincidentally) the lady he moved in with not long after his wife's death.
Detectives were stunned when they confiscated copies of the medical journal, The Lancet, in which the ambitious pathologist had actually published studies of his own crimes. But dispite this evidence, the case against Haerm was entirely circumstantial, and it was thrown out of court - temporarily.
Haerm was fired from his job with no official reason given and he set himself up in private business where he attracted a popular practice, listing a large number of attractive young women.
In 1985, the skeletons of Lena Grans and Cats Falk were founnd in Lena's submerged car under Hamarby Dock. They were positively identified, but the cause of their deaths was never fully investigated. In 1986, a copycat murder in Copenhagen, Denmark was reported. Japanese student, Tazugu Toyonaga was tortured, strangled and mutilated by a skilled hand. Again, the case was too circumstantial to take to court.
In an assumed unrelated case, charges were brought against Dr. Thomas Allgen by his estranged wife concerning the sexual molestation of his five-year-old daughter. The psychologically disturbed Karin Allgen was interviewed by social workers trying to get to the root cause of the abuse. Even though the child was only two years old when the murder had occurred, Karin was able to recount the grisly murder of Katrina de Costa in graphic detail as only some who witnessed the event could.
Allgen pled guilty to the incest charges and admitted his part in the de Costa murder. He claimed to be a willing part of Haerm's vigilantes, that they lured prostitutes to the city morgue. And not only did they torture and mutilate their victims, they also practiced, cannibalism, blood-consumption, and necrophilia.
On 16 September, 1988, the jury convicted Haerm of the de Costa murder and sentanced him to life in prison. Allgen was also sentanced to life.
Unfortunately, the trial was overturned on a technicality by the Swedish Supreme Court. When the retrial was held in May and both defendants were found 'Not Guilty'. Odd as it may sound, the court wrote that reasonable cause existed to find the defendants guilty, yet both men were released.
14. Juha Veikko Valjakkala (Nikita Bergenström) (3)
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| (Juha Veikko Valjakkala (Nikita Bergenström)) |
Nikita Bergenström (former Juha Veikko Valjakkala, Aslak Valdemar Ahonen, and Nikita Joakim Fouganthine; 13 June 1965 in Pori, Finland) is a Finnish murderer convicted of the triple murder of a family in the northern Swedish community of Åmsele.
The series of events that led to the murders began when the 22-year-old Valjakkala was released from a prison in Turku on 1 May 1988, after which he started wandering through Sweden and Finland with his 21-year-old then-girlfriend Marita Routalammi.
On 3 July they arrived in Åmsele. After nightfall Valjakkala stole a bicycle. He was pursued by the owners, Sten Nilsson and his 15-year-old son Fredrik. The chase ended at a cemetery where Sten and Fredrik Nilsson were both shot by Valjakkala with a shotgun. Later Sten's wife and Fredrik's mother, Ewa Nilsson, went looking for the two, was chased into the woods and had her throat slit by Valjakkala outside the cemetery. Valjakkala and Routalammi were caught in Odense, Denmark just over a week later.
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Robbery
Number of victims: 3
Date of murder: July 3, 1988
Date of arrest: A week later
Date of birth: June 13, 1965
Other names: Nikita Bergenström, Aslak Valdemar Ahonen, Nikita Joakim Fouganthine
Victims profile: Sten Nilsson, Ewa Nilsson and their 15-year-old son Fredrik
Method of murder: Shooting / Stabbing with knife
Location: Åmsele, Sweden
Status: Sentenced to life imprisonment
Åmsele murders
The series of events that led to the murders began when the 22-year-old Valjakkala was released from a prison in Turku on 1 May 1988, after which he started wandering through Sweden and Finland with his 21-year-old then-girlfriend Marita Routalammi.
On 3 July they arrived in Åmsele. After nightfall Valjakkala stole a bicycle. He was pursued by the owners, Sten Nilsson and his 15-year-old son Fredrik. The chase ended at a cemetery where Sten and Fredrik Nilsson were both shot by Valjakkala with a shotgun. Later Sten's wife and Fredrik's mother, Ewa Nilsson, went looking for the two, was chased into the woods and had her throat slit by Valjakkala outside the cemetery. Valjakkala and Routalammi were caught in Odense, Denmark just over a week later.
At the trial the two defendants blamed each other for the murders, but the court believed Routalammi's story. A psychiatric evaluation found both to be mentally competent for trial. However, the statement by a forensic psychiatrist found that Valjakkala suffered from a psychopathic personality and was very aggressive. Conviction for the murders was his 12th criminal conviction.
Imprisonment and escape attempts
Valjakkala was given a life sentence on three counts of murder, while Routalammi received two years for complicity in assault and battery. Routalammi was released after serving half of her time, and Valjakkala was transferred to Finland to serve out the rest of his sentence.
Valjakkala tried to escape from prison in 1991.
In April 1994 Valjakkala fled the Riihimäki prison in Finland where he was being held. He took a teacher as a hostage, but he was apprehended nearby and the hostage escaped the situation unscathed.
In 2002 he escaped from Pyhäselkä prison and traveled to Sweden with his wife, and was captured after a large police operation in Långträsk. Upon returning to prison after the 2002 escape he tried to commit suicide by hanging himself in his cell.
His next escape in 2004 from Sukeva prison lasted only 19 minutes and reached less than 1 km from the prison walls.
Just after midnight on 28 November 2006 Valjakkala escaped for the fourth time, this time from the labor prison in Hamina. He was captured on the evening of 30 November 2006 by police Readiness Unit Karhuryhmä in Maunula, Helsinki. Police assaulted the apartment which was suspected to be Valjakkala's hideout. Valjakkala was captured without resistance. After the incident Valjakkala went back to closed prison.
Valjakkala changed his name to Nikita Joakim Fouganthine in 2008 and later to Nikita Bergenström in 2013.
Parole
Having served 19 years in prison, Fouganthine was due to be released on parole on 1 July 2008.
Fouganthine was released on 25 February 2008. He was arrested again on 12 April 2008 for breaking his release terms. He is likely to face charges for, among other things, endangering the traffic, stealing a vehicle and driving a vehicle without a licence and driving an unlicensed taxi. Valjakkala has admitted to the above.
Fouganthine and his wife Alexandra married in May 2008.
In December 2008 the Supreme Court of Finland decided that he would be released with a suspended sentence on February 2009. Fouganthine was paroled again on February 2. In a recent interview he revealed that he is currently writing an autobiography.
On 23 November 2011 he escaped from Kerava's parole prison. The Finnish police say that he might be somewhere else than Finland. On 1 December Nikita Fouganthine was found in Vallila, Helsinki. It is not believed that Fouganthine committed any crimes during his escape.
Media
In 1991 Swedish director Jan Troell directed a film based on the Åmsele murders, Il Capitano, starring Antti Reini.
Nikita Bergenström is credit as Juha Valjakkala in "The Girl Who Played with Fire", in a comparison between criminals' profiles.
The eighteenth episode of the Danish Television Drama Rejseholdet is based on the Åmsele murders.
13. Mohammed Beck Hadjetlaché (3+)
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| (Mohammed Beck Hadjetlaché) |
Mohammed Beck Hadjetlaché (20 May 1868, he also sometimes stated 1870 or 1872, Istanbul - 4 November 1929, Stockholm) was a Circassian journalist, writer, MI6 (SIS) and cheka agent. Hadjetlaché used many assumed identities, but his real name was probably Kasi Beck Akhmetukov. Sentenced to death. Commuted to life in prison. Died in prison on November 4, 1929.
He left Soviet Russia and came to Sweden in 1918, where under the cheka and SIS direction he organized a fake White Terrorist cell planning to help in the counter revolutionary struggle against the Bolsheviks with Stockholm as his base. The goal of the operation was to portray all white émigrés as bloodthirsty terrorists and provoke Swedish police actions against Russian emigrants.
Hadjetlaché purchased a house in the woods outside of Stockholm. To that house he and his gang brought people that he accused of being Bolshevik agents who he killed and their bodies were then dropped in a nearby lake. When the police discovered the gang in 1919, three murdered bodies were found in the Norrviken lake.
According to Hadjetlaché’s own “death list” it is likely that more people had been killed.
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Circassian journalist, writer, SIS and cheka agent
Number of victims: 3 +
Date of murders: 1918 - 1919
Date of arrest: 1919
Date of birth: May 20, 1868
Victims profile: Karl Calvé / Juri Levi Levitsky / Nicolai Ardachev (accused of being Bolshevik agents)
Method of murder: ???
Location: Stockholm County, Sweden
Status: Sentenced to death. Commuted to life in prison. Died in prison on November 4, 1929
Kasi Beck Akhmetukov was born in Istanbul in a Circassian family, which fled from Circassia after the Russian-Circassian War. In 1878 his father, a Bashi-bazouk leader was killed in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). In 1882 he returned to Russia, and was adopted by the childless Ettinger family and called Grigory. In 1890s he wrote and published several novels and short stories under the pen name Hadjetlaché.
In 1902 Hadjetlaché joined Socialist-Revolutionary Party. In 1908 he started to publish the magazine "Moslem" in Paris and the newspaper "In the world of Islam" in Saint Petersburg.
In 1916 Hadjetlaché offered to run a "anti-German and anti-Turkish propaganda campaign among the Moslems on a worldwide scale" for the Russian government and asked for money.
He left Soviet Russia and came to Sweden in 1918, where under the cheka and SIS direction he organized a fake White Terrorist cell planning to help in the counter revolutionary struggle against the Bolsheviks with Stockholm as his base. The goal of the operation was to portray all white émigrés as bloodthirsty terrorists and provoke Swedish police actions against Russian emigrants.
Hadjetlaché purchased a house in the woods outside of Stockholm. To that house he and his gang brought people that he accused of being Bolshevik agents who he killed and their bodies were then dropped in a nearby lake. When the police discovered the gang in 1919, three murdered bodies were found in the Norrviken lake.
The confirmed victims were engineer Karl Calvé (originally possibly Gleb Varfolomeyev), journalist and Soviet diplomatic courier Juri Levi (Paul) Levitsky and nobleman Nicolai Ardachev, a doctor in law.
According to Hadjetlaché’s own “death list” it is likely that more people had been killed.
The murders were used for propaganda purposes by the Soviet press. Soviet writer Alexei Tolstoi included it in his novel "Emigrants".
Hadjetlaché was sentenced to death, later converted to lifetime in jail by the Swedish court and he died in 1929 in Långholmen Prison. Hadjetlaché was the last person to be sentenced to the death penalty in Sweden.
Carl Sandburg wrote a poem about Hadjetlaché under the title, "Mohammed Bek Hadjetlaché." It is written as if Sandburg had personally met Mohammed Beck Hadjetlaché.
12. Alva Nordberg (4)
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| (Alva Nordberg; Swedish Baby Farmer Serial Baby Killer who murdered 4 babies. Date 1905.) |
In 1905 Alva Nordberg, 29, a child care provider (baby farmer) residing in Rådmansö parish, Stockholm, Sweden, was convicted of killing three babies – through either neglect or assault. She was not prosecuted for the death of a fourth child who perished after being removed from her care. Nordberg was sentenced to only four years in prison.
Alva Nordberg; Rådmansö parish, Stockholm, Sweden
Born: July 15, 1876
Arrested: Jun. 20, 1905
Court judgment: October 3, 1905
4 Victims:
1) Blenda Hallberg, daughter of Karin Ragnhild; born Feb. 27, 1905; in care of Nordberg from 8 May to 16; died in May.
2) Elsa Gunhild Wigströms daughter Naemi born March 6, 1905 ; in care of Nordberg from June 4; died Jun. 6, 1905.
3) Anna Jansson's son Axel Herman was born June 4, 1905; in care of Nordberg from July 2; died on the Jun. 15 of the same month.
4) Martha Ulrika, daughter of Alma Larsson's, May 31, 1905, in care of Nordberg from 10 June 10 to 18 July 18; died after being removed.
11. Fredrik von Sydow (4)
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| (Hotell Gillet in Uppsala today) |
Fredrik von Sydow (1908 – 7 March 1932) was a law student who became known for the "Sydow murders" in Stockholm and Uppsala on 7 March 1932.
Fredrik von Sydow came from an upperclass family in Stockholm and studied Law at Uppsala University.
On March 7, 1932, his father Hjalmar von Sydow, who was a conservative member of parliament and the managing director and chairman of the Swedish Employers' Federation and two maids employed in the household were found dead in the family residence in Stockholm, all bludgeoned to death with an iron bar. Even though the police soon came to suspect the son, Fredrik, it took a few hours before they were able to locate him.
Fredrik von Sydow had taken a taxi with his wife Sofie to Uppsala, where they entered the restaurant of Hotel Gillet and ordered Champagne, caviar and oysters. When the police eventually arrived to the restaurant, Fredrik von Sydow took up a gun and shot his wife and himself to death.
Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics: Parricide - Spree killer
Number of victims: 4
Date of murders: March 7, 1932
Date of birth: June 4, 1908
Victims profile: His father Hjalmar von Sydow and two maids / His wife Sofie
Method of murder: Bludgeoned to death with an iron bar / Shooting
Location: Stockholm/Uppsala, Sweden
Status: Committed suicide the same day
The motives of Fredrik von Sydow have never been clarified, but the relative prominence and public position of the family made the murders a significant scandal and the object of much speculation. The writer Sigfrid Siwertz wrote a play, Ett brott ("A crime", 1933) based on the murders, on which a 1940 film of the same name was based.
The motive for the murders remains unclear, but one possible scenario is that Fredrik was a drug user and had fallen into serious financial difficulties. Fredrik's relationship with his father was strained. All of these factors could have resulted in a desperate impulse to murder. According to the police, Fredrik had taken his father's wallet, which contained SEK 235 (equivalent to SEK 7000 today) at the time of the murders.
In the early 21st century two books were written about the Sydow murders, Uppsala attorney Anders Frigell's von Sydowmordens gåta ("The riddle of the von Sydow murders"; Uppsala: Uppsala Publ. House, 2002) and the novel I skuggan av ett brott ("In the shadow of a crime", Stockholm: Bromberg, 2004) by the writer Helena Henschen, who is herself a granddaughter of Hjalmar and niece of Fredrik von Sydow.
10. Tommy Zethraeus (4)
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| (Tommy Zethraeus) |
Tommy Zethraeus (born 28 May 1969 in Falun, Sweden) is a Swedish mass murderer currently serving life imprisonment for the murder of four people outside the restaurant Sturecompagniet at Stureplan, Stockholm on 4 December 1994. After Zethraeus and two of his friends were denied entry at the door to the restaurant, they went home by taxi and returned at about five in the morning. Zethraeus had brought with him a Norwegian AG-3 automatic gun and gunned down three women, Katinka (21), Daniella (22) and Kristina (21), and the door bouncer Joakim (22). Over twenty other people were injured.
He was tried and later sentenced to life imprisonment. Zethraeus applied in 2009 to seek a time frame set for his life sentence, but his application was denied by the court. However, on 11 February 2014, an Örebro court decided to grant Zethraeus his application setting a conditional parole in 2016.In March 2016, Zethraeus was transformed into a 36-year prison sentence. Zethraeus will be released in 2018.
A.K.A.: "The Stureplan Murderer"
Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics: Revenge
Number of victims: 4
Date of murders: December 4, 1994
Date of arrest: 3 days after
Date of birth: May 28, 1969
Victims profile: A man (nightclub bouncer) and three girls
Method of murder: Shooting (standard Norwegian army issue AG-7)
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Status: Sentenced to life in prison September 1995. In March 2016, Zethraeus was transformed into a 36-year prison sentence. Zethraeus will be released in 2018.
In December 1994, four people were murdered in the middle of Stockholm in what was to be called the "Stureplan Murders", after the place where it happened. It started when three youths in their mid twenties were barred from a restaurant. They then went away, fetched a machine gun and standing on the pavement right outside the restaurant, massacred a large number of people who were queueing up to get in including the head bouncer who had barred them. At his trial in 1995, Tommy Zethraeus was charged with the murder of four people and sentenced to life imprisonment; his two accomplices both received 4 years.
The forensic psychiatric examination, which was conducted by professor of psychiatry Lars Lidberg, included a so-called PET-scan of Zethraeus' brain, in order to ascertain its biological processes and any dysfunction which could have caused his behaviour. It was then shown that Zethraeus had damage to his frontal lobe, something which he ls reported to share with many other violent criminals. This had the effect of rendering him unable to realize the result of his act and it was explained that located in this particular area, the frontal lobe, is the faculties of thought and the ability to understand the consequences of one's actions.
Tommy Zethraeus was arrested for the first time in August 1990, and held in custody by the Stockholm police at Kronoberg remand centre, where we can see that internees have routinely been put under sedation since the 1970s. It was then, of course, that the transmitter was implanted in his head, and most likely that the cerebral damage was done. This is also the most probable cause of the appearance of more and more crazed and brutal psychopaths who have this kind of brain damage and resulting reduced cerebral function.
Most acts of violence are carried out by people who have been held by the police or in psychiatric institutions and thus been linked up to neuro-experimental computer programmes. We must remember what professor Lindstrom called the technique in his radiological report of a person who had several transmitters implanted while in custody: "radio-hypnoticintracerebral control" This says a great deal about the potential of the technique.
Both of Zethraeus' accomplices at the Stureplan Murders, Guillermo Marquez- Jara and Farshad Doosti had previously been in police custody, Jara between August 3rd-4th 1991 and Doosti, in Falun, in April/May 1993 and had naturally also been subjected to such abuse.
9. John Ingvar Lövgren (4)
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| (John Ingvar Lövgren in an undated photo) |
John Ingvar Lövgren (22 October 1930 – 9 February 2002) was a Swedish serial killer and rapist who confessed to four murders committed between 1958 and 1963 in the Stockholm region. Lövgren was convicted and sentenced to closed psychiatric treatment at Salberga prison. He went under the name Flickmördaren ("The Girl Killer"), because his last two victims were young girls. He was, at the time of his death in 2002, no longer in treatment due to poor health, which he had received from his cancer. He was buried at Sala cemetery.
A.K.A.: "Flickmördaren" ("The girl killer")
Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Rapist
Number of victims: 4
Date of murders: 1957 - 1963
Date of arrest: September 3, 1963
Date of birth: October 22, 1930
Victims profile: Agneta Nyholm, 26 / Greta Löfgren, 62 / Berit Glesing, 6 / Ann-Kristin Svensson, 4
Method of murder: Beating with a rock
Location: Stockholm region, Sweden
Status: Sentenced to closed psychiatric threatment at Salberga prison in March 1964. Died on February 9, 2002
The novel The Man on the Balcony released by Sjöwall/Wahlöö in 1967 was based on John Ingvar Lövgren and his crimes.
Victims:
- Agneta Nyholm, 26. - murdered on the night of 27 June 1957 at her home in Fruängen. (Lövgren was never convicted of her murder and her case has since been closed and prescribated. Police however considers it solved and Lövgren as the assailant).
- Greta Löfgren, 62. - raped and murdered in November 1962 in her home at Kungsholmen.
- Berit Glesing, 6. - raped and murdered on 6 August 1963 in Vita Bergen at Södermalm.
- Ann-Kristin Svensson, 4. - raped and murdered on 2 September 1964 in Aspudden.
8. John Filip Nordlund (5)
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| (The mugshot of the mass murderer John Filip Nordlund. Date May 1900, Source: Museum of the Swedish Police Force (Polismuseet).) |
John Filip Nordlund (23 March 1875 - 10 December 1900) was a Swedish mass murderer from Gävle who was executed 10 December 1900 in Västerås. It was the next to last execution ever carried out in Sweden (the final took place in 1910 when Johan Ander was executed at Långholmen).
Also known as Mälarmördaren or Svarte Filip, Nordlund had led a life full of petty crimes until 16 May 1900. This day he committed one of the worst murder sprees in Sweden during the 20th century.
He entered the passenger ferry Prins Carl and went on a rampage which left five people dead and eight wounded. Later that day he was arrested at the trainstation in Skogstorp near Eskilstuna. He could never give an explenation for his actions, and his only remorse was that he hadn't killed the people he wounded.
He was sentenced to be executed for his crimes, and the execution took place at the prison in Västerås on 10 December the same year.
A.K.A.: "Mälarmördaren"
Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics: Robberies in a ship
Number of victims: 5
Injured: 8
Date of murders: May 16, 1900
Date of arrest: Next day
Date of birth: March 23, 1875
Victims profile: The ship's captain (Olof Rönngren), a butcher, an old lady, a farmer and a cattle merchant
Method of murder: Shooting / Stabbing with knife
Location: In the sea, Sweden
Status: Executed with an axe on December 10, 1900
John Filip Nordlund (also known as "Mälarmördaren", "Mordlund", "Svarte Filip") (23 March 1875 - 10 December 1900) was a Swedish mass murderer, the second to last person to be executed in Sweden (after Alfred Ander in 1910) and the last person to be executed through manual beheading in Sweden.
Early years
Nordlund was born in Övre Stubbersbo, near Säter outside Falun. He had two siblings, Joel, an older brother who was a deafmute, and a younger brother named Rickard. Histories are told of the young Nordlund as an odd child who never laughed. In 1882 the family moved to Falun where Nordlund went to school, but being of an impatient nature he never finished school. Instead he took to the road, at first with a classmate who was an orphan, in 1886. Later that year, he was spotted by a friend of his parents in Hedemora, and returned to home. In 1887 he was on the run again, and as a person of both size and strength he had the ability to work, passing as an adult. For a brief period, one and a half years, he worked at a lumber mill in Korsnäs, which, according to himself, was the only time he tried to live an honest life. Still he gave in to temptation and forged a bill, which got him fired from the lumber mill. His parents had now moved to Gävle; Nordlund also lived there for a short period of time.
Nordlund had gotten used to thieving during his time on the road and in 1891 he was arrested and sentenced to four months in prison for cattle rustling by a court in Ljusdal. Later the same year he received his first long term prison sentence, this time for stealing, when he was sentenced to three years in prison. The prison term was served at the county jail in Malmö. In 1895 he received another three-year sentence which was to be served in Långholmen Prison in Stockholm, where he was enrolled as prisoner number two. Due to unruly behaviour in prison and other things he was to serve four years and according to letters written by himself in 1900, it was here his plan for the future took its final and drastic shape.
The 20th of April 1900, Nordlund was released from Långholmen and with the help of his younger brother, who was now living in Stockholm and working as a clerk, he went home to Gävle. As an ex-convict he had difficulties getting a job, so soon he returned to his old life, but this time with a disastrous plan of one final big hit that would solve his problems.
The mass murder on the steam boat ferry Prins Carl
On the night of 16th and 17 May 1900 Nordlund committed the act that would make him the bogeyman of several years to come, and reserve a place for him in the criminal history of Sweden.
He boarded the ferry in Arboga and bought a ticket for Stockholm on the evening with an evil plan. The contents of his luggage were two revolvers, several knives and padlocks, with which he had planned to lock the door to the engine room. His plan was to rob and kill as many people as possible on the ship and steal the ship's register. To avoid early detection he also planned to torch the ship. This plan failed however, partly because scared passengers on the boat managed to attract the attention of another ferry, the "Köping". Still he managed to commit one of the worst murder sprees in known Swedish history by killing four and wounding nine (of whom 8 survived) and a partly trashed ship. The victims of Nordlund's rampage included the ship's captain (Olof Rönngren), a butcher, an old lady, a farmer and a cattle merchant. His plan also failed in the aspect that he did not manage to steal the ship's register, leaving his booty at 845 kronor. He managed to escape from the ship because no one thought that one single man could be strong enough to put one of the life boats in the sea and row away.
The next day he was arrested by three police officers at the train station in Skogstorp near Eskilstuna, where he had bought some new clothes earlier and avoided detection. He had planned to take the train to Oxelösund and travel to Copenhagen via Gothenburg. When he was arrested he is supposed to have shouted things like; "This was my revenge on humanity" and "Be glad that you arrested me here – if I had gotten on the train several more would have been killed".
After the arrest
He was put in a holding cell in Eskilstuna, in which the guards were barely able to keep an angry mob from killing him. The 18th of May he wrote a letter to his family, explaining what he had done and that he was the one responsible for the newspaper headlines. The letter was published by the newspapers (both Gefle Dagblad and Aftonbladet). In the letter he wrote that he had to explain himself to someone and that he realised that he would receive only one more sentence, capital punishment. He also told them not to grieve and that he welcomed the end since he never felt that he was a part of the society at all.
In court he never tried to act in a manner which would result in a lighter sentence; he never pleaded insanity, he showed no remorse saying only that he regretted not having killed everyone on the ferry. He was sentenced to death and to forever lose all privileges as a citizen for five murders, eight attempted murders and theft. Twice he tried to flee from his cell in Västerås county jail injuring the jailors with a sharp object that he managed to manufacture in the cell. He attempted to escape once, because he had nothing to lose but to await execution.
The act that he committed resulted in a media hysteria comparable to the ones we see today, partly because the ruthlessness of the crimes. Several papers competed with each other on several numbers of victims. In some papers the number of victims was exaggerated, claiming a much larger death toll. Several skillingtryck were made about the events on Prins Carl with songs detailing the horrors of the night of May 17.
The execution
Nordlund had the possibility of writing a letter to the king, Oscar II, to plead for mercy, which he chose not to do. Strangely enough, he took the time to write a letter to the Supreme Court complaining about the fact that he had been wrongfully sentenced for robbery of people that he did not rob. The Supreme Court wrote in their answer (of November 13) that this was irrelevant and that the sentence passed by the court was correct. While awaiting his execution he met his mother several times (the last time five days before his execution). In addition the priest from Långholmen, August Hylander came to visit him several times. In his final letter to his parents he actually asked the lord for redemption and told his parents good bye.
On the morning of December 10 Nordlund was escorted to the prison yard of Västerås County Jail where he was strapped to a stretcher-resembling block and beheaded by the high executioner Dahlman using a manual blade, rather much resembling a meat cleaver. Nordlund's execution was swift, striking the head off in a single blow.
The aftermath
The year 1900 was one of the darkest for the people who wanted to abolish capital punishment in Sweden with three executions in the same year, all by decapitation (between 1866 and 1900 there were 11 executions in total). The people who argued that one inherited the role as a criminal and the people who wanted to keep the death penalty used Nordlund as an example of why this penalty was necessary. Abolitionists such as Hjalmar Branting only argued that it was unfortunate that Nordlund had been released from prison.
Some have claimed that the way Nordlund acted after being caught is a proof of insanity, and that his lack of empathy for his victims also proves this. It has been said that had he not committed the act in a time when several gruesome murders were committed he would probably have received a lighter sentence (or been sent to an insanity asylum). The claims of insanity and the fact that two of the three persons executed in 1900 were claimed to have been insane, probably had an effect on the justice system with a 10-year stretch of reprieves until the execution of Alfred Ander by guillotine, the last ever in Sweden.
7. Mattias Flink (7)
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| (Mattias Flink) |
Mattias Flink (born March 8, 1970) is a Swedish spree killer who killed seven people and wounded two during a one-night rampage through the town of Falun, Sweden on June 11, 1994. At the time, he was a second lieutenant in the Swedish Army.
Matt, an army man, was distraught over the impending break-up with his girlfriend. After a night of serious drinking he returned to his barracks, grabbed his AK-5, extra ammunition clips, and went back to town to mow down citizens.
After killing seven people he climbed on a crane and waited for the police. Two hours later he got bored, climbed down, and was spotted by the police who tracked him to a railway station.
When he saw the cops he tried to fire at them but his AK-5 jammed with a casing caught in the ejector. The two lucky cops shot him on the buttocks before arresting him.
He was released from prison on June 11, 2014, exactly twenty years after the murders.
Classification: Spree killer
Characteristics: Army officer - Distraught over the impending break-up with his girlfriend
Number of victims: 7
Date of murders: June 11, 1994
Date of arrest: Same day (wounded by police)
Date of birth: March 8, 1970
Victims profile: Karin Alkstål, 23 / Therese Danielsson, 20 / Helle Jürgensen / Lena Mårdner-Nilsson, 29 / Jenny Österman, 22 / Maths Bragstedt, 35 / Johan Tollsten, 26
Method of murder: Shooting (automatic rifle AK5)
Location: Falun, Sweden
Status: On 11 June 2014, Flink was released from jail on the 20th anniversary of his shooting spree
Early years
Flink was born and raised in Falun, Sweden. His mother was a housewife and his father and grandfather worked as gunsmiths with their own shop. At the age of seven Flink joined the Scout Movement. His parents divorced when he was nine years old and the divorce is described as having been calm and sensible. Flink chose to stay with his father in the family house while his mother moved to an apartment just a couple of hundred meters from the house. According to psychological evaluations his mother's departure left deep scars within Flink. It is said that Flink developed some kind of alienation towards women.
Flink attended high school with a focus on Electric Mechanical studies. After his graduation Flink enlisted as a conscript with Dalarna Regiment. He committed himself to become an officer of the Swedish Army and was employed at Dalarna Regiment in 1993.
Mental health
During the spring of 1994 Flink had severe problems with his mental health, resulting in aggression, severe jealousy, sleeping disorders and paranoia. This led to a total mental breakdown. He was reported as having been "thrown out of a restaurant for bothering women".
Killing spree
On June 11, 1994, Second Lieutenant Mattias Flink consumed a large amount of alcohol, then he went home to change his clothes. Dressed in his field uniform he walked to his regiment. He equipped himself with his Ak 5 assault rifle and 150 rounds of ammunition, 5.56×45mm NATO caliber. Flink then set out for a park in Downtown Falun where he shot 6 members of the Women's Auxiliary Services. The women were shot at random. Shortly thereafter, he shot two men, one cyclist and one security officer, at a nearby road crossing. Six of the victims died immediately, while one woman died in the hospital. One victim survived the attack.
Victims
- Karin Alkstål, 22
- Therese Danielsson, 20
- Helle Jürgensen, 21
- Lena Mårdner-Nilsson, 29
- Jenny Österman, 22
- Maths Bragstedt, 35
- Johan Tollsten, 26
Arrest
After the shootings Flink sought refuge in a nearby crane. He remained there for some time before he made his way down to walk home along an abandoned railway. It was at this time that two policemen discovered him. Flink fired two rounds at the policemen who then returned fire. Flink was hit in the hip and collapsed. At 03:25 Flink was apprehended and brought to Falun hospital.
Trial
In the district court the defense never questioned the prosecutor's description of the crime. The question for the defense was whether or not Flink was mentally ill at the time of the shooting. According to experts, Flink was in a self-inflicted temporary psychotic condition, triggered by alcohol, on the evening of the crime. If Flink was found to be mentally ill he would not be able to be sentenced to prison. The final verdict came in the Swedish Supreme Court; Mattias Flink was sentenced to life imprisonment. This precedent verdict made it possible for the courts in Sweden to sentence people to prison for crimes stemming from and committed during an alcohol-induced psychosis.
Time in prison
Flink was placed in the Norrköping prison but was subsequently moved to Beateberg prison outside of Stockholm. When the prisoners of Beateberg learned of Flink's move they arranged a meeting to show their disgust towards his actions of killing innocent women.
Flink has been allotted protected identity by Swedish Authorities. He has refused to give any interviews. During his years in prison he has been described as a calm and well-behaved prisoner.
During the spring of 2008, Mattias Flink applied for parole to the District court of Örebro. On June 9, the court ruled that Flink must go through a psychiatric examination to determine whether he is likely to be dangerous to others before a decision on parole can be made. The examination by the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine (Rättsmedicinalverket) was finished by July 7. The victims' families strongly opposed the fact that Flink might be released.
Mattias Flink was given several monitored short-term leaves from prison, and in May 2007 he was granted unmonitored leaves since he behaved well during his other leaves. Relatives and families of the victims strongly opposed these leaves and expressed worries about the same thing happening again.
Conversion of life sentence to a set time sentence
In January, 2008, Flink requested that his life sentence be limited to 24 years imprisonment. However, on September 3, 2008, Örebro municipal court rejected the request with the motivation that the circumstances regarding the case are "exceptionally difficult" and that a set time punishment has to greatly exceed 24 years.
On July 7, 2010, Flink's request to convert his sentence was approved by Örebro tingsrätt (district court). His punishment was set to 32 years imprisonment, which would have made him eligible for parole sometime in 2015. The decision, however, was appealed by the prosecutor, and on December 21, 2010, Flink's punishment was adjusted to 36 years by Göta Court of Appeal, pushing his potential parole date to the summer of 2018. After yet another appeal, Flink's punishment was adjusted to 30 years by the Supreme Court making his parole date to the summer of 2014, after serving 20 years in prison.
On 11 June 2014, Flink was released from jail on the 20th anniversary of his shooting spree.
6. Hilda Nilsson (8 – 8+)
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| (Police mugshots of Hilda Nilsson in 1917) |
Hilda Nilsson (1876 – 10 August 1917) was a Swedish serial killer from Helsingborg who became known as "the angel maker on Bruks Street".
In 1917 she was imprisoned for murdering eight children. Her trial, which included a mental examination, began on 2 June 1917. At the conclusion of the trial on 15 June 1917, she was sentenced to death. She escaped this punishment by committing suicide while in jail in Landskrona. She hanged herself with a linen cloth, which she had tied to a cell door. She is considered to be Sweden's worst female serial killer.
She was the last death penalty prisoner in Swedish history not to be pardoned. She died before the pardon could be officially carried out.
Some sources indicate her victims may number as many as 17 children.
Born: Hilda Nilsson, 1876, Helsingborg, Sweden
Died: 10 August 1917 (aged 40–41), Landskrona, Sweden
Number of victims: 8 – 8+
Cause of death: Suicide (hanging)
Nationality: Swedish
Criminal charge: Murder
Criminal penalty: Death by guillotine
Motive: Financial trouble
Hilda Nilsson and her husband Gustaf lived in Helsingborg, Sweden. The couple had accrued large debts and needed a way to pay their bills.
As a way to raise cash, Nilsson cared for infants in return for money from mothers who were not married and needed help.[2] At that time, having a child outside of marriage was a shameful moral crime, and caring for these children for a fee (known as baby farming) was a common practice.
Nilsson kept her home in a good, clean condition, which made mothers more willing to leave their unwanted children in her care. However, the small sums of money she received was far from what she needed to support all the children she had agreed to take care of.
Murders
Nilsson murdered the children she took care of shortly after their mothers left them in her care. This was possible because the authorities rarely knew of these babies' existence. Furthermore, the mothers almost never wanted to come back to learn how their children were doing.
One method Nilsson used for murdering the children was to put them into a washtub and then place heavy objects—such as a washboard and coal scuttle—on top of them. She then left the room and returned hours later when the children were dead. The next step in her procedure was to burn their bodies. On occasions when she did not burn them, she dug graves and buried them.
Nilsson was different from other baby-farmer child killers of that time, in that she actively killed the children. Most others simply left the children with insufficient food and in unhealthy living conditions, which led to their death.
Discovery, trial, and sentence
Nilsson's crimes were discovered when a woman named Blenda Henricsson wanted to contact her child. When Nilsson refused contact, Henricsson asked the police to investigate. The police soon found ample incriminating evidence of the murders.
Nilsson was sentenced to death by guillotine. Before the punishment could be carried out, she committed suicide by hanging on 10 August 1917. The same day, and without Nilsson's knowledge, the court had commuted her death sentence to life imprisonment.
She was the last death penalty prisoner in Swedish history not to be pardoned. She died before the pardon could be officially carried out.
5. Sture Bergwall (Thomas Quick) (8 – 15+ ???)
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| (Sture Bergwall (Thomas Quick)) |
Sture Ragnar Bergwall (born 26 April 1950), also known as Thomas Quick in 1993–2002, is a Swedish man previously believed to have been a serial killer, having confessed to more than 30 murders while incarcerated in a mental institution for personality disorders. Quick was convicted of eight of these murders.
However, he withdrew all of his confessions in 2008, as a result of which his murder convictions were quashed and he was released from hospital. The episode raised issues about how murder convictions could have been obtained on such weak evidence, and has been called the largest miscarriage of justice in Swedish history. Journalists Hannes Råstam and Dan Josefsson made TV documentaries and books about the murder cases; they claimed that bad therapy led to false confessions, Dan Josefsson claims that a "cult" like group led by psychologist Margit Norell manipulated the police and talked Sture Bergwall into false confessions.
Birth name: Sture Bergwall
A.K.A.: "Sätermannen"
Classification: Serial killer ???
Characteristics: Juvenile (14) - Child molester
Number of victims: 8 - 15 +
Date of murders: 1964 - 1996
Date of arrest: 1996
Date of birth: April 26, 1950
Victims profile: Men, women and children
Method of murder: Several
Location: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland
Status: Sentenced to closed psychiatric confinement
Early life
Bergwall grew up in Korsnäs with his six siblings. He adopted his mother's maiden name, Quick, around 1991. After a history of delinquency (molestations of boys and stabbing a man), Quick was sentenced in 1991 for armed robbery.
Confessions and convictions of murder
After the robbery conviction, Quick was confined to care in an institution for the criminally insane. During therapy, he confessed to more than thirty murders committed in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland between 1964 and 1993. The therapy sessions were followed by police interviews. One of his confessions led to the solving of an 18-year-old murder considered to be unsolvable, and another to the informal solving of a murder in Växjö in 1964. This 1964 crime was outside the then 25-year statute of limitations in Sweden, but with the information given by Quick, the case was considered closed.
With no eyewitnesses or technical forensic evidence to connect him to the crimes, Quick was convicted solely on the basis of his own confessions while undergoing recovered-memory therapy on benzodiazepines followed by police interrogations. Details in the confessions were wildly wrong and Quick relied on hints and body language from his interrogators to guess the answers expected of him. Bergwall/Quick had been researching unsolved murders on microfilm in the Royal Library, Stockholm when he was on day release and confessing to a murder in Norway led to a Norwegian newspaper writing his story. Quick requested back copies including earlier reports of the story from Norwegian journalists and could include details hitherto unknown to the Swedish police that they concluded only the perpetrator knew. Nine-year-old Therese Johannessen had disappeared from Fjell in Drammen in 1988 and had not been found since. Ten years later Quick was convicted of murdering her. The crucial evidence was the discovery of burnt bone fragments from what should have been a child. In 2012 laboratory tests showed that the supposed bone fragments were composed of wood and glue fused together - probably hardboard. An analysis had not been performed before the evidence was presented to the court.
Examination of his answers showed that his initial attempts to provide answers to questions concerning, for example murder weapons and birthmarks, were wrong, leading questions were asked in police interviews, and the initial erroneous guesses edited out of the version presented to the court.
The involvement of therapists meant that Quick's early failure to provide anything more than a vague, confused and vacillating picture that gradually sharpened and focused was explained away as the result of repressed memories being retrieved as a result of therapy; e.g. In the judgment for the case of Therese one can read that the psychologist Christianson told the court that "Traumatic events are retained in the memory but there can be protective mechanisms that work in the unconscious to repress their recall." Similar arguments about Quick/Bergwall's "repressed" memories recur again and again in the judgments."
The credibility of Quick's confessions was widely debated in the Swedish media. Critics of these confessions, and the trials, including a policeman involved in one of the investigations, wrote that there was no evidence that tied Quick to any of the murders he had confessed, and that until he could show something he had taken that belonged to one of his victims, the probability was that he was a compulsive liar. In a December 2008 television interview with Hannes Råstam Quick denied taking part either in any of the murders for which he had been sentenced or in the more than 30 murders he had confessed to.
Because the only evidence to support the convictions were his own confessions, that he now retracted, and nothing else remained on which to base the judgments, Sture Bergwall changed his lawyer and the eight murder convictions handed down in six trials were all quashed on appeal, the last one in July 2013. Thomas Quick, who now reverted to his birth name of Sture Bergwall, was set at liberty after having been confined for more than twenty years in an institution for the criminally insane, with conditions that he refrain from alcohol and narcotics.
Between 1994 and 2001, Quick was convicted of eight murders (in chronological order) at six different District Court trials:
- Charles Zelmanovits, Piteå 1976, sentenced in 1994 – no forensic evidence, except for the confession – Sentence quashed: July 2013
- Johan Asplund, Sundsvall, 1980, sentenced in 2001 – no body, no forensics except for the confession. Sentence quashed: March 2012.
- The Stegehuis couple, Appojaure (Gällivare) 1984, sentenced in 1996 – no forensics, but Quick gave information regarding facts that had never been disclosed to the public. His confessions were later questioned, as Quick seemed to have been privy to all information before the trial – retrial granted by the Supreme Court. Sentence quashed: May 2013.
- Yenon Levi, tourist from Israel, Rörshyttan, 1988, sentenced in 1997 – no forensic evidence, but statements included in Quick's testimony such as his incorrect guesses at the murder weapon (in the police interviews, Quick/Bergwall guessed a camping axe, a spade and a car jack before arriving at the correct answer – a wooden club). The incorrect guesses were not mentioned in court. Sentence quashed: September 2010.
- Therese Johannesen, Drammen, Norway, 1988, sentenced in 1998 – bone fragments presented as forensic evidence turned out to be hardboard. Sentence quashed: March 2011.
- Trine Jensen, Oslo, 1981, sentenced in 2000 – no forensic evidence. Sentence quashed: September 2012.
- Gry Storvik, Oslo, 1985 – no forensic evidence, confession; the semen found in victim did not belong to Quick. Sentence quashed: September 2012.
In Sweden a defendant always gains access to the full police investigation prior to the trial. Quick's lawyer Claes Borgström has been criticised for failing to protect his mentally disturbed client's objective interest in being judged not guilty.
Confessions and subsequent withdrawals
In the years following 1990, when Quick was sentenced to closed psychiatric confinement, he confessed to several well publicised unsolved murders. His first murder, according to his own accounts, occurred in Växjö in 1964, when Quick was only 14 years old. The victim, Thomas Blomgren, was described by Quick as being the same age but not as strong and tall as himself. At the time of his confession, the murder was already subject to the statute of limitations which Bergwall/Quick later admitted was a reason for confessing; but later, it transpired that Quick had a watertight alibi. On the day of the murder he was attending his own confirmation with his family at the Pentecostal Church.
The second alleged victim was Alvar Larsson, whom Quick claimed to have murdered at Sirkön in the lake Åsnen outside the town of Urshult. According to Quick's sister, Quick never left Falun at the time of the murder.
The credibility of Quick's confessions had been widely debated in the Swedish media since 1993, up until 2008, when Quick withdrew all of his confessions. There have been consistent doubts about the reliability of his statements, and some of his confessions have been proven to be fabrications – The two African refugees Quick confessed to murdering in Norway were found to be alive and well.
A DNA sample from a crime in Norway was subsequently found to be a mismatch, and there was no technical forensic evidence to link Quick to any of the crimes. Another dubious circumstance is the fact that no witnesses have ever testified to seeing Quick in the proximity of any of the crime scenes, even though more than 10,000 people were interviewed for intricate details.
Critics of these confessions and the trials claim that Quick never murdered anyone, but that he is a compulsive liar. Among the critics are the parents of a child he confessed to having murdered in the late 1970s. In response to these accusations, Quick himself wrote an article for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter in 2001 in which he said that he refused to cooperate further with the authorities concerning all open murder investigations.
In November 2006, Thomas Quick's trials were reported to the Swedish Chancellor of Justice by retired lawyer Pelle Svensson on behalf of the parents of a murder victim who wished to have the trials declared invalid. Several principals in the fields of law and psychiatry, among them Swedish criminologist and television crime commentator Leif G. W. Persson and two police officers involved in the investigation of the murders who refused to involve themselves further in the investigations all claim that Quick has a history of mental illness, but it was unlikely he was guilty of any of the crimes to which he had confessed. The handling of the Quick cases has been described as the "most scandalous" chapter of Scandinavian crime history, branding it as glaring incompetence, naiveté, and opportunism within the police and judicial system.
Quick withdrew all of his confessions in 2008 during the recording of a TV documentary, made by prize-winning investigative journalist Hannes Råstam, who died shortly before his book version was published.
Quick's attorney contended that the prosecution withheld important investigative material from the defence (which the prosecution adamantly denied). Quick's attorney claimed that his client is mentally ill and was being given prescription drugs (benzodiazepine) when he confessed to the killings. These arguments were some of the grounds for quashing all the eight murder convictions in six trials and six appeals.
Thomas Quick, now having reverted to his birth name Sture Bergwall, recanted his confessions and requested the Svea Court of Appeal order a new trial for the murder case of Yenon Levi at Rörshyttan. In December 2009, the court of appeal granted a retrial of the Yenon Levi case. In the judgment, the court found that the lower court had heard that Quick correctly identified the murder weapon. However, information had been withheld from the court that initially, Quick had made many erroneous attempts to identify the murder weapon before finally giving an account that corresponded with police findings.
Quick moved for a judgment of acquittal, and was acquitted in September 2010. Quick's counsel also declared his intention to ask for a retrial of the Therese Johannesen case, claiming that Quick had an alibi for the day when Therese Johannesen was abducted and murdered. SKL (Statens kriminaltekniska laboratorium The Swedish State Forensic Laboratory) found in March 2010 that two exhibits claimed by the prosecution to be bone fragments were, in fact, pieces of hardboard. A retrial was granted, and Quick formally acquitted when the prosecutor dropped the charges.
On 30 July 2013, Quick was acquitted of the last of eight murder convictions.
Sture Bergwall has been released from Säter's institution for the criminally insane and most of the treatment plan has been made confidential and subject to secrecy. However, from the uncensored portions released to the press, it is apparent that Bergwall has not taken medication for several years and is assessed as not requiring any.
Film
A 2015 documentary film, The Confessions of Thomas Quick, recounted Bergwall's life and his murder confessions and retractions, including interviews with Bergwall and other participants in the events. In it Bergwall explained that he made the confessions to gain attention due to profound loneliness. The documentary claims that Bergwall knew little about each murder, but was fed details during questioning, enabling him to build up enough information to persuade people he had carried them out. It also claims that as a result of his confessions Bergwall was given privileged treatment in the hospital, including drugs and therapy on demand, his own office with computer and Internet access, and restaurant meals when going out to visit murder sites, and that this may have encouraged him to continue confessing to more and more crimes.
4. Tore Hedin (9)
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| (The Swedish massmurderer Tore Hedin, investigating one of his own murders. Date 1952.) |
Tore Hedin (1927 - 22 august 1952) was a Swedish mass murderer and police officer, born in Stora Harrie, near Kävlinge.
Hedin committed his first crime in September, 1943 when he broke into a local brewery near his parental home to steal some oats. To avoid detection, he then burned down the brewery to hide his crime; this was a method he used later to cover his tracks when he committed far more serious crimes.
On 28 November 1951, ironically the same night a local rally was held to keep him as the local police officer, he committed his first murder. He robbed and murdered his friend John Allan Nilsson after a poker game at Nilsson’s home in Tjörnarp. To cover his tracks he burned down the crime scene. Being the local police representative, he took part in the investigation and even answered questions from the national media concerning the case.
His body was found in the lake where he had drowned himself on August 22, 1952.
Classification: Spree killer
Characteristics: Police officer - Parricide - Arsons
Number of victims: 9
Date of murders: November 28, 1951 / August 21, 1952
Date of birth: January 7, 1927
Victims profile: John Allan Nilsson (his friend) / His parents; his girlfriend, Ulla Östberg; Agnes Lundin, retirement home matron and four elderly people
Method of murder: Beating with an axe - Fire
Location: Saxtorp/Hurva, Sweden
Status: His body was found in the lake where he had drowned himself on August 22, 1952
First crimes
Hedin was born in Stora Harrie, near Kävlinge. He committed his first crime in September, 1943, when he broke into a local brewery near his parental home to steal some oats. To avoid detection, he then burned down the brewery to hide his crime; this was a method he used later to cover his tracks when he committed far more serious crimes.
On 28 November 1951 he robbed and murdered his friend John Allan Nilsson after a poker game at Nilsson’s home in Tjörnarp. To cover his tracks, he burned down the crime scene. Being the local police representative, he took part in the investigation and even answered questions from the national media concerning the case.
Killing spree
In the summer of 1952, Ulla Östberg, his girlfriend, broke off their engagement. Infuriated, Hedin assaulted her with handcuffs, and threatened to kill her with his pistol. He was subsequently fired for this incident, along with reportedly stealing towels from the local hospital. On the night of August 21, 1952, he went on a killing spree after Ulla Östberg refused to take him back again after numerous attempts to win her over. His first stop was his parents house in Saxtorp, where he killed them both and set the house on fire sometime before midnight.
Thirty minutes later he arrived at the retirement home in Hurva, where his ex-girlfriend worked and lived. He climbed a fire escape and entered the room where Östberg usually slept. This night however, she was not sleeping there, but in the room of Agnes Lundin, the matron. He discovered this, entered the room and killed them both with an axe. After killing Östberg and Lundin, he blocked the entrance to the retirement home and set it on fire. Four elderly people died in the flames, with a fifth dying some days later from severe burns.
It is unclear at what point he decided to take his own life. The police had realised by now that Hedin was behind the killings and had started a manhunt. They found his car parked near a cabin by a lake. In the front seat was a suicide note, his jacket and his wallet. The suicide note contained a full confession of all crimes he committed. He claimed he was only good at one thing, tracking other criminals. It ended with his name, occupation (murderer), whereabouts (unknown) and an explanation as to why he had killed his parents — so that they would not have to suffer for his crimes. Somewhat later his weighted-down body was found in Brösarp lake near Skåne County, where he had drowned himself.
Hedin's corpse was transported to the Institution of Anatomy at Lund University. It was stored at the institution until 1974, when it was cremated.
Victims
- Bengta Andersson, 86
- Elna Andersson, 83
- Hulda Hedin, 57, Hedin's mother
- Per Alfred Hedin, 74, Hedin's father
- Nils Larsson, 84
- Agnes Lundin, 55
- Maria Nilsson, 71
- Ulla Östberg, 24
- Maria Pettersson
TV-series
An episode in the mini-series "Skånska Mord" with the title "Hurvamorden" was made about these tragic events. Ernst-Hugo Järegård played the role of Tore Hedin in this episode which was originally aired in 1986.
3. Anders Hansson (27)
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| (Anders Hansson) |
Anders Hansson (born 1969-1970) is a Swedish serial killer who murdered 27 people during the 99 days he was active. He worked at Malmö Östra Hospital, therefore the name of the case. While working there he poisoned 27 of the patients with the detergents Gevisol and Ivisol. Gevisol and Ivisol is corrosive so he often diluted it with juice for the patients to drink. 16 of the 27 murders were confirmed and 11 as attempted murder. 24 of the 27 died. In August 1979, he was sentenced to closed psychiatric treatment but is today free and living a “normal life”. The court said that Anders “did not understand the impact of the murders” and that he was insane.
Classification: Serial killer
Number of victims: 27
Date of murders: 1978 - 1979
Method of murder: Potion
Location: Malmö Östra hospital, Sweden
Status: He was sentenced to closed psychiatric care and has been released as of 1993
Before Anders got a job at Malmö Östra he worked at Värnhems hospital, in his report from Värnhem they wrote: “He does not take initiatives. He seems odd and he doesn’t seem to understand what anyone tells him. We shall not rehire him.”
He had a normal childhood, although his mother was over protective and he was bullied. When asked about girls he answered that he never had any feelings for girls and never thought of them in a way “typical for boys his age”. People describes him as “stupid” and that he had “an ugly smile”. Anders said he would have continued murdering if he had not been caught. He also said that if he someday was freed, he would not take up the activity again, although he never felt bad for what he did.
Anders had an IQ of 72. Its is noted that he didn’t show emotions during the psychiatric assessment. The doctors said that he had symptoms of schizophrenia, but it wasn’t enough to diagnose him, its also mentioned that he had obsessive compulsive behaviors. They also said that he was a danger to himself and others.
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| (Malmö Östra Hospital) |
Over a four-month period, several of the elderly, chronically ill patients in Section 26 at Östra Hospital in Malmö, Sweden fell sick and died of what seemed like natural causes. It wasn’t until January 12, 1979 they realized something more sinister was happening when a nurse heard a 94-year-old patient shouting that something was burning her throat. The caretaker and other members of the staff smelled her breath, which wreaked of the cleaning detergent Gevisol. Concluding someone had been poisoning the patients, they locked the hospital down and waited for the police to arrive.
One employee who immediately provided an explanation was 18-year-old Anders Hansson, an intellectually disabled boy described by colleagues as “stupid and ridiculous” for the constant lies he shared and his poor work performance. He claimed to have witnessed another patient leaning over the poisoned woman while fiddling with something in their pocket, and he maintained this story once he was transferred to the police station for questioning. During interrogation, he asked to go home so he wouldn’t be late for supper, but then abruptly admitted to poisoning 15 people and murdering 27 others. Hansson would mix the detergents Ivisol and Gevisol with water or juice before giving it to a patient or sometimes force the cleaning agent directly down their throat. On October 6, 1978, a month after being hired, he committed his first murder by giving a 66-year-old blind man a stronger dose of Ivisol than the previous day because he “felt sorry” for him. He felt the patients led a meaningless life and believed the killings were merciful, adding, “I could not stand to see some of the old people suffer, so I helped them to die.”
All of the deaths could not be confirmed, due to lack of evidence or cremation, so Hansson was convicted of 11 counts of murder and 16 attempted murders. He was sentenced to closed psychiatric care and has been released as of 1993.
2. Maria & Anders Persson (73+)
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| (Maria Persson, Serial Killer Baby Farmer – Sweden, 1912 ) |
Maria Persson, a midwife and husband Anders Persson living in Malmo, Sweden were arrested in early 1912 after it was discovered that they had been in the practice of disposing of infants. Mr. Persson was a foreman at a creosote plant and maintained the company’s boiler. It is thought that this is where the corpses of newborns were destroyed after having been delivered to the boiler room in a hand basket.
The midwife claimed that her husband sent coffins to a cemetery caretaker for burial, but caretaker denied other than having received small boxes of “immature fetuses, according to the midwife's certificate.”
An extensive investigation revealed that 73 children had gone missing. Twenty-one of them were determined to be dead. Only three were properly accounted for.
The prosecution of the couple lasted over two months, beginning March 29 and ending June 12, 1912. No homicide could be proved and the couple were convicted of minor charges and given a light sentence.
[Robert St. Esteph, based on a rather difficult to follow auto-translation of: “Åtskilliga spädbarn dog hos änglamakerskorna,” Sydsvenskan, Dec. 2, 2012]
1. Gustav Holmen & “Wife” (1,000+)
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| (Swedish Child Care Providers Murdered 1,000 Children, Gustav Holmen & “Wife” - 1906) |
Stockholm. Sept. 15. – Revelations concerning the “National Children’s Sanitorium” have just been announced after an investigation by the authorities, which has been going on for some weeks. It appears that the alleged sanitorium was simply a baby-farm on in immense scale and that wholesale murders of babies were committed.
The couple advertised extensively. It was generally understood that babies orphaned or with parents too poor to look after them were received free. Parents who, on account of work, found their babies for the time being in the way. also sent them to the sanitorium. It has been discovered that very few children were received free and that various sums were extorted either in a lump sum or by installments. A specialty was paid to babies brought by domestic servants and other girls who had been endowed with illegitimate offspring. These or their lovers all had to pay heavily for the privilege of finding a home for their babes. It is calculated that in the three years the institution has been running over 1000 babies had been received.
Yet only 13 babies are alive and well. These were the healthiest, fattest and prettiest of those received, and were used as decoys or show babies. They were shown to mothers and to all visitors and their pictures were sent out on the literature used.
From the servants it was learned that 73 babies were received the last month. The place where the bodies of 60 were buried has been discovered.
The Infants had apparently been murdered soon after being received and probably immediately after those who brought them had left the island. It is thought that at the first the babies were simply drowned, but that it was a dangerous practice, for the bodies were washed ashore and turned over to the police. The “Rev. Gustav” was a skilled butcher, according to the anonymous letter, and some of his methods of getting rid of the children were too ghastly for publication.
[“Swedish Fiends Butcher Babes - Investigation at Stockholm Reveals Almost Incredible Horrors. - Victims Number 1000. – ‘Rev.’ Gustav Holmen and Supposed Wife Conduct Children’s Home and Murder Infants Placed In Their Care.” The Sunday Oregonian (Portland, Or.), Sep. 1, 1906, p. 12]
Swedish Child Care Providers Murdered 1,000 Children, Gustav Holmen & “Wife” - 1906
FULL TEXT: Stockholm. Sept. 15. – Revelations concerning the “National Children’s Sanitorium” have just been announced after an investigation by the authorities, which has been going on for some weeks. It appears that the alleged sanitorium was simply a baby-farm on in immense scale and that wholesale murders of babies were committed.
The authorities are trying to trace the Rev. Gustav Holmen and the woman who passed as his wife. They were the heads of the sanitorium. It was situated on a little island in the Lilla Vartan, to the south of this city. There the man and woman established themselves some years ago in a group of farm buildings. He posed as a minister of the gospel and she as a trained nurse and specialist in children and their bringing up. Their very audacity in coming to the capital and in making their appeals to the highest in the land made their scheme successful.
They secured numerous contributions in especially handsome amounts were subscribed to the building fund, it is true that some building was done, but these were in the nature of additions to the farmhouse and other buildings and did not entail much expenditure.
~ Extort Large Sum of Money. ~
The couple advertised extensively. It was generally understood that babies orphaned or with parents too poor to look after them were received free. Parents who, on account of work, found their babies for the time being in the way. also sent them to the sanitorium. It has been discovered that very few children were received free and that various sums were extorted either in a lump sum or by installments. A specialty was paid to babies brought by domestic servants and other girls who had been endowed with illegitimate offspring. These or their lovers all had to pay heavily for the privilege of finding a home for their babes. It is calculated that in the three years the institution has been running over 1000 babies had been received.
Yet only 13 babies are alive and well. These were the healthiest, fattest and prettiest of those received, and were used as decoys or show babies. They were shown to mothers and to all visitors and their pictures were sent out on the literature used.
The investigation was the result of the visit of a young girl whose mother love was too strong for her. She had taken a baby to the place and surrendered it as a good way to get rid of it. Some few days later her lover yielded to the entreaties of the young mother and married her. She rushed off to reclaim her infant. The proprietress at first refused, but as the girl grew stronger in her demands a baby, one of the show 13, was brought to her. She denied it was hers and created a scene. She saw the whole 13 and refused them as not hers.
Then the Rev. Gustav and the woman commenced to turn ugly and said she would be kept prisoner on the Island until she became tractable. The girl replied that her husband knew where she had gone and what her errand was and that if she did not return on time he would come with the police to search for her. The couple were frightened and let her go. She went at once to the police, but it is thought she was tracked, for when the police went to the island some hours later the “Rev. Gustav” and his female companion had fled. They had secured practically all the funds from the bank and taken everything portable of value. The few servants employed on the baby farm were arrested, but after a lengthy examination were discharged. They knew nothing of the happenings that threw very much light on the subject. It is believed that the guilty couple fled to the United States, or at least that the “Rev. Gustav” went there. It is also thought that he may have abandoned the woman and sailed alone with the plunder, for an anonymous letter was received from Hamburg in her hand writing giving some details too horrible for publication.
~ Sixty Bodies Are Discovered. ~
From the servants it was learned that 73 babies were received the last month. The place where the bodies of 60 were buried has been discovered.
The Infants had apparently been murdered soon after being received and probably immediately after those who brought them had left the island. It is thought that at the first the babies were simply drowned, but that it was a dangerous practice, for the bodies were washed ashore and turned over to the police. The “Rev. Gustav” was a skilled butcher, according to the anonymous letter, and some of his methods of getting rid of the children were too ghastly for publication.
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| (Location of National Children's Sanatorium operated by Gustav Holmen) |
***
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| (Gustav Holmen & “Wife”. Truth, Wellington, December 22, 1906.) |
[“Swedish Fiends Butcher Babes - Investigation at Stockholm Reveals Almost Incredible Horrors. - Victims Number 1000. – ‘Rev.’ Gustav Holmen and Supposed Wife Conduct Children’s Home and Murder Infants Placed In Their Care.” The Sunday Oregonian (Portland, Or.), Sep. 1, 1906, p. 12]