The first Swedish serial killer?
Swedes are as a rule a nonviolent people. Our murder rate is low in comparison with most other countries. As far as I know there has only been one spree-killer and no school shootings. And no serial killers, at least if you exclude robberers. Until now that is.
Earlier this month that the ten year old girl Engla Juncosa-Höglund went missing. It was pure luck that a witness who was testing a newly bought camera took a picture of the girl riding her bicycle and shortly thereafter another picture of a car, which turned out to be owned by a known sex offender by the name of Anders Eklund. Later he confessed to killing her as well as a 31-year old woman in 2000.
Most likely he has killed more people but he is only confessing to these, most likely because of forensic evidence linking him to the murders. But there are several unsolved murders that have been attributed to a man called Thomas Quick. In the early 1990s he was by many regarded as our first serial killer. Then it became clear that there was no forensic evidence and no witnesses, and that people who knew him all thougt he was an attention seeking pathological liar.
Police say they are now looking into “all relevant unsolved murders and missing person cases” to see if Eklund can be linked to any other murders. But the murders that Quick confessed don’t fall into this category. All cases where Quick was the prime suspect are now terminated and unofficially considered solved. The police wont touch them; they are desperately hoping that people will forget about the Quick scandal. Some who made their careers on Quick are very influential today, most notably Christer van der Kwast, former senior prosecutor and presently the nations anti-corruption chief. Kwast was convinced that Quick was telling the truth after he witnessed Quick reenacting one of his murders in a cellar (not the actual murder scene).
It wouldn’t surprise me if Eklund is out in a few years. Because he’s got leverage, or he can pretend he has it. He only has to hint that he, and not Quick, is the real serial killer to make a lot of influential people within the police authorities start sweating. Quick confessed to 30 killings but only stood trial in six or seven. That’s over 20 unsolved murders because everyone involved was fooled by sly halfwit like Quick. And a lot of public embarrasment. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Filed under: Crime, Politics, Society | 4 Comments
Tags: Anders Eklund, Engla Juncosa-Höglund, serial killer, Sweden, Thomas Quick
Crime and punishment.
Crime, yes, but will he get a proper punishment? Even though Eklund seems like a mindless thug, he does have the police in an awkward situation. And he has the nations top lawyer, Leif Silbersky. My guess is Eklund will spend three or four years in a psych-ward.
If he gets three or four years in a psych-ward i would first of all rip my hair off, secondly i would move to another country where they actually punish their criminals.
As it turns out he was considered to be sane and got life, which at least means around ten years.
But being tough on criminals doesn’t necessarily reduce crime. We have much less violent crime than other countries where criminals do more time in jail. It’s a complex issue.