May 22, 1997, the girl’s body was found in a forest area just outside Husum, near the E4. She had been stabbed and subjected to sexual violence.
In the summer of 1998, a 20-year-old man was prosecuted and convicted by Örnsköldsvik District Court for the murder of the girl. He lived near the stop where the girl was believed to have got off and he had been seen with a girl along the road to the E4. At the man’s, the police had found drawings and other findings which they linked to the crime.
In October 1998, the man was acquitted by the Court of Appeal, especially since there is no technical evidence that could link him to the crime. A sperm stain had been found on the girl’s trousers, but the analysis methods of the time were not enough to obtain a searchable DNA profile.
The case then remained with the police as a so-called cold case, pending a technological development that could make it possible to analyze sperm stain.
In July 2020, it became known that the National Forensic Center (NFC) at the police had succeeded in obtaining a searchable DNA profile from the spot. The preliminary investigation was resumed in November of the same year. The prosecutor requested that a saliva sample be taken from the previously suspected man.
In May 2021, the Supreme Court announced that no new sample could be taken. There is no legal support for the use of coercive measures in a reopened preliminary investigation in connection with erection, the court stated.
After this, the police made an in-depth follow-up of what happened to the tracks secured earlier in the investigation. It turned out that there were still hairs from the man, and that a remnant of a blood sample had been sent to researchers at Uppsala University and remained there. NFC analyzed the samples and it turned out that both the blood and the hair matched with the sperm stain.
In July 2021, the prosecutor applied to the Supreme Court for redress in the case.
In October 2021, a new interrogation was held with the man, where he was informed about the matches. The interrogation is very short, but from what is said it can be concluded that the man denies the accusations.
Source: TT / Legal documents.