Updated 06.18 | Published 06.18
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Blood tests and interviews with doctors indicate that food is not behind the mysterious death in Söderhamn.
The police have sharpened the criminal suspicion to murder – but it is still a mystery what happened to the family.
The father is conscious and has been questioned by the police at the hospital.
The family from Söderhamn came to the hospital in Hudiksvall last Sunday with severe symptoms of stomach disease. A four-year-old girl died.
Her two-year-old little brother and mother have been transferred to Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm. Both are in a very serious condition and receiving advanced intensive care. According to Söderhamns-Kuriren they are treated with Ecmo, a machine that oxygenates the blood outside the body and acts as an artificial lung.
The father is being treated at the University Hospital in Uppsala. For him, the condition is somewhat better. On Tuesday, he could be questioned by the police.
But according to police and prosecutors, the case is still a mystery and no one is a suspect in the investigation.
– The father has reacted very strongly to what has happened. He has told about what they did this weekend, but there is no explanation for what has happened, says prosecutor Christer Sammens.
Initially, the case was investigated as causing the death of another and causing bodily harm. On Tuesday, the crime classification was increased to murder.
The decision was partly based on the police getting greater legal powers in the investigation, according to information to Aftonbladet.
“The police suspect that some form of external influence is the reason why these four people have ended up in the condition that forced them to seek care,” the police wrote in an update on their website.
The police have investigated several places in the investigation, including a restaurant from which some – but not all – of the family ate during the weekend.
Prosecutor Christer Sammens, who took over the case on Tuesday, does not believe that improperly handled food is behind the mysterious symptoms.
– It is based on certain information from interviews with doctors and the Poisons Information Centre. It has to do with what you have been able to see, including through blood tests, he says.
The police are still waiting for answers from the forensic chemical examination and autopsy of the dead girl.
– It is very difficult to say something without chemical answers. Right now this is a mystery. I have no theory at all, says Christer Sammens.