In connection with being taken to hospital, he revealed the secret he had kept for over five years.
Since the winter of 2018, the man kept his dead partner in the freezer at home in Värmland.
– I feel that it is nice to lighten the heart, says the accused in questioning.
The 55-year-old man was charged on Thursday with breach of the peace of mind, gross breach of privacy, gross fraud and falsification of records after the high-profile case in Värmland.
He was arrested on March 16 this year after being taken to hospital by ambulance and then told he had a dead woman in his freezer.
When the police went to the man’s residence, it was found that the information was correct.
– The man put the woman in a freezer after, according to his own information, finding her dead in the home. The body has been intact, says senior prosecutor Linda Karlsson in a press release.
Immediately after the first police questioning, the man chose to tell everything. He denied killing the partner, but said she was very ill and was found in her bed, but admitted he placed her in the freezer.
The reason, according to himself, was that the woman had asked not to be buried in a cemetery.
– It tore my whole body, there was some trust, if you have promised something to a person with whom you have been together for 20 years, then it is difficult to break your promise, he says in questioning with the police.
– I will not break my promise, and then if I have done something wrong, I will gladly take my punishment for it. I would rather take the punishment than break a promise I should have kept. I have not broken it, she said I should not send her to the church, they can judge what they want because I have kept my word to NN (partner). Let it go as it goes.
He was instead going to bury her on the plot during the coming summer and chose to keep the body in the freezer until then, the man tells the police.
– It was so that she wouldn’t lie and rot. That’s what I thought about and I was going to bury her, but then it didn’t happen, I didn’t get around to burying her.
Avoided the neighbor for years
For just over five years, the man had a double life where, according to the prosecutor, he “kept the appearance for family and friends that the woman was still alive”. He himself tells, among other things, about when the neighbor wanted to come over to drink coffee, and that he kept suggesting to do it outdoors without a partner.
– But it was because I had something to hide. There were more that I didn’t want in the yard because of what I had done. If he asked if he could come to my house, I always said no because I was afraid of being exposed.
For just over five years, he kept the secret to himself, describing it as “driving him crazy”.
– Deep down, I wished all the time that someone would come and find (partner).
The man felt the arrest as “a huge relief.”
– I am happy that you have found (partner) and that this has come to light.
Policeman: How do you feel now that you have told me this?
– It feels like sadness and despair, it feels like everything I have struggled with in these years… I have been so sad many times. But I am glad that today I confess and have told it like it is. It’s a relief and a sadness, I have to take that, now I can move on in life. I’ve had to deal with it.
Police: Is there anything else you want to say about this?
– (…) I don’t want to be bothered with such terrible things because you can’t work with a person who is lying dead at your house. It’s not possible.
“It’s a liberation for me”
The man further states in the interrogation that for several years he tried to tell about his partner, and that he also intended to go into a police station and confess, but that he “didn’t have the courage to do so.”
– I understood that this was not normal, that I was starting to go crazy. That’s why it was so nice that this was revealed. I feel like it’s nice to ease my heart on this. So let it be as it is, whether I end up in prison or not. I can do no more. I will take my punishment. You have to do that if you have done something. At least I’m happy now or happy that it’s coming.
In questioning, he repeats the feeling of finally not having to bear the secret, which was like being “caught in a net.”
– I have understood in hindsight now that I was exposed that it is a liberation for me. That it was allowed to come out. I feel a great shame but at the same time I am happy that it has ended. I am willing to take my punishment.
Prosecutor Linda Karlsson says:
– It must have been very stressful for family and friends to learn in this way that the woman had been dead for a long time.
The trial is scheduled to be held in mid-July.