After 16 years, the police were able to solve the double murder in Linköping. The investigation became one of the most extensive in Swedish criminal history and could finally be solved when genealogist Peter Sjölund was brought into the investigation. With the help of the perpetrator’s DNA, he was able to map family trees several hundred years back, which led the police to the killer.
The case has now been filmed in the series “The Breakthrough”, which recently premiered on Netflix. In the series, it is described how the method is used for the first time in Sweden and how the police become aware of the method after the so-called “Golden State Killer” was arrested in the USA after 40 years.
Reporter tipped about genealogy
But genealogical research using dna was a method that had actually already been used by the police in another Swedish case. Then the police searched for the so-called “Ekeby man”who was found dead outside Helsingborg in 2003 and still has not been identified.
The series depicts how a police officer in Linköping hears a feature on the radio about the “Golden State Killer”, which raises the idea of using genealogy. That story is true to some extent.
– It was a reporter on Sveriges Radio who called me and asked about the “Golden State Killer” and wondered if this affected the work of the Swedish police in any way. I had to admit that I had no idea about it, says Bo Lundqvist, head of the cold case group in police region South.
After the conversation, he investigated what had happened in the United States and how they could arrest the perpetrator. At the time, he saw no limitations for dna genealogy to be used in Sweden. A moment later he called the reporter again.
The genealogist heard the feature on the radio
The segment with Bo Lundqvist was later broadcast on the radio, which genealogist Peter Sjölund heard.
– He called me shortly after, it may even have been the same day. Already the following week we met and he explained what he could do.
The project then started and Peter Sjölund worked on trying to identify the “Ekeby man”. They were able to trace him to the Balkans and eventually to some smaller villages in Croatia.
– It is my belief that we will be able to identify this person, says Bo Lundqvist.
Told Linköping about the method
Even if the mystery surrounding the “Ekeby man” is not solved, the experiences from the case were important. Bo Lundqvist already knew Jan Staaf, who was the head of the preliminary investigation in the case of the double murder in Linköping in 2004.
– I talked to Jan and then he and Peter Sjölund found each other some time later.
Genealogist Peter Sjölund’s work then led to the then 37-year-old Daniel Nyqvist being arrested on suspicion of the murder, which he later admitted. He was sentenced to forensic psychiatric treatment with a special discharge examination.
After the two cases, the privacy protection authority, IMY, issued an opinion in which it believed that the method lacked a legal basis. Since then, the government has come forward with a bill that the police will be allowed to use DNA genealogy, in January it will be taken up in the Riksdag for a decision.
Stream The DNA Detective
Swedish documentary series about how the double murder in Linköping is finally solved after 16 years, all thanks to genealogist Peter Sjölund.