35-year-old fled to Greece-but were arrested • Four charges after the resting place murder
On April 29 last year, a man in his 70s was sought by three men in the Stockholm suburb of Skärholmen.
Later that day, the man’s family reported him who disappeared and the next day they heard from the police again, as they received a message from an unknown number that he had been kidnapped. For $ 45,000 they would bring their dad home alive.
In early May, the man was found dead at a resting place outside Huskvarna. The man’s clothes were bloody, his hands were tied up and he lacked shoes. According to prosecutor Sara Malmhester, the man had been tied up before being thrown into the luggage lid on a car, and died as a result of abuse.
Forensic doctors believe that the man in his 70s has either bleeding or died as a result of brain damage.
Immediately suspected the 35-year-old
Already when the family got the first message, they were sure that it was a 35-year-old man who took their father, when he was known as “a bad man” and when the father had talked about him earlier. The police were soon of the same view, but it would take time before they got hold of him.
On November 6, the suspected killer was arrested in Greece, following an international arrest order. Last week, the 35-year-old was charged with murder and human trafficking, at Södertörn District Court. Two other men are charged with human trafficking and a woman is charged with gross protection of criminal.
In interrogation with the police, which TV4 News has taken part in, the suspected killer gives his picture of what happened on April 29.
Defense: “Not my intention”
He acknowledges large parts of the course of events but denies that he had to intend to murder the older man-whom the 35-year-old claims to owe him money.
-I have definitely not intended to neither kill him nor hurt him, says the 35-year-old in interrogation.
According to the 35-year-old, the older man II sat his car but refused to pay the debt. The 35-year-old describes it as “a very difficult situation” when the older man started screaming.
– The biggest mistake we made was that we tied him. The further mistake we made was that we left him in the boot. Then we thought that if you might put him in the tailgate and he ends up in such a situation, then he will say okay, okay, I will pay. But he continued and shook his head and hit his head against the car.
“Saw he was not alive”
The 35-year-old claims that he drove around for a while with the man in the luggage, first against Uppsala and then towards Gothenburg, in the hope that he would finally pay the alleged debt. He talks about how the man hit his head against the walls of the tailgate and that after a while he became quiet.
He talks about how he stopped the car, parked and opened the luggage door.
– Then I saw that he was not alive and he was bloody on his face. Then it felt like it was very busy for me. Because it was the first time that I had ended up in such a situation.
The 35-year-old further claims that he could not think clearly and that he started driving towards Jönköping, with his body still in the luggage.
– I didn’t really know what to do with his body. It was dark out there so I stopped somewhere, I don’t know where it was, and moved on his body. Although I absolutely did not want it to end like this. I didn’t want it to be that way at all, says the man in interrogation with the police.
The 35-year-old also states that he was very scared and that was why he then left the country.
The trial is expected to be held between January 31 and February 12. The evidence includes the extortion message that the family received. The police have also found blood inside the car that the men were traveling in and on their clothes.