Last spring, a dead woman from Norway was found in a freezer in Värmland.
Now a 55-year-old man is being charged with several crimes – including grave breach of privacy.
– He has also maintained the appearance for family and friends that the woman was still alive, says prosecutor Linda Karlsson in a statement.
It was on March 16 that a woman from Norway was found dead in a freezer in Årjäng in Värmland. A 55-year-old man was arrested and suspected of several crimes, including murder.
On June 19, the murder investigation was closed because it could not be proven that the man killed the woman. The autopsy report could not show a cause of death and nothing else in the investigation could prove that it was a murder, the Prosecutor’s Office states in a press release.
On Thursday, the man was charged with several crimes. These include, among other things, violations of the peace of mind and gross violation of the peace of the grave.
– The man put the woman in a freezer after, according to his own information, finding her dead in the home. The body has been whole. During the time of the crime, the man also used the freezer for other purposes, which I believe means that the deceased’s grave peace was violated every time the man opened and closed the freezer and constitutes an aggravating circumstance, says prosecutor Linda Karlsson.
“Kept the light up for family and friends”
During the investigation, it has been established that there are many indications that the man used aids to move the woman. The prosecutor has also not ruled out that someone else was involved in the crime.
– What is an additional aggravating circumstance is that the man committed the grave peace crimes with the aim of hiding other crimes, above all the gross fraud and forgery of records for which the man is also charged, says Linda Karlsson.
The investigation also shows that the woman’s family has been affected by the man’s actions.
– He has also kept up the appearance for family and friends that the woman was still alive, which means that 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, says Linda Karlsson.
The man is also charged with gross fraud and forgery. He is said to have had access to the woman’s accounts and took part in her pension – which has meant that he has come up with around 1.3 million kroner.