Ylva Hagner disappeared in 1996 – now the FBI is taking up the case again

Ylva Hagner disappeared in 1996 now the FBI is

Published: Just now

full screen Ylva Hagner. Photo: AFTONBLADET

Swedish Ylva Hagner disappeared without a trace in Silicon Valley in 1996.

Her ex-boyfriend, an elderly professor, was suspected of murder – but nothing could be proven.

Now the case has been reopened and since yesterday the American police have been digging in the professor’s garden.

On the evening of October 14, 1996, 42-year-old Ylva Hagner worked overtime. Her job as a marketer at the IT company Ixos meant long working days. She left work at 9:30 p.m. That was the last time anyone saw her.

Threatening emails

Three days later, her black Honda Civic was found. Unlocked and with the keys left. Inside was her computer. When the police investigated it, they found several emails from a former boyfriend. A senior professor at the prestigious Stanford University. They were anything but loving.

– They were not pleasant emails and they cannot be misinterpreted. This man, an older professor, went to Sweden once. Afterwards, we learned that when Ylva ended the relationship shortly before she disappeared, he was very upset and refused to accept it, Ylva’s brother Björn Hagner told Aftonbladet a few years ago.

The professor was furious because he and Ylva were not friends and because she refused to have sex with him.

full screen Ylva Hagner. Photo: AFTONBLADET
fullscreen Hagner’s car was found unlocked with the keys still there. Photo: AFTONBLADET

Suspicions and lie detector

Quite soon after the disappearance, the police’s suspicions were directed at the professor. Technical investigations were carried out in his residence, but without success. Her DNA was there. But since they had a relationship, it wasn’t enough.

– They even did a lie detector test, which the man failed on several key questions, but it did not hold up as evidence in an American court, Björn Hagner told Aftonbladet.

Since then, sporadic tips have come in, but nothing conclusive. Ylva Hagner was given a symbolic grave in Sundsvall.

full screen Aftonbladet in the days after the disappearance in 1996.
full screen Ylva Hagner’s home in Palo Alto.

The case is reopened

But now the case has been reopened. In a garden in the Redwood City neighborhood of San Francisco, FBI agents began tearing up a stone patio and digging into the soil that had lain undisturbed for years. The house was bought by the “professor” just months before Ylva Hagner disappeared, writes CBS.

He has owned it ever since.

– The case has taken on a new direction and we are conducting an investigation in Redwood City to find out where Ylva Hagner is. Hoping to bring closure to the case, Commissioner Pete Lotti told CBS.

full screen The investigation is concentrated in Redwood City in San Fransisco. Photo: Alamy Stock Photo

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