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After the successful arrest of this killer, Swedish police applied a similar technique and were, this summer, able to solve one of Sweden's most mysterious murd

After the successful arrest of this killer, Swedish police applied a similar technique and were, this summer, able to solve one of Sweden's most mysterious murders that had been the second-largest investigation in Sweden's history. Back in 2004, two people were stabbed in Linköping, in an apparently random attack. The first victim was an elementary schooler, the other a middle-aged woman, and it happened in a quiet residential side street. The police had the murder weapon, the killer's DNA and some witness descriptions, but were unable to find a suspect. What they did this year was an impressive combination of genealogy research and forensics. The police got permission to query private companies in the US for a DNA profile, so they were able to establish that the killer and certain Americans had a common ancestor. Then they traversed those multiple trees upwards until finding a Swedish family circa 1800 that should be the ancestors of the killer. Finally they traced that family tree back down to modern day and identified a suspect who did in fact turn out to be the killer. I think that was a fascinating investigation, in how it combined modern high-tech DNA forensics with going through 200 year old church records.

filleokus 6y ago
Just to add: Before this breakthrough, Police had gathered the DNA from about 6000 people via voluntary interrogations without any match. They even collected DNA form mothers of men who had killed themselves (and matched the description/profile etc) in the years after the murder. In fact, they had actually sent a letter to the murder asking for a sample in the months before starting the new approach, but he didn't show up and they hadn't gotten to taking it further. So in the end, they might have had a chance of solving it the traditional way. But at the same time, it takes a lot of evidence in Sweden to forcibly collect a DNA sample, which probably is not so easy for a 16 year old case.
- ACS_Solver 6y ago
  Right, this is also important info. They did, early this year, ask the murderer for a voluntary DNA sample, and they had received a tip that placed the murderer on the police radar. It's possible they would have solved it eventually, but it's unlikely the police would have been allowed to forcibly collect DNA based on a vague tip that amounted to "he owned a similar hat and had discussed violence in his teens". To forcibly collect someone's DNA, the authorities need to establish the person as a reasonable suspect (skäligen misstänkt), which requires a preponderance of evidence and isn't that easy to establish. In this case, the police would have definitely needed more than the person fitting the same vague profile as thousands of others, and it was definitely hard to obtain any extra evidence given that the murderer indeed lacked any connection to the victims or to the crime scene.
Fnoord 6y ago
21500 men were (voluntarily) tested in the death case of Nicky Verstappen [1]. Case remained unsolved for 20 years, until a cold case team was put on it and the police decided to have one ultimate go at solving the case. Via a massive DNA harvest on all men who were age 12 and older at the time the crime was committed and who lived in the area of the crime (hence 21500 men). I was one of them who volunteered (though I feel reluctant about massive DNA harvesting). Because one male could discredit the entire male family tree this allowed the police to narrow down on a suspect who fled the area around the time the massive DNA harvest was announced. The suspect, Jos B., got sentenced to 12,5 years imprisonment a few weeks ago. It was sufficiently proven he raped the victim, and also he got convicted for owning child pornography. Given the impact the case had on the community (myself included, in various ways, such as being afraid to be near the vicinity of the crime scene due to being stalked there as teenager), I'm very glad it got solved. One of the heights of 2020 for me. Unfortunately prosecution and defense want to go to a higher court, and he did not get TBS (forced psychiatric treatment) [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Nicky_Verstappen#DNA_profiling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Nicky_Verstappen#DNA_... [2] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/terbeschikkingstelling#Noun https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/terbeschikkingstelling#Noun
- cookieswumchorr 6y ago
  was there a lot of social pressure connected to the voluntary testing? Did they keep in anonymous? The suspect must have had a reason to run, instead of just refusing the test
  - Fnoord 6y ago
    Hmm, well, I didn't live in the region anymore, so I am not sure how it went from first-hand (I got some second-hand info though). Based on that my take is that there was some pressure for sure. You need to imagine a cold case got assigned, and people want to get this over with. At some point, I even saw my own mother on TV commenting on the story, how she wanted the case to be solved. From the source, 15000 of 21500 people complied. It meant a lot of families (of men) could be excluded, narrowing the gap for the perpetrator (the police figured the perpetrator was from the region as he must have known the area). I am one of these weird outliers. Not only did I not live in the region anymore, I am the only male still alive from that region who fit the profile (12+ male at time of crime, my father and uncle both passed away). Thing is, the family tree can go back multiple generations, including in ways you're not aware of. You might have a relative alive who you don't even know about. The other reason I'm an outlier is my family isn't originally from that region. Even though my family isn't originally from around that area, it might have helped, for the earlier mentioned reasons. Plus, I got myself off the list, too. Its a bit twisting, how you know for sure you didn't commit a (rather serious) crime, but you cannot be sure about others, and if everyone says they didn't do it therefore don't want to cooperate the police cannot narrow down on a suspect. On top of that, my father and uncle were both alive at the time the crime was committed (my father was legally blind at that time though, couldn't even drive or walk alone). So how did I eventually get tested? After initially there was no outcome from the samples of people who still lived in the region, the police announced they'd locate men who were 12+ at time of crime and who live elsewhere nowadays. This included me. I immediately called the hotline for an appointment to get it over with. At that time, our first born was only a few months old, and I wanted to get it over with. They (the police officer) understood this and she made an appointment with me. There were 2 police officers: a female who did the social aspects (talking), and a forensic male nerd. I spoke with them about the case even though I reported the stalking matter in a separate report to the police (because it might have been the same person as the perpetrator). They were as friendly as every police officer I met in my country (always reasonable and friendly, according to my experience). I was approx 15 y.o. when all of this happened. As for anonymity, yes it was supposed to all remain anonymous. All the DNA samples were going to be destroyed when the case was closed. I'm not entirely sure when that is though, cause of higher court still have to rule. Later on I learned NFI only test a very limited range of DNA, about 50 unique aspects. But in general, all of this increased my faith in this executive branch of the government. As always, YMMV. With regards to your last remark: "The suspect must have had a reason to run, instead of just refusing the test" simply said, the shared theory is his feet got wet. They got DNA samples from his place. Then he got on national TV being sought a suspect, and someone in Spain recognized him. He never admitted the crimes, btw. He argued he found the body dead and put the body away in a nice way, even though his history as pedophile, as well as his DNA all over the place on the victim's underwear. He (or well, his defense) argued he was scared to talk to the police because of his history as pedophile. I don't know, got me quite angry cause it smelled like BS.

filleokus 6y ago

Just to add: Before this breakthrough, Police had gathered the DNA from about 6000 people via voluntary interrogations without any match. They even collected DNA form mothers of men who had killed themselves (and matched the description/profile etc) in the years after the murder. In fact, they had actually sent a letter to the murder asking for a sample in the months before starting the new approach, but he didn't show up and they hadn't gotten to taking it further. So in the end, they might have had a chance of solving it the traditional way. But at the same time, it takes a lot of evidence in Sweden to forcibly collect a DNA sample, which probably is not so easy for a 16 year old case.

ACS_Solver 6y ago
Right, this is also important info. They did, early this year, ask the murderer for a voluntary DNA sample, and they had received a tip that placed the murderer on the police radar. It's possible they would have solved it eventually, but it's unlikely the police would have been allowed to forcibly collect DNA based on a vague tip that amounted to "he owned a similar hat and had discussed violence in his teens". To forcibly collect someone's DNA, the authorities need to establish the person as a reasonable suspect (skäligen misstänkt), which requires a preponderance of evidence and isn't that easy to establish. In this case, the police would have definitely needed more than the person fitting the same vague profile as thousands of others, and it was definitely hard to obtain any extra evidence given that the murderer indeed lacked any connection to the victims or to the crime scene.

Fnoord 6y ago

21500 men were (voluntarily) tested in the death case of Nicky Verstappen [1]. Case remained unsolved for 20 years, until a cold case team was put on it and the police decided to have one ultimate go at solving the case. Via a massive DNA harvest on all men who were age 12 and older at the time the crime was committed and who lived in the area of the crime (hence 21500 men). I was one of them who volunteered (though I feel reluctant about massive DNA harvesting). Because one male could discredit the entire male family tree this allowed the police to narrow down on a suspect who fled the area around the time the massive DNA harvest was announced. The suspect, Jos B., got sentenced to 12,5 years imprisonment a few weeks ago. It was sufficiently proven he raped the victim, and also he got convicted for owning child pornography. Given the impact the case had on the community (myself included, in various ways, such as being afraid to be near the vicinity of the crime scene due to being stalked there as teenager), I'm very glad it got solved. One of the heights of 2020 for me. Unfortunately prosecution and defense want to go to a higher court, and he did not get TBS (forced psychiatric treatment) [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Nicky_Verstappen#DNA_profiling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Nicky_Verstappen#DNA_... [2] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/terbeschikkingstelling#Noun https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/terbeschikkingstelling#Noun

cookieswumchorr 6y ago
was there a lot of social pressure connected to the voluntary testing? Did they keep in anonymous? The suspect must have had a reason to run, instead of just refusing the test
- Fnoord 6y ago
  Hmm, well, I didn't live in the region anymore, so I am not sure how it went from first-hand (I got some second-hand info though). Based on that my take is that there was some pressure for sure. You need to imagine a cold case got assigned, and people want to get this over with. At some point, I even saw my own mother on TV commenting on the story, how she wanted the case to be solved. From the source, 15000 of 21500 people complied. It meant a lot of families (of men) could be excluded, narrowing the gap for the perpetrator (the police figured the perpetrator was from the region as he must have known the area). I am one of these weird outliers. Not only did I not live in the region anymore, I am the only male still alive from that region who fit the profile (12+ male at time of crime, my father and uncle both passed away). Thing is, the family tree can go back multiple generations, including in ways you're not aware of. You might have a relative alive who you don't even know about. The other reason I'm an outlier is my family isn't originally from that region. Even though my family isn't originally from around that area, it might have helped, for the earlier mentioned reasons. Plus, I got myself off the list, too. Its a bit twisting, how you know for sure you didn't commit a (rather serious) crime, but you cannot be sure about others, and if everyone says they didn't do it therefore don't want to cooperate the police cannot narrow down on a suspect. On top of that, my father and uncle were both alive at the time the crime was committed (my father was legally blind at that time though, couldn't even drive or walk alone). So how did I eventually get tested? After initially there was no outcome from the samples of people who still lived in the region, the police announced they'd locate men who were 12+ at time of crime and who live elsewhere nowadays. This included me. I immediately called the hotline for an appointment to get it over with. At that time, our first born was only a few months old, and I wanted to get it over with. They (the police officer) understood this and she made an appointment with me. There were 2 police officers: a female who did the social aspects (talking), and a forensic male nerd. I spoke with them about the case even though I reported the stalking matter in a separate report to the police (because it might have been the same person as the perpetrator). They were as friendly as every police officer I met in my country (always reasonable and friendly, according to my experience). I was approx 15 y.o. when all of this happened. As for anonymity, yes it was supposed to all remain anonymous. All the DNA samples were going to be destroyed when the case was closed. I'm not entirely sure when that is though, cause of higher court still have to rule. Later on I learned NFI only test a very limited range of DNA, about 50 unique aspects. But in general, all of this increased my faith in this executive branch of the government. As always, YMMV. With regards to your last remark: "The suspect must have had a reason to run, instead of just refusing the test" simply said, the shared theory is his feet got wet. They got DNA samples from his place. Then he got on national TV being sought a suspect, and someone in Spain recognized him. He never admitted the crimes, btw. He argued he found the body dead and put the body away in a nice way, even though his history as pedophile, as well as his DNA all over the place on the victim's underwear. He (or well, his defense) argued he was scared to talk to the police because of his history as pedophile. I don't know, got me quite angry cause it smelled like BS.