The Knutby Murder

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by asoapymessromances

by asoapymessromances

The Knutby murder (Swedish:Knutbydramat) refers to a murder in the village of Knutby east ofUppsala in Sweden, on January 10, 2004.

Murder and arrests

At around 04:40 in the morning,30-year-old IT entrepreneur Daniel Linde was shot in the head andchest and seriously wounded. Two hours later it was discovered thathis employee and neighbor Alexandra Fossmo had also been shot and wasfound dead in her bed. The murdered woman was married to HelgeFossmo, a pastor in a local Pentecostal church. Her husband had leftwith Daniel Linde in the ambulance to the hospital.

The following day, 26-year-old SaraSvensson confessed to both shootings. She had worked as a nanny inthe pastor's family. Two weeks later, the pastor was also arrested,together with Daniel Linde's wife. Wiretapping had revealed to thepolice that Svensson and the pastor were lovers, and the two weresuspected of instigating Fossmo's murder and the attempted murder ofLinde.

Linde's wife was released after twoweeks and never charged.

Investigation

The pastor's first wife Heléne Fossmohad been found dead in her bath tub in 1999. Although she had a holein her skull and toxicology reports indicated a toxic concentrationof dextropropoxyphene in her blood, her death had been ruled anaccident. After the case was reopened and reinvestigated, HelgeFossmo was charged with murder.

Trial

At the trial, Sara Svensson gave adetailed confession. She told the court that she had been influencedby anonymous text messages that were forwarded to her by HelgeFossmo. Her credibility was strengthened by the text of erasedmessages that could be recovered from her mobile phone. On July 30,2004, Fossmo was sentenced to life in prison for instigated murderand instigated murder attempt; however he was not convicted forkilling his first wife. Svensson was sentenced to institutionalpsychiatric care. In 2006, Fossmo confessed in an interview that hehad in fact been involved; until then he had denied all charges laidagainst him.

Media coverage

The murders and the following policeinvestigation caused a lot of media attention both in Sweden andabroad. Details such as the victims' and perpetrators' involvement inthe same cult-like Christian congregation (led by Åsa Waldau, sisterof the murdered woman), as well as the pastor's sexual relationshipwith both the nanny and the wounded man's wife, were extensivelycovered in the tabloid newspapers. Waldau was frequently called"Kristi brud" (The Bride of Christ) in the media,following news that she had performed an engagement ritual withJesus. She was also called "Queen Tirsa" by somemembers of the church and signed her SMS messages "T".

An aspect of the case which arousedwidespread media interest was the punishment of the persons involvedin the crimes. Helge Fossmo was sentenced to life imprisonment whilethe person who actually murdered Alexandra Fossmo, Sara Svensson, wasreleased into the custody of the psychiatric ward of Linköping courtsystem (Förvaltningsrätten). In August 2006, she was allowed towalk around the grounds of the psychiatric hospital unsupervised.Twice per month, she was given unsupervised leaves provided she wentwith a relative to the town of Vadstena or nearby Motala. Starting inMarch, 2007 Svensson was allowed to stay overnight at her father'shouse. In June, 2007 the places she was allowed to visit wereexpanded to include the city of Linköping.

Aftermath

In 2007, Fossmo married inside theKumla Prison. In 2008 Fossmo was relocated from Kumla Prison toTidaholm after receiving death threats from other prisoners. In early2013 Fossmo had his first day out on parole from the Tidaholm prison.In October 2014, after serving 10 years of his life sentence,Fossmo's applied to the court and had his sentenced time determined,which meant that he would be released on parole in 2020. In January2015, the Göta Court of Appeal repealed the decision, on the penaltyrequirement of at least 24 years of imprisonment for the severity ofthe crime, so that the application for parole was premature.

In January 2010, Aftonbladet reportedthat Sara began college at the folkhögskola or folk high school inVadstena. In early 2010, she received permission to live on her ownduring a six-month transition period. She presumably returned tosociety in late 2010, but Swedish law prevents the disclosure of anydetails pertained to her release.

Cultural influence

The Knutby case became so notorious inSweden that it has been used in fiction as an example of asensational crime with no need for explanation. The name Knutby hasalso entered the Swedish language as a metaphor, even in contextsthat had nothing to do with crime. For instance, a sports journalistwho was dismayed that the players on the national football team wereputting up a united front against the media and refusing to discusspossible personal conflicts wrote a piece headlined "TheNational team is like Knutby".

The crimes inspired a 6-hourfictionalized Swedish mini-series, Knutby, first shown in 2021.