24 year old rape case solved in Sweden

Spiritual_Chaos

A change in the law this year made it possible for police to search in their DNA-bank for possible family members of suspects.

Last week, a 58-year-old man was arrested, suspected of a brutal rape of an 8-year-old girl in Billdal, south of Gothenburg, in 1995.

The arrest happened after police used DNA from the 24-year-old crime scene to search for relatives of the suspect, something they have not been allowed to do before the law was changed.

Out of a list of just over 30 people with similar DNA in the police register from previous criminal investigations, the police quickly shifted their focus to a 58-year-old man, who did not turn up when they asked him to come in to give a DNA sample.

The man denies any wrongdoing.

One year before the case would have been statute-barred (if thats the correct word?).

Meltdown99

Spiritual_Chaos said:

A change in the law this year made it possible for police to search in their DNA-bank for possible family members of suspects.

Last week, a 58-year-old man was arrested, suspected of a brutal rape of an 8-year-old girl in Billdal, south of Gothenburg, in 1995.

The arrest happened after police used DNA from the 24-year-old crime scene to search for relatives of the suspect, something they have not been allowed to do before the law was changed.

Out of a list of just over 30 people with similar DNA in the police register from previous criminal investigations, the police quickly shifted their focus to a 58-year-old man, who did not turn up when they asked him to come in to give a DNA sample.

The man denies any wrongdoing.

One year before the case would have been statute-barred (if thats the correct word?).

Great job.  Always great to hear of these old cases getting solved.  I have read of a case in the US getting solved because people have submitted DNA to a genealogy site...

Spiritual_Chaos

Meltdown99 said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

A change in the law this year made it possible for police to search in their DNA-bank for possible family members of suspects.

Last week, a 58-year-old man was arrested, suspected of a brutal rape of an 8-year-old girl in Billdal, south of Gothenburg, in 1995.

The arrest happened after police used DNA from the 24-year-old crime scene to search for relatives of the suspect, something they have not been allowed to do before the law was changed.

Out of a list of just over 30 people with similar DNA in the police register from previous criminal investigations, the police quickly shifted their focus to a 58-year-old man, who did not turn up when they asked him to come in to give a DNA sample.

The man denies any wrongdoing.

One year before the case would have been statute-barred (if thats the correct word?).

Great job.  Always great to hear of these old cases getting solved.  I have read of a case in the US getting solved because people have submitted DNA to a genealogy site...

The Golden State Killer? 

There is a famous double murder from 2004 in Sweden that they hope will be solved through using one of those sites.

oftenreading

I am never going to give a sample of my DNA to any of those sites. Not because I’ve killed or assaulted anyone, but because, as these cases and many others show, once you do that you lose all control of your genetic information. 

PJ_Soul

oftenreading said:

I am never going to give a sample of my DNA to any of those sites. Not because I’ve killed or assaulted anyone, but because, as these cases and many others show, once you do that you lose all control of your genetic information. 

True. Too late for me in that context. My sister already submitted hers, which means I can also be found through DNA.

Spiritual_Chaos

PJ_Soul said:

oftenreading said:

I am never going to give a sample of my DNA to any of those sites. Not because I’ve killed or assaulted anyone, but because, as these cases and many others show, once you do that you lose all control of your genetic information. 

True. Too late for me in that context. My sister already submitted hers, which means I can also be found through DNA.

All those serial killings of yours will be found out! QUICK SELL ME YOUR BENAROYA HALL VINYL IF YOU HAVE ONE!

PJ_Soul

Spiritual_Chaos said:

PJ_Soul said:

oftenreading said:

I am never going to give a sample of my DNA to any of those sites. Not because I’ve killed or assaulted anyone, but because, as these cases and many others show, once you do that you lose all control of your genetic information. 

True. Too late for me in that context. My sister already submitted hers, which means I can also be found through DNA.

All those serial killings of yours will be found out! QUICK SELL ME YOUR BENAROYA HALL VINYL IF YOU HAVE ONE!

I do not have one, sorry! I guess I could kill someone for theirs though... 

Spiritual_Chaos

The case above was solved with the police own database of DNA. But now the first case using a genealogy site (like e.g. The Golden State killer in the US) has been tested and also solved in Sweden. The 16 year old double murder in central Linköping. Random killing in the morning, with the Police having both the weapon and DNA/witnesses of the killer. 

Being the first case to be tried using this method (the case above was also meant to be a case in this pilot project - but it was solved by the police as mentioned above), a genealogist was brought in and he found a match and solved it all in one month. The genealogist said in an interview that the Nordic countries are excellent for this method, with us having so good "church books" with family ties listed, but he mentions other countries it would not work at all. He uses Italy as an example, where this would be pretty much impossible. 


How Swedish police tracked down double murder suspect after 16 years

An eight-year-old boy was attacked from behind on his way to school just before 8am on October, 19th, 2004, and stabbed several times. Shortly afterwards a 56-year-old woman who was on her way to work was also attacked nearby. The perpetrator then dropped the knife and left the scene. Both victims died.

It is one of Sweden's most high-profile unsolved murders.

There was no immediate explanation for the attack, with the two victims, Mohammad Ammouri and Anna-Lena Svenson, having no apparent links to each other.

Huge police resources were dedicated to finding the attacker, who left behind traces of blood and hair. But despite initial hopes that police would be able to quickly solve the case, their efforts were unsuccessful.

Years later, police were given the green light to for the first time in Sweden use methods similar to those that were used to solve the cold case of the Golden State Killer in California in 2018. They sifted their way through DNA uploaded by people on family tree websites, and then carefully worked their way towards finding a suspect by identifying possible relatives with similar DNA – with the help of family history researchers.

On Tuesday, a potential suspect was brought in for questioning.

https://www.thelocal.se/20200609/how-swedish-police-tracked-down-double-murder-suspect-after-16-years-linkoping

Fun swedish fact: Because of the nature of the case and how weird it was that it went unsolved, swedish criminologist Leif GW Persson offered one million swedish krona of his own money to the one who gives information that brings the killer to justice. He says though that the genealogist will not get the money, because of him working for and being paid by the police. GW Persson will instead offer the money for another case that irks him haven't been solved.