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ARBOGA APARTMENT DEATH

ARBOGA

Mum and baby died ‘due to illness’: police

The mother and 9-month-old baby found dead in a flat in Arboga, in central Sweden, died “due to illness or as a result of it” local police said on Monday.

Mum and baby died 'due to illness': police

“The baby died from exhaustion and starvation,” said police spokesperson Terje Lund to daily Aftonbladet.

When the bodies of the deceased mother Kjærsti Guseck and her baby Verona were found in January, police were unable at the time to rule out foul play.

The Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang (VG) reported at the time that the woman was originally from western Norway, but had moved to Sweden in 2008 because she didn’t feel safe in her home country.

Police sources told daily Aftonbladet that the woman had lived at a secret address for a period as a result of threats made against her.

In 2010, her then boyfriend was convicted in Sweden after assaulting the woman and threatening to kill her.

The woman had six children in all, but only had custody of the youngest, the infant girl found dead in the apartment.

Neighbours told the Aftonbladet newspaper at the time that the woman had lived in the area for several years and was “always happy and a fantastic mother”.

However, the investigation has shown that neither woman nor the child had been subjected to any violence, neither did they have any strange substances in their systems.

“We have made the judgement that the woman died from illness and that her daughter died as a result of that,” said Per Envall of the Västmanland County police in a statement.

The ongoing murder investigation has therefore been halted. However, police were not willing to divulge any details surrounding Kjærsti Guseck’s illness.

Exactly when they died is also hard to tell, according to police, but it is likely that the baby outlived her mother.

“She died of exhaustion and starvation because her mother died before her. It is an unpleasant case. Tragic,” Lund told Aftonbladet.

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NORWAY

Body found in Oslo flat nine years after death

A man lay dead in his flat for nine years before being discovered in December, police in Oslo have said.

Body found in Oslo flat nine years after death
Photo by pichet wong from Pexels

The man, who was in his sixties, had been married more than once and also had children, national broadcaster NRK reports.

His name has been kept anonymous. According to neighbours he liked to keep to himself and when they didn’t see him, they thought he had moved or been taken to assisted living.

“Based on the details we have, it is obviously a person who has chosen to have little contact with others,” Grethe Lien Metild, chief of Oslo Police District, told NRK.

His body was discovered when a caretaker for the building he was living in requested police open the apartment so he could carry out his work.

“We have thought it about a lot, my colleagues and people who have worked with this for many years. This is a special case, and it makes us ask questions about how it could happen,” Metild said.

Police believe the man died in April 2011, based on a carton of milk and a letter that were found in his apartment. An autopsy has shown he died of natural causes.

READ ALSO: Immigrants in Norway more likely to be affected by loneliness

His pension was suspended in 2018 when the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) could not get in touch with him, but his bills were still paid out of his bank account and suspended pension fund.

Arne Krokan, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said the man’s death would have unlikely gone unnoticed for so long if he had died 30 years ago.

“In a way, it is the price we have paid to get digital services,” he said to NRK.

Last year 27 people were found in Oslo, Asker or Bærum seven days or more after dying. The year before the number was 32 people. Of these, one was dead for almost seven months before being discovered.

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