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Sweden drops final ‘serial killer’ murder charge

Swedish prosecutors have discarded the eighth and final murder charge against the self-confessed serial killer and cannibal Thomas Quick, who in 2008 recanted his alleged participation in a series of brutal killings.

Published: 31 July 2013 10:39 CEST

Sweden drops final 'serial killer' murder charge

The final murder charge concerned the 1976 disappearance of Charles Zelmanovits. Quick, who now goes by the name Sture Bergwall, confessed to the murder along with seven other suspicious deaths.

“The guilty verdict was based on the confession of Bergwall and him wanted to be convicted,” chief prosecutor Håkan Nyman told the TT news agency on Wednesday as news of the discarded charge broke.

There was no forensic evidence to tie Bergwall to 15-year-old Zelmanovits’ death, but he was convicted of murder in 1994. Zelmanovits’ remains were not found until 1993, with Bergwall confessing to the crime the following spring.

FOR MORE BACKGROUND: The brutal confessions of a ‘serial killer’ that injured Sweden’s justice system

The prosecutor who demanded that Sweden’s justice system revisit the case has long been convinced that the young boy died of exposure.

“He was drunk, he got lost, and he froze to death. It was more or less completely open terrain and it started to snow,” Bengt Landahl told TT earlier this year. “It was -10C and he was only wearing low shoes, a short jacket, and no hat.”

Read what Sturewall wrote on his blog after the verdict

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Over a thousand people join protest against Stockholm attack

The demonstration, which was organised by the Left Party and the Green Party together with Expo, an anti-extremist magazine, was held outside the Moment theatre, where masked assailants attacked a lecture organised by the two parties on Wednesday.

In the attack, the assailants – described as Nazis by Expo – let off smoke grenades and assaulted several people, three of whom were hospitalised.

“Let’s say it how it is: this was a terror attack and that is something we can never accept,” said Amanda Lind, who is expected to be voted in as the joint leader of the Green Party on Sunday.

She said that those who had attended the lecture had hoped to swap ideas about how to combat racism.

“Instead they had to experience smoke bombs, assault and were forced to think ‘have they got weapons’?. The goal of this attack was to use violence to generate fear and silence people,” she said.

EXPLAINED: What we know about the attack on a Swedish anti-fascist meeting

More than a thousand people gathered to protest the attack on a theatre in Gubbängen, Stockholm. Photo: Oscar Olsson/TT

Nooshi Dadgostar, leader of the Left Party, said that that society needed to stand up against this type of extreme-right violence.

“We’re here today to show that which should be obvious: we will not give up, we will stand up for ourselves, and we shall never be silenced by racist violence,” said said.

Sofia Zwahlen, one of the protesters at the demonstration, told the DN newspaper that it felt positive that so many had turned up to show their opposition to the attacks.

“It feels extremely good that there’s been this reaction, that we are coming together. I’m always a little worried about going to this sort of demonstration. But this feels safe.”

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