Knutby murder

The Knutby murder refers to a murder and attempted murder in the village of Knutby east of Uppsala in Sweden, on January 10, 2004.

Murder case

Around 04:40 in the morning, the 30-year-old IT-entrepreneur Daniel Linde was shot in the head and chest and seriously wounded. Two hours later it was discovered that his employee and neighbor Alexandra Fossmo had also been shot. She was found dead in her bed. The murdered woman was married to Helge Fossmo, a pastor in a local pentecostal church. Her husband had left with Daniel Linde in the ambulance to the hospital.

The next day 26-year-old Sara Svensson confessed to both shootings. She had worked as a nanny in the pastor's family. Two weeks later, the pastor was also arrested, together with Daniel Linde's wife. Wiretapping had revealed to the police that they were lovers. They were both suspected of instigating the murder and murder attempt, but Linde's wife was released after two weeks and never charged.

The pastor's first wife Heléne Fossmo had been found dead in her bath tub in 1999. Although she had a hole in her skull and although there was a toxic concentration of dextropropoxyphene in her blood, this death had been ruled an accident. This death was also investigated again, and the pastor was charged with murder.

At the trial, Sara Svensson gave a detailed confession. She told the court that she had been influenced by anonymous text messages that were forwarded to her by Helge Fossmo. Her credibility was strengthened by the text of erased messages that could be recovered from her mobile phone. On July 30, 2004, the pastor Helge Fossmo was sentenced to life in prison for instigated murder and instigated murder attempt, however he was not convicted for killing his first wife. The nanny, Sara Svensson, was sentenced to institutional psychiatric care. In 2006 Fossmo confessed in an interview that he had in fact been involved; until then he had denied all charges laid against him.

The murders and the following police investigation caused a lot of media attention both in Sweden and abroad. Details such as the victims' and perpetrators' involvement in the same sect-like church community (led by a woman named Åsa Waldau, sister of the murdered woman), as well as the pastor's sexual relationship with both the nanny and the wounded man's wife, were extensively covered 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 with Jesus. She was also called "Queen Tirsa" by some members of the church and signed her sms messages "T".

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