Helén murder

The Helén murder (Swedish Helénmordet), is a sadistic murder on a 10-year old girl named Helén Nilsson in Hörby, Sweden in March 1989. A man, Ulf Olsson, was convicted against his denial in April 2005 having been found after a weak DNA trace in 2004.

Helén was abducted on the evening of March 20, 1989. She had decided to meet with two friends outside a grocery store, but they never met. [sv icon cite news| url=http://sydsvenskan.se/sverige/article84696.ece| title=Helén never showed up| publisher=Sydsvenskan| date=November 20, 2004] Her body was found six days later in the woods about 20 kilometres outside Hörby. It turned out that the girl had been alive for a couple of days after the abduction. The murder remained unsolved for the following years and attracted media attention every now and then.

The only technical proof is a weak DNA trace which have been found on Heléns body, which is at least two or three days old before the girl was murdered. At the time Ulf Olsson was convicted (2004) people believed very strong in DNA. The DNA-trace could be linked to Ulf Olsson with a probability of 0,6%. Experts testified at court about a probability of 1 of 43 millions concerning absolutely unknown people with no relationship, and at the current time the court seemed it was very strong evidence. A probability corresponding 1/43 millions means that there are at least 158 persons that can match the DNA if the world's population is approximately 6,8 billions (6800/43=158). It means that the probability that the DNA-track comes from Ulf Olsson only is 0,6% (1/158=0,006). Sweden's low population was used in court as an argument in order to secure the impossibility the that the DNA-trace could come from someone else. If people have not moved a lot it is thus reasonable to assume that the majority of these 158 persons will be living in Sweden.

However, a DNA-trace can never, how secure it seems to be, prove what a person has done at the place or which condition the person was in. Therefore, it is incorrect to claim that the DNA-trace can be used to prove kidnapping and murder. Ulf Olsson was judged against his denial, and still denies the crimes. Apart from lack of evidences that can be connected to him – there is a lot of other evidences pointing at someone or some other involved persons. Such evidences are hairs, fingerprints, blood and witnesses. In the preliminary investigation it is found that five independencent witnesses have seen a man in 20 - 25 years' age, that did not look as the convicted man. The man was observed in a red car exactly on that place and time when the girl disappeared 1989. One witness saw this person, force a girl in his car against her will. The girl looked like Helén.

In December, 2004, Ulf Olsson was declared guilty and in April the following year he was sentenced to life, even though he had been found mentally ill. The verdict was appealed and the second authority determined the mental condition to be severe enough to warrant psychiatric care. He has written a book about his life and the trials. He also has published a web-site (ulfolsson.bloggsida.se)in order to give information about his situation and discuss the case. With help of wellknown lawyers he tries to get a new trial.

Details of the abduction

Not everything is known about the details of her abduction, but some events were determined by the police investigation.

Helén had decided to meet two friends of her outside a grocery store at 19.00, but failing to find them there she had made a short walk around the block. She met a couple of friends of her sister, who informed her about two girls waiting outside the store. Upon looking in that direction, Helén and the sister's friends could see the girls leaving the parking lot, and Helén ran after them. This is the last known observation of Helén Nilsson. Although the police made major efforts to determine where she had been obducted it could never be determined whether it occurred outside the store or on her way home, if she had decided to return home after her friends had left her.

Shortly after 20.00, the time when Helén should have returned home, the family was getting worried that she was not home, since Helén's friends had been there to ask for her. A search started and more and more people became involved in looking for the girl. At 22.10, the police was informed and over the following days, the disappearance attracted a lot of media attention.Five independent witnesses have seen a young man, 20-25 years old, at the same place and time as Helén disappeared. One of them saw him force a little girl into his car. The witness has confirmed that the man did not look like the judged man.

Arrests

A number of arrests were made over the years. At March 22, only two days after the abduction and while the search was still on, a man living in the same area as Helén was interrogated by the police and had his home searched. He could not present an alibi and he was never informed of being suspected of the crime.

In 2002, the case was reopened with the intention of reviewing all the interrogation transcripts, letters and other available data. One revisited lead consisted of a man who was reported to have attempted a couple of rapes during the 1980's and who lived in the area. He had been with his cousin during the day of Helén's disappearing and the two men presented very different views on what they had been doing on that day. During the new investigations, a number of girls who had lived in the area and been 10 years old some time during the eighties were questioned and six of them mentioned being harassed or assaulted by the man.

It could be established in 1989 that the two men had been at the grocery store at the same time that Helén was in the area and they had been spotted in their car, signalling with the full beam and in other aspects behaving "very strange"cite book
last = Åkesson
first = Per-Åke
editor = (ed. Dackén, Per)
title = Nordisk kriminalkrönika 2006
publisher = Nordiska polisidrottsförbundet
date = 2006
language = Swedish
id = ISSN|0347-2493
pages = p. 35, col. 2] . Several other observations of the two cousins prompted the investigators to detain the two men in 2002. Eventually, the prosecutor determined that there was no reason to keep them in custody and they were let go.

Use of new technology

A small amount of sperm was found on Helén's body and was sent to the forensic laboratory in Linköping. In 1989, however, the techniques used were not advanced enough to be able to get any information out of such small amounts but the sample was frozen. In 2002, during the aforementioned reopening of the case, the sample was sent to Forensic Science Service in Birmingham, UK and in August 2003, the DNA profile was received.cite web
url = http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=147&a=280839
title = 52-åring anhållen för mordet på Helén Nilsson
accessdate = 2007-01-10
author = Ole Rothenborg
date = 2004-06-24
work = Dagens Nyheter
language = Swedish]

In April 2004, a group of 29 men that had appeared in the investigation was selected. The purpose was to conduct interrogations and to ask the men to voluntarily provide DNA samples. There were no priority differences within the group apart from the strategy of starting with those living closest. It had been rumoured over the years that Swedish serial killer Thomas Quick was involved in the murder and although the police had no interest in him, he was allowed to leave a sample by his own initiative in order to rule him out.

A weak match was reported on June 23, 2004 and an arrest was made the same evening.

References