evidence of his guilt cases resulted in disclosure that four of the Sture Bergwall Released were his confessions, be- “” may not even have been crimes — From 23 Years Imprison- cause no physical, foren- and two of the people may not even be dead. sic, or eyewitness Between September 2010 and July 2013 ment After 8 evidence linked him to Bergwall was acquitted or the charges were Convictions Overturned any of the crimes. dismissed in all eight murder cases. It was official. Scandinavia’s most notorious serial ture Bergwall was described for almost Bergwall’s trials were na- killer was nothing but the figment of “Thom- two decades as ’s ‘Hannibal Sture Bergwall after tional news in Sweden. as Quick’s” drug fueled imagination. S his release. (Facebook) Lecter’ before reinvestigation of his cases The reporter for Swe- discovered he is innocent of the eight mur- den’s largest circulation tabloid, Aftonbla- Swedish legal expert Sven-Erik Alhem ders he was convicted of committing. He det, wrote during his first trial comparing called Bergwall’s case Sweden’s “greatest has been released after all his convictions his appearance as “a pale and unremarkable miscarriage of justice in modern times.” were overturned. man in jeans with a shiny bald head”—with his accused actions: “The man is a serial Bergwall’s first-person account of how he In December 1990 Bergwall held a family killer, pedophile, necrophiliac, cannibal and came to confess to more than two dozen hostage while his accomplice forced the fa- sadist. He is very, very sick.” murders he didn’t commit is in Thomas ther to take out about $37,000 from his Quick is Dead, the book he wrote with his bank.[fn.1] Although Bergwall brandished a None of Bergwall’s convictions were ap- brother Sten-Ove that was published in knife no family member was harmed during pealed, so weaknesses in the prosecution’s 2011 in Sweden. the incident. Bergwall was arrested and pros- case, such as inconsistencies between his ecuted for serious robbery. After his convic- confessions and the crimes, were not re- Because of his tion the judge took into consideration that viewed before his convictions became final. known mental is- Bergwall had been diagnosed with a person- sues he wasn’t im- ality disorder, and in June 1991 he was sen- After his 2001 trial Bergwall refused to talk mediately released tenced to inpatient mental care. Bergwall was with anyone about his self-confessed after his exoneration incarcerated in the secure psychiatric unit of crimes. Bergwall’s silence roughly coincid- pending a review of the Säter mental hospital in Säter, Sweden. ed with him no longer being administered his condition. psychotropic drugs. Immediately upon his incarceration the 41- In November 2013 year-old Bergwall was administered large After seven years of silence, in 2008 Berg- the Swedish govern- quantities of psychotropic drugs, and he wall agreed to a visit from a Swedish film- ment appointed a would remain in a constant drugged state maker called Hannes Råstam. During their special investigator third meeting Råstam pointed out to Berg- to review Berg- Thomas Quick Is Dead for the next ten years — until 2001. (2011) by Sture Bergwall wall that in police videos of Bergwall talk- wall’s case. It was and Sten-Ove Bergwall began using the name Thomas ing about his confessed crimes he seemed announced the “in- Quick at Säter and started confessing to drugged up and he didn’t seem to know any vestigation will not lay blame on individuals heinous crimes that he said he committed important details himself. The next time involved in the case but rather seek to under- between 1976 and 1988. Bergwall chose they met Bergwall told Råstam, “I haven’t stand what went wrong,” and the investiga- Thomas Quick because Quick was his committed any of the murders I’ve been tor is ‘tasked with going over the actions of mother’s maiden name, and he said his first convicted of, and none of the murders I’ve legal and health care officials who convicted victim’s name was Thomas. Bergwall told confessed to, either. That’s the way it is.” and cared for Bergwall during his court-or- hospital and police authorities tales of stab- dered stay at a psychiatric hospital.” The bings, stranglings, rape, incest, and canni- In Råstam’s documentary broadcast on Swed- mother of a man Bergwall confessed to mur- balism involving more than thirty victims in ish television in December 2008 Bergwall dering told Swedish Radio she wanted the Sweden, , and . recanted his confessions. Bergwall claimed investigation to identify the officials re- they were a combination of being heavily sponsible for the failure of justice in Berg- Bergwall was eventually tried and convict- medicated and his desire for attention. He wall’s case, and “I think it is absolutely ed after six separate trials of murdering explained that he obtained information about horrible that the authorities can do so much eight people in Sweden — five men and the people in his confessions from newspa- wrong and yet not have to answer for it. All three women. His first trial was in 1994, and pers and magazines in the local library. Berg- the time has been devoted to Thomas Quick, his last was in 2001. During all of Berg- wall’s recantation wasn’t surprising to many instead of following the real killers.” wall’s trials the same prosecutor presented people in Sweden who for years had doubted the State’s case, the same police forensic he committed the crimes he confessed to un- On March 19, 2014 the administrative court inspector testified, and the only substantive der his alias of Thomas Quick. Doubters of in Falun issued its ruling that although he his guilt included the parents of some of his continues to suffer from a “personality dis- alleged victims. A book had even been pub- order” it didn’t require his confinement, and lished by one skeptic that was called Thomas that “the forensic psychiatric care of Sture Quick: Mythomaniac. Bergwall shall continue and change from closed to open care.” The 64-year-old Berg- In 2009 Bergwall submitted a petition chal- wall was released later that day after 23 lenging his 1997 conviction. and he eventual- years at the Säter state hospital. ly filed petitions challenging all eight of his murder convictions. Reinvestigation of the Säter mental hospital in Säter, Sweden Bergwall cont. on page 11

JUSTICE DENIED: THE MAGAZINE FOR THE WRONGLY CONVICTED PAGE 10 ISSUE 58 - WINTER 2015 ported the incident. Police officers promptly Leila M. Dekker Found went to the intersection and found the vehi- Guilty Of Improper cle had run off the road and rolled over. The driver, Marshall Bobby, wasn’t seriously Medical Conduct After injured, but his passenger Josie Tumbler Her Acquittal In Two was thrown from the Land Rover. She died at the scene from severe internal injuries. Criminal Prosecutions When interviewed Dekker told the police, fter being acquitted in two separate “as a medical doctor I know there would be Acriminal prosecutions, Dr. Leila Maria a bad injury and I know it was a waste of Dekker has been found guilty by the Western time, so I go to police so they can get help.” Australia State Administrative Tribunal of (JD Note: As a non-native English speaker Map of crash location on Cherratta Rd and the loca- improper conduct for failing to stop and ren- Dekker apparently mixed her diction.) She tion of the police station less than a 1/4 mile away der medical assistance to a woman who died later made a statement that immediately in Roebourne, Western Australia. (Google Earth) at the scene of a traffic accident in April 2002. “After the near miss incident on 27 April 2002 in Roebourne, I was in a state of driver’s side, so she pulled out to avoid a Dr. Leila Dekker graduated with a medical shock. I was terrified as I thought I had collision. Dekker’s passenger, a neighbor degree from the Universidade Federal Flu- almost been killed.” who accompanied her to the dump, also minense in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and be- testified that Dekker was stopped at the came a doctor in 1974. She speaks Dekker was charged in the Karratha District intersection when the oncoming vehicle go- Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English. Court with dangerous driving causing death. ing upwards of 45 m.p.h. was on the wrong She immigrated to Australia and became side of the road and on a collision course registered as specialist in diagnostic radiolo- During her trial in December 2005 the pros- with Dekker’s Toyota. gy in 1996. In the spring of 2002 Dr. Dekker ecution’s opening statement and closing ar- was living in the area of Karratha, a city of gument were based on the testimony of the After Dekker was convicted by a jury she about 16,000 that is 950 miles north of Perth wrecked vehicle’s driver that Dekker pulled was sentenced to pay a fine of AUS$10,000 in Western Australia. She was working for out in front of him and the evasive action he and her driver’s license was suspended for the Kinetic Health Group in Karratha. took resulted in him running off the road and two years. rolling over. Police officers at the scene and Dekker’s life changed forever on April 27, officers who later investigated the incident, Although she immediately instructed her 2002 when she went to the garbage dump testified that tire marks left by the crashed lawyer to file an appeal, it wasn’t done. She outside the nearby town of Roebourne. At vehicle began some distance before where it changed lawyers several times who she also about 6:30 p.m. she was returning from a left the road. There was also police testimo- talked with about filing an appeal. trip to the dump that is on Cherratta Road. ny about the deficient condition of the Dekker was stopped where Cherratta Road crashed vehicle’s tires, steering, and brakes, In the Roebourne Magistrates Court Dekker makes a 90 degree turn at a T-intersection, that it lack of seat belts, and that its front seat was separately charged with dangerous when an oncoming vehicle on the wrong could tip because it wasn’t securely fastened. driving causing bodily harm. side of the road began veering toward her. (Australian’s drive on the left side of the During her trial in February 2008 Dekker road.) To avoid a collision Dekker pulled presented the defense that she pulled into her Toyota pickup forward into the brush the road to avoid a collision with the on- across the road and the oncoming vehicle coming vehicle. However unlike her 2005 passed behind her. Although Dekker heard trial in the District Court, Dekker’s defense what sounded like a crash, she couldn’t see was bolstered by Robert Davey, who is anything because it was dark and there was Cherratta Rd. intersection where Leila Dekker barely considered Western Australia’s foremost missed an out of control vehicle that crashed. no street lighting. (Sunset was an hour earli- (Google Streetview) expert in traffic crash examination and re- er at about 5:30 p.m.) Dekker had no flash- construction. Davey testified that photos light, no cell phone, no medical supplies or Dekker testified in her defense she was taken of tire marks on the road showed that even a first-aid kit with her, so she immedi- stopped at the intersection when the oncom- the oncoming vehicle had reached ‘critical ately drove to the Roebourne police station ing vehicle was on the wrong side of the that was less than a 1/4 mile away and re- road and headed to broadside her car on the Dekker cont. on page 12

Bergwall cont. from page 10 1. The amount was SEK245,000. The value of the March 20, 2014 Swedish Kroner was .15121 to the U.S. Dollar on Nov. Wrongly Convicted Swedish ‘Hannibal Lecter’ To Sue 16, 1995, and .15422 to the U.S. Dollar on April 9, For Damages, BusinessInsider.com, March 21, 2014 Bergwall’s blog translated into English is, 2014. So the Kroner’s longterm value appears to be www.sturebergwallsblogg.wordpress.com . fairly stable related to the U.S. Dollar. Nov. 16, 1995 The Has Second Thoughts: The Confes- is the oldest historical currency date available on the sions of Thomas Quick, GQ magazine, August 2013 Bergwall’s Facebook page is, webpage www.xe.com/currencytables. Swedish ‘Serial killer’ Released After Convictions www.facebook.com/stureragnarbergwall . Sources: Overturned, AFP Story, March 19, 2014, NTD.TV Sture Bergwall, Wikipedia.org (Swedish webpage Special investigator named for ‘Quick’ case, Radio Bergwall’s Twitter page is, translated into English by Google Translate) Sweden, Nov. 26, 2013 www.twitter.com/StureBergwall. Swedish man once considered serial killer is FREED "Thomas Quick is Dead," by Sture Bergwall and Sten- after it’s revealed his eight murder convictions are Ove (2011) Endnote: based on false confessions, Daily Mail (London),

JUSTICE DENIED: THE MAGAZINE FOR THE WRONGLY CONVICTED PAGE 11 ISSUE 58 - WINTER 2015