Pernilla Hellgren: an unsolved 2000 murder
Pernilla Hellgren was 31 when she was killed in Falun in June 2000. Investigators preserved biological evidence, but the case remained unsolved for nearly eight years. The later breakthrough did not come from a new witness in the old investigation; it came because a separate child-disappearance inquiry produced a suspect whose DNA could be compared with the preserved material.
Engla Höglund disappears
On April 5, 2008, ten-year-old Engla Höglund disappeared while cycling near her home in Stjärnsund. A private photograph taken in the area captured a vehicle that investigators were able to trace to Anders Eklund. He was arrested two days later.
The arrest gave police a reason to compare Eklund's DNA profile with evidence from other unresolved crimes. That comparison matched material from the Hellgren investigation. Confronted with the new evidence, Eklund confessed to killing both Engla and Pernilla.
Why the DNA link mattered
The Hellgren case demonstrates the value of preserving forensic material through a long cold-case period. Sveriges Radio reported in 2008 that investigators regarded the DNA evidence in the older case as especially strong and that the profile matched after Eklund became a suspect in Engla's disappearance.
The link also changed the scope of the prosecution. Eklund was not tried only for the crime that had led to his arrest in 2008; he was charged with both murders, together with serious sexual offenses and additional crimes.
Trial and mental-health evaluation
The proceedings included psychiatric assessment because Swedish law distinguishes between offenders who can be sentenced to prison and those whose mental condition may require forensic psychiatric care. Two evaluations concluded that Eklund had a psychiatric disorder but not one classified as sufficiently severe to prevent a prison sentence.
The National Board of Health and Welfare's legal council reviewed the issue and likewise concluded that there was no medical barrier to imprisonment. That cleared the court to consider a custodial sentence, including life imprisonment.
Life sentence
On October 6, 2008, Falu District Court convicted Eklund of the murders of Engla Höglund and Pernilla Hellgren, along with other offenses, and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Sveriges Radio reported that the court considered each murder serious enough, on its own, to justify a life sentence.
Eklund did not successfully overturn the judgment. In later years he sought to have the life sentence converted into a fixed term. Swedish courts rejected those applications. A 2019 decision from Örebro District Court cited a substantial risk of serious reoffending, and SVT reported another refusal in January 2023.
June 2000: Pernilla Hellgren is murdered in Falun; the case remains unsolved.
April 5, 2008: Engla Höglund disappears near Stjärnsund while cycling.
April 7, 2008: Anders Eklund is arrested after investigators trace a vehicle photographed near the disappearance.
April 2008: DNA testing links Eklund to evidence from the 2000 Hellgren case; he later confesses to both murders.
July 18, 2008: prosecutors file charges covering both murders and other offenses.
October 6, 2008: Falu District Court sentences Eklund to life imprisonment.
May 2019: Örebro District Court rejects an application to convert the life sentence to a fixed term.
January 2023: another conversion request is rejected.
Current status
The murders are solved and adjudicated. Eklund's conviction remains in force and his sentence remains life imprisonment. Later proceedings about whether that sentence should be converted to a fixed term do not alter the murder convictions.
For the Hellgren investigation, the decisive evidentiary development came almost eight years after the crime. For the Höglund investigation, a photograph made by a private person helped police identify the vehicle that led them to Eklund. Together, those developments connected two cases that had initially been investigated years apart.
Sources
Archive context
This file is part of the Sweden archive. Related Swedish cases include The Murder of Lisa Holm, The Malexander Murders and The Assassination of Olof Palme.