Swedish Murder Case with Elk as Prime Suspect

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A man from southern Sweden, who was accused of murdering his wife, is suing authorities for damages after it was established that she was in fact killed by an elk.

The man, a resident of Loftahammer in southern Smaland, is now demanding tens of thousands of kronor in compensation for being falsely accused of murder.

The former murder case involving a 63-year-old Swedish woman has now been reopened by local police.

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The man’s lawyers are critical of the way in which prosecutors and the police handled the investigation after his wife was found gravely injured near the shore of a lake in September 2008. She was last seen as she took her family dog for a walk in the nearby forest but when she did not return her husband went looking for her and discovered her dead body.

According to the man, investigators were too quick to assume that he had killed his wife. For months he labored under the suspicion that he had murdered his wife, and he was also detained for ten days. After he was released, the suspicions against him remained.

It would take several months before police identified the real culprit after hairs found on the woman’s body were finally identified as coming from an elk.

“When my children and I buried my wife I was still suspected of killing her,” he claimed. According to The Local, the man was released in January this year without charge as investigations took on a new course.

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The man says that because of the false accusation, he was viewed as a killer by his neighbors where he lived and had to move away.

Now he is asking for damages totaling 621,000 kronor; -300,000 kronor in compensation for suffering and 321,000 kronor in compensation for lost income.

Police refused to comment on the new findings but announced a press conference, where also an elk expert will be present to explain the forensic analysis findings.

Swedish Murder Case with Elk as Prime Suspect, source: The Local, Sweden