Daniel Nyquist was arrested on June 9, 2020 and charged in the October 19, 2004 murders of 56-year-old Anna-Lena Svensson and 8-year-old Mohamad Ammouri in Linköping, Sweden. These random attacks took place around 8:00 am in the morning in this quiet Swedish town. Ammouri was attacked from behind and stabbed while walking to school. Svensson was then stabbed to death while trying to run back to her house, likely because she had witnessed the killing.
Swedish genealogist Peter Sjölund conducted the FGG analysis, using FTDNA.
Nyqvist confessed to police shortly after his arrest. He was tried in Linköping District Court. He was found to have been suffering from a serious psychiatric disorder at the time of the killings and was sentenced to care in a psychiatric hospital.
Inspired by recent successes in the United States, Sweden changed its legislation in January of 2019 to permit police to use commercial genealogy sites, like FTDNA, to search against crime scene DNA. This led to the solving of this case, reported to be one of the biggest murder investigations in Sweden – next only to the 1986 murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme. During the years that this case remained open, mass screens of the DNA of local men who were suspected of the crime resulted in over 6,000 men being suspects and being asked to provide their DNA. Over 9,000 men were interrogated by police. All were cleared of involvement in the crime.
Tillmar et al. have described how this case was used as a pilot study to examine the feasibility of using FGG to solve a violent crime in Sweden, and to assess the ethical and privacy aspects of the use of D2C databases. In this case, the use of FGG was successful in apprehending a suspect and in securing a conviction. Legal authorities determined that the social value in solving a violent crime outweighed the privacy interests of users of the D2C databases, their relatives who were not in the database, and the person of interest whose DNA was left at the crime scene.
As a result, Sweden is now developing a set of national guidelines for the use of FGG. There are other cases in Sweden that night be appropriate for FGG, and these cases are now being assessed.
Sources:
Agènce France Press Staff. “DNA Hit Brings Swedish Double Murder Suspect to Trial After 16 Years.” The Local, September 16, 2020. Accessed December 26, 2020. https://www.thelocal.se/20200916/dna-hit-brings-swedish-double-murder-suspect-to-trial-after-16-years.
Agènce France Press Staff. “Swede Convicted of Double Murder After DNA Match 16 Years Later.” The Local, October 1, 2020. Accessed December 26, 2020. https://www.thelocal.se/20201001/swede-convicted-of-double-murder-after-dna-match-16-years-later.
Agènce France Press Staff. “Swede on Trial for Murder After DNA Hit on Genealogy Site.” CTV News, September 15, 2020. Accessed December 26, 2020. https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/swede-on-trial-for-murder-after-dna-hit-on-genealogy-site-1.5105356.
Beagleboy167. “Suspect Arrested in the Unresolved Murder of Mohammad Ammouri, 8 and Anna-Lena Svenson, 56 that Happened in the Small Town of Linköping, Sweden.” Reddit (Post), June 2020. Accessed December 26, 2020. https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/gzlcel/suspect_arrested_in_the_unresolved_2004/.
Linköping University. “Investigative Genetic Genealogy: Solving a Double Murder Arouses International Interest.” Sci Tech Daily, June 2, 2021. Accessed June 7, 2021. https://scitechdaily.com/investigative-genetic-genealogy-solving-a-double-murder-arouses-international-interest/.
Préel, Marc. “Swede on Trial for Murder After DNA Hit on Genealogy Site.” Barron’s, September 15, 2020. Accessed December 26, 2020. https://www.barrons.com/news/swede-on-trial-for-murder-after-dna-hit-on-genealogy-site-01600183807.
The Local. “How Swedish Police Tracked Down Double Murder Suspect After 16 Years.” The Local, June 9, 2020. Accessed December 26, 2020. https://www.thelocal.se/20200609/how-swedish-police-tracked-down-double-murder-suspect-after-16-years-linkoping.