Ulf Olsson
{{short description|Swedish murderer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
Ulf Olsson (19 December 1951 – 10 January 2010), also known as {{lang|sv|Helénmannen}} ({{lit|the Helén man}}) was a Swedish murderer. He was convicted for the murders of 10-year-old Helén Nilsson and 26-year-old Jannica Ekblad in 1989. Found after a DNA test in 2004 (a test series including 28 other men), Olsson was convicted and sentenced to psychiatric care in 2005. Although he was first brought to the attention of the police in 2002, he had been in contact with two different police officers through anonymous letters and phone calls since only a couple of months after the murders.
{{cite book
| last = Åkesson
| first = Per-Åke
| editor-last = Dackén | editor-first=Per
| title = Nordisk kriminalkrönika 2006
| publisher = Nordiska polisidrottsförbundet
| year = 2006
| language = sv
|issn=0347-2493
| pages = 26–42
}}
The investigation is the second-largest in Swedish history, only surpassed by the investigation of the 1986 assassination of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme.
Murders
= Helén Nilsson =
{{Main | Murder of Helén Nilsson}}
10-year-old Helén Nilsson was abducted on the night of 20 March 1989, and she was found murdered six days later.{{Cite web|url=https://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/krim/mordet-pa-helen-skakade-sverige/|title=Mordet på Helén skakade Sverige|newspaper=Expressen|date=15 November 2020 |access-date=16 December 2020}} She had been alive for several days after the abduction and had been raped and assaulted. A number of leads were followed over the years but Olsson was not a person of interest to the police until 2002. A police investigator involved with a re-opening of the case was informed of a man (Olsson) who had been suspected by the locals around the time of the murder. The police were informed and in 2004 he was one of 29 men who were asked for a voluntary DNA sample. The test result indicated that Olsson was the murderer with an error probability of one in 43 million.{{Cite web|url=https://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/ulf-olsson-doms-for-mordet-pa-helen-nilsson/|title=Ulf Olsson döms för mordet på Helén Nilsson|website=Expressen|date=20 December 2004 |access-date=14 December 2020}}
=Jannica Ekblad=
Jannica Ekblad was a sex worker in Malmö. She was found murdered on 4 August 1989, and since Olsson, who was convicted of killing her, claimed he never met her, details about her last hours in life are scarce.{{Cite news|url=https://www.svd.se/jannica-ekblads-van-pekar-ut-ulf-olsson-5bvL|title=Jannica Ekblads vän pekar ut Ulf Olsson|first=Karin|last=Thunberg|date=4 December 2004|access-date=14 December 2020|newspaper=Svenska Dagbladet}} She talked to a female friend through her house phone, attempting to have her follow Ekblad and a man to a location outside of Malmö, but the friend was unable to do so. No names were used, but it is believed that the man was Olsson.{{By whom|date=October 2023}} Ekblad also visited a male friend of hers, who would occasionally provide her with heroin. Ekblad made a short visit and appeared worried. She was seen leaving together with a man and she was not seen again. In 2004, large amounts of Ekblad's blood were found in the summer cottage that belonged to Olsson at the time of the murder.{{Cite news|url=https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/olsson-bunden-till-mord-pa-jannica|title=Olsson bunden till mord på Jannica|date=17 May 2005|website=SVT Nyheter|access-date=14 December 2020}} This and other evidence, including identification of his sperm in her vagina, led to his conviction for her murder.{{Cite web|url=https://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/jannicas-mordare-domdes--efter-15-ar/|title=Jannicas mördare dömdes – efter 15 år|website=Expressen|date=16 September 2015 |access-date=14 December 2020}}
=Connection between the murders=
A police technician investigating the two murders was in an early stage convinced that the same killer was responsible for both murders.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allas.se/samhalle/sa-lostes-morden-pa-heln-nilsson-och-jannica-ekblad/143037|title=Så löstes morden på Helén Nilsson och Jannica Ekblad|date=4 August 2019|website=allas.se|access-date=14 December 2020}} Although there were clear differences in the two victims, being a young girl and an adult sex worker, other parameters such as the type of location in which the bodies were discovered, the combination of strangulation and massive force against their heads as well as the presence of dog hairs on both bodies, made the investigators suspect there was a connection. Before the evidence against Olsson had been collected in 2004, however, there was no established connection between the murders.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/a/J1nPX6|title=Hittad död – tog sitt liv på rättspsyk|website=Aftonbladet|date=10 January 2010 |access-date=14 December 2020}}
Time in psychiatric care
= Death =
At 5:00 am CET on 10 January 2010 Ulf Olsson published a post on his blog where he stated "the best thing for me is simply to be allowed to die, rather than to sit here as a living dead".{{cite web|title=Ulf Olsson har hittats död|work=Expressen|url=http://www.expressen.se/Nyheter/1.1839636/ulf-olsson-har-hittats-dod|access-date=10 January 2010}}{{cite web|title=Ulf Olsson hittad död|date=10 January 2010 |work=Aftonbladet|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article6405053.ab|access-date=10 January 2010|quote={{lang|sv|Det bästa för mig är helt enkelt att bara få dö, än att sitta här som en levande död}} }} At approximately 6:15 am CET the same morning Ulf Olsson was found dead by a staff of the psychiatric clinic where he was situated. Officials of the psychiatric clinic confirmed that he had committed suicide by hanging. He left behind one son born after the murders.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/a/vmeabj|title=- Jag fick barn med Ulf Olsson|website=Aftonbladet|date=28 November 2004 |access-date=14 December 2020}}
Media
In 2020 Ulf Olsson was profiled on the six-part Sveriges Television series The Hunt for a Killer, a series about the murders of Helén Nilsson and Jannica Ekblad. Actor Magnus Schmitz played Olsson.{{Cite web|url=https://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/sa-blev-magnus-mordaren-ulf-olsson-i-nya-svt-serien/|title=Så blev Magnus mördaren Ulf Olsson i nya SVT-serien|newspaper=Expressen|date=15 November 2020 |access-date=15 December 2020}} This was broadcast on the BBC in 2021.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09lx0dh | title=BBC Four - the Hunt for a Killer }}
References
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsson, Ulf}}
Category:People convicted of murder by Sweden
Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Sweden
Category:Prisoners who died in Swedish detention
Category:Suicides by hanging in Sweden
Category:Swedish murderers of children
Category:Swedish people convicted of murder
Category:Swedish prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment