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The Assassination Of Olaf Palme (Swedish Prime Minister) [1986]

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Anonymous

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I'm very interested in conspiracy theories regarding the murder of Swedish prime minister Olov Palme in 1986.
To this day more then 30 books have been written on the subject in Swedish, but as far as I know only three in english:
EIR Special Reports "A classical KGB disinformation campaign" and "George Bush and the 12333 serial murder ring".
Ruth Freeman "The Death of a Statesman".
EIR means Executive Intelligence Review and is part of the LaRouche-network (they where blamed for the murder early on, and published these books to defend them selves). In them KGB respectively George Bush Sr. are singled out as behind the murder.
Ruth Freeman is a pseudonym and the book is written in fictional form. Iraq is blamed for the murder.
Now, I wonder if anyone knows of more books in english which in some way treat the murder?
 
I.e. Olof Palme.

The name is of course Olof Palme.
/Jonas
 
I'd be interested too finding out anything about Olof Palme's murder, I think a lot of people would be!

But the LaRouche people have a nasty habit of blaming everything on George Bush sr, he's an easy target. Personally, I distrust anything by the LaRouche crowd as much as I distrust anything by Bush sr or jr for that matter.

You won't find the truth with any of these people.
 
Palme conspiracy theories

Of course I don't know who killed Palme, I don't even have a personal favorite suspect (I also don't think that the murder will be solved, in the meaning that one version of what happened will be commonly accepted).
But, I keep a web page with all the people, organizations and countries who are blamed for the murder. It's at http://www.math.uu.se/~jonase/palme.html. It's in Swedish but if you recognize a name and want to know why it's included send me an e-mail.

About the LaRoucheians: I think they are a interesting example of a group who has a relatively consistent world view, backed up by quite a lot of, at least, "factoids", but their view has almost no intersection with the generally accepted way of understanding the world. For me a very fascinating situation.
/Jonas
 
I had a look at your website - I do understand a bit of German, and recognise a bit of it, but I am trying to find a translation site that can handle Swedish. About Palme - a little while back I saw bits of a BBC doco about the Palme murder, they raised lots of speculation, but did not come to any conclusion, but in general doubted that the Swedish police showed any real interest in pursuing the killer(s).

As for LaRoucians - I agree they have "factoids" and certainly a "unique" perspective - but it all smacks too much of a personality cult. I've read a few of their publications, and it's always full the LaRouches', no real discussion there, and I distrust any personality cult.

Pity that there's not more on the web about Palme.
 
That several people in the Swedish police did serious mistakes in the early part of the murder investigation is a commonly accepted fact. An official commission explained this with the extra stress the police men where put under, due to the uniqueness of the case, but, of course, all people are not so kind...

Regarding the LaRoucian democrats, I agree. They seem much more like a 'guru'-cult than a serious political party.
I think this is a subject which would be very interesting to look into, political parties turning religious cults. I think I remember reading somewhere that the leader of the (marxist) terrorist movement 'Sendero Luminoso' in Peru, was, in the later stages of the groups development, claimed by his followers to be able to heal people by laying his hands on them.

Some links to english home pages about the Palme murder:
http://www.contrast.org/truth/html/olof_palme.html
http://www.leopoldreport.com/
http://www.willamette.edu/~sgingell/content/inquisition.htm
http://pages.prodigy.net/benede/index.html
 
Broccoli-mobile

noworries said:
But the LaRouche people have a nasty habit of blaming everything on George Bush sr, he's an easy target. Personally, I distrust anything by the LaRouche crowd as much as I distrust anything by Bush sr or jr for that matter.
Click to expand...


The Washington suburb where my family lives happens to be in the same Congressional district as LaRouche's compound (which was rumored to be heavily armored), so in non-Presidential election years, he'd run for our district seat. Before the 1990 election, I was at my after-school job one Saturday when the Broccoli-mobile drove around the strip mall. It was some big ole American gas guzzler, decorated with LaRouche campaign materials and a big head of broccoli on top. The driver was speaking through a loudspeaker, esentially their platform was that George Bush was a bad President because he wouldn't eat broccoli, so that's why people should vote for LaRouche for Congress. Oh yeah, now that's a convincing argument and a good campaign strategy, targeting those key militant broccoli lover voters.

A couple weeks later, I was out doing some campaign literature distribution for another candidate with some friends as a requirement of our high school government class, when we bumped into someone doing the same for LaRouche. We chatted with him for a bit, and it was quite interesting. He was almost the stereotype of a crazy old redneck-type with whacked out ideas - half a mouth of teeth, beat up big boat of a car, could almost imagine him standing on the porch of his house waving a shotgun at trespassers. I said that I'd always been interested in alternative parties (it's amazing how few Americans realize that there are parties other than the two biggies. Last year, it took Johnny Rotten to point it out on tv for us.) and there was something that I'd always wondered about LaRouche. The guy immediately said, you mean why he was in jail? Really struck me as amusingly defensive on that subject, but I said no, just why does everyone hate him so much? (I'd been too young to notice politics much when he was in the news in the 80's.) He said, well, you see it's a people's party.... He gave us some of his literature, which was definitely interesting and quite wacky. Haven't heard much about him since I moved away from the area, though.
 
New lead in Palme inquiry


A revolver that Swedish police believe may have been used in the unsolved killing of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986 has been recovered. A Smith and Wesson revolver - was found in a lake in central Sweden and handed over to police.

Palme was shot on 28 February 1986 on his way home from a Stockholm cinema. The only man tried for the murder, a petty criminal and drug addict Christer Pettersson, was acquitted on appeal for lack of evidence. He died in 2004.

The recovered revolver was used in a 1983 post robbery in Mockfjard, a town near the lake where it was found, said Stig Edqvist, a member of the Palme investigation team.

Police tests had previously showed that the chemical properties of the rounds used in the Mockfjard raid matched those of the bullets found at the scene of Palme's murder.

"We have found a weapon we have long been looking for," he told reporters.

He said its serial number matched that of the one dubbed the "Mockfjard weapon".

But he added that "we don't know if it is possible to confirm or reject" that this was the weapon used on Palme.

The Swedish news agency TT reported that the weapon was damaged, and that, according to a forensics expert, the key question for the investigation was whether it could still be used.

The revolver was found by divers who acted on an anonymous tip-off to Sweden's tabloid Expressen.

Police had previously conducted seven unsuccessful dives in the lake to try to find the revolver.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6168964.stm
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Who Killed The Prime Minister?
The Unsolved Murder That Still Haunts Sweden

Three decades ago, Olof Palme was assassinated on Stockholm’s busiest street. The killer has never been found. Could the discovery of new evidence finally close the case?

By Imogen West-Knights

Thus 16 May 2019 06.00 BST [Last modified on Mon 27 May 2019 12.00 BST]

On the last night of February 1986, the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme and his wife, Lisbet, were strolling home through downtown Stockholm. They had taken an impromptu trip to the cinema and decided, as they often did, not to bring bodyguards. Palme made a point of living as much as possible like an ordinary person; he did not want the fact that he was running the country to come between him and his countrymen. “You saw him in the streets all the time,” says the Swedish ethnologist Jonas Engman. “You could speak to him. There was an intimacy to it.”

At 11.21pm, as the couple walked down Sveavägen, one of Stockholm’s busiest streets, a tall man in a dark coat walked up behind them. The man put one hand on Palme’s shoulder, and with his other hand fired a single round from a gun into the prime minister’s back. He grazed Lisbet with a second bullet before fleeing up a flight of 89 steps that links the main street with a parallel road above.

It was a Friday, and Sveavägen was packed with people ambling between bars and restaurants. Bystanders rushed to try to revive Palme, who now lay on the pavement in an expanding pool of blood. Six minutes later, he was taken to the nearest hospital, where, shortly after midnight, he was officially declared dead. It was later determined that the bullet had severed his spinal cord and that he had died before hitting the ground.

Continued at some length:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...n-prime-minister-unsolved-murder-new-evidence
 
I am in a very unique place to comment on this. As part of my previous job, I spent 3 years researching the evening of February 28th 1986, the night he was killed.

I had access to the autopsy reports, ballistic reports, masses of witness statements, police notes and photographs and also, being a Fortean, an interest in the conspiracy side of it. I gathered information from as many sources as possible. The whole point was just to see if I could unearth any evidence of a conspiracy.

I cross referenced all the statements I could find and using basic logic I was able to piece together a very accurate reconstruction of that evening. I took away all the sensation and speculation to work out who was where and when.

I eventually found some good evidence pointing to a local plot aginst him which I will not go into here. However, the main outcome was that I discovered something else which seems to be completely ignored. I have since discovered that amongst those who have read everything, this is common knowledge. Yet it is still not publicly known.

This is of the most significance to anybody interested in this case. Every single newspaper and press report regarding that evening made, and continue to make, a huge mistake regarding the sequence of events (including the Guardian article above).

All reports say that the first shot killed Palme and the second one, aimed at his wife Lisbeth, missed and grazed her back. This is wrong. No-one fired at Lisbeth. Palme was killed by the second shot.

1. The attacker was behind and to the left of Palme. The attacker, from behind, placed his right hand on Palmes right shoulder. He sort of had his arm around him as they chatted and walked a few metres (according to many witnesses). Lisbeth seemed irritated or impatient with the coversation and walked a few paces in front.
2. The first bullet was discharged by accident/mistake. The attacker was holding/producing the weapon (a short or long barrelled Smith & Wesson .357 magnum) with his left hand and was pointing it to the right, towards the left hand side of Palme. The bullet passed in FRONT of Palme, only going thorugh his tie, but it continued onwards where it passed behind his wife where it grazed her back, causing a friction burn. It continued on and hit a small tree, snapping off a small twig/branch before coming to a rest on the other side of the street outside a travel agents. This bullet was retrieved 2 days later by a member of the public.
3. The noise of the discharge attracted a great deal of attention. The attacker then released Palme and took a step backwards. Holding the gun with both hands at arms reach, he discharged one more shot at more of less point blank range, into the middle of Palme's upper back.
4. Several witnesses had heard or saw the flash of the first shot. They looked over and saw all 3 of them standing together for a few seconds. They saw how the attacker then stepped back and discharged a second shot. Palme then fell from the second shot. The bullet severed his spinal cord and spun inside his body, exiting sideways (as in longest side first) through his chest and through his tie. This bullet was also found by a member of the public 3 days after the murder (despite the ground there being thoroughly searched 2 times).
4. He was dead before he hit the ground. Lisbeth bent over to help him and it was first now that she felt the sting of the graze on her back.

So here's the rub. Lisbeth said to the Police that after the first shot, she turned to see her husband clutching his chest and with blood running from his mouth. He then fell over and she bent down to help him. The attacker then aimed at her and fired a shot which grazed her back, before running away. This is impossible. She may, in the shock of it all, have confused the shots. She may have heard the first, turned to look at him and then witnessed the bullet exiting his chest. She may have confabulated the order of the shots.

We know from the witness statements that Palme was still on his feet after the first shot. All witnesses saw the gunman aim and fire the second shot into his back. And we know that the shot that killed him severed his spine, instantly cutting off all electrical impulses from his brain to his leg muscles. He dropped like a stone once he was shot. His tie also shows 2 separate bullet holes yet the shot that killed him remained in tact and did not fragment when it passed through his body.

The ballistic reports, ALL witness statements and injuries sustained do not match the "reported" series of events. He was not shot with the first shot. He was shot with the second. For some reason, and it could be lazy journalism or something more dramatic, but nobody reporting on this case has bothered to read the witness statements or even tried to research it. Every article is just a rehash of the reports which came immediately after the deed.

So what does this mean. Well, to cut a long story short, Lisbeth was never a target and the accidental discharge hardly points towards a professional hitman.

EDIT: Despite being intimate with the case, I had incorrectly spelled Lisbeth's name several times.
 
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Ringo said:
I am in a very unique place to comment on this. As part of my previous job, I spent 3 years researching the evening of February 28th 1986, the night he was killed.

I had access to the autopsy reports, ballistic reports, masses of witness statements, police notes and photographs and also, being a Fortean, an interest in the conspiracy side of it. I gathered information from as many sources as possible. The whole point was just to see if I could unearth any evidence of a conspiracy.

I cross referenced all the statements I could find and using basic logic I was able to piece together a very accurate reconstruction of that evening. I took away all the sensation and speculation to work out who was where and when.

I eventually found some good evidence pointing to a local plot aginst him which I will not go into here. However, the main outcome was that I discovered something else which seems to be completely ignored. I have since discovered that amongst thse who have read everything, this is common knowledge. Yet it is still not publically known.

This is of the most significance to anybody interested in this case. Every single newspaper and press report regarding that evening made, and continue to make, a huge mistake regarding the sequence of events (including the Guardian article above).

All reports say that the first shot killed Palme and the second one, aimed at his wife Elisabet, missed and grazed her back. This is wrong. No-one fired at Elisabet. Palme was killed by the second shot.

1. The attacker was behind and to the left of Palme. The attacker, from behind, placed his right hand on Palmes right shoulder. He sort of had his arm around him as they chatted and walked a few metres (according to many witnesses). Elisabet seemed irritated or impatient with the coversation and walked a few paces in front.
2. The first bullet was discharged by accident/mistake. The attacker was holding/producing the weapon (a short or long barrelled Smith & Wesson .357 magnum) with his left hand and was pointing it to the right, towards the left hand side of Palme. The bullet passed in FRONT of Palme, only going thorugh his tie, but it continued onwards where it passed behind his wife where it grazed her back, causing a friction burn. It continued on and hit a small tree, snapping off a small twig/branch before coming to a rest on the other side of the street outside a travel agents. This bulllet was retrieved 2 days later by a member of the public.
3. The noise of the discharge attracted a great deal of attention. The attacker then released Palme and took a step backwards. Holding the gun with both hands at arms reach, he discharged one more shot at more of less point blank range, into the middle of Palme's upper back.
4. Several witnesses had heard or saw the flash of the first shot. They looked over and saw all 3 of them standing together for a few seconds. They saw how the attacker then stepped back and discharged a second shot. Palme then fell from the second shot. The bullet severed his spinal cord and spun inside his body, exiting sideways (as in longest side first) through his chest and through his tie. This bullet was also found by a member of the public 3 days after the murder (despite the ground there being thoroughly searched 2 times).
4. He was dead before he hit the ground. Elisabet bent over to help him and it was first now that she felt the sting of the graze on her back.

So here's the rub. Elisabet said to the Police that after the first shot, she turned to see her husband clutching his chest and with blood running from his mouth. He then fell over and she bent down to help him. The attacker then aimed at her and fired a shot which grazed her back, before running away. This is impossible. She may, in the shock of it all, confused the shots. She may have heard the first, turned ot look at him and then witnessed the bullet exiting his chest. She may have confabulated the order of the shots.

We know from the witness statements that Palme was still on his feet after the first shot. All witnesses aw the gunman aim and fire the second shot into his back. And we know that the shot that killed him severed his spine, instantly cutting off all electrical impulses from his brain to his leg muscles. He dropped like a stone once he was shot. His tie also shows 2 separate bullet holes yet the shot that killed him remained in tact and did not fragment when it passed through his body.

The ballistic reports, ALL witness statements and injuries sustained to do match the "reported" series of events. He was not shot with the first shot. He was shot with the second. For some reason, and it could be lazy journalism or something more dramatic, but nobody reporting on this case has bothered to read the witness statements or even tried to research it. Every article is just a rehash of the reports which came immediately after the deed.

So what does this mean. Well, to cut a long story short, Elisabet was never a target and the accidental discharge hardly points towards a professional hitman.
Click to expand...
Since the first shot was fired by mistake, was the murderer just trying to rob them first?
 
Excellent work, Ringo.
What are your conclusions, after you say that he wasn't a professional hitman?
Politically-motivated murder by a nutter or a botched robbery attempt?
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christer_Pettersson
How true this is, we'll never know, as Pettersson is now dead:
According to a documentary aired on the Swedish television channel SVT in February 2006, associates of Pettersson claimed that he had confessed to them his role in Olof Palme's murder, but with the explanation that it was a case of mistaken identity. Apparently, Pettersson had intended to kill a drug dealer, dressed in similar clothing, who often walked along the same street at night.
Click to expand...
 
Vardoger said:
Since the first shot was fired by mistake, was the murderer just trying to rob them first?
Click to expand...
I don't think so, for various reasons too complicated to get into here. I think the intention was "murder by opportunity" but the first discharge was accidental. The murderer was waiting at the corner long before the couple arrived however the couple hadn't planned on taking that route. They should have travelled by the subway station more or less right outside the cinema they had visited. But Lisbeth wanted to show Olof a dress on display in a shop window so they decided on the spur of the moment to walk down the street, passed the shop window and to the next subway station along.

Mythopoeika said:
Excellent work, Ringo.
What are your conclusions, after you say that he wasn't a professional hitman?
Politically-motivated murder by a nutter or a botched robbery attempt?
Click to expand...
I would probably go with politically motivated murder, by a gun enthusiast, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Possibly motivated/co-erced into action by agents unknown. The Palmes were without protection that night and contrary to local legend, many people actually knew of their plans that evening.

Mythopoeika said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christer_Pettersson
How true this is, we'll never know, as Pettersson is now dead:
Click to expand...
Over 150 people have confessed to Palme's murder. At least 149 are lying. Pettersson was "grassed up" by a local drug dealer in exchange for less police pressure. There was never any link to Pettersson - no evidence, no motive, no nothing. He was placed in a video line up with 12 fresh faced policeman and Lisbeth was told thatthe suspect was an alcoholic. It was quite easy to spot him.

After the murder, the suspect ran full-speed up a huge flight of steps, that would leave even a fit person out of breath. Petterson was a heavy smoking alcoholic.
 
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Ringo said:
After the murder, the suspect ran full-speed up a huge flight of steps, that would leave even a fit person out of breath. Patterson was a heavy smoking alcoholic.
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Hmmm. That does rather suggest someone with certain 'abilities' that would be useful to a professional hitman. Maybe it was a professional who cocked it up a bit (but still got away with it)?
 
No killer has ever been found, even though the assassination took place on Sweden's busiest road, and more than a dozen witnesses saw the tall man fire the shots before fleeing the scene.

Now, more than 34 years later, Sweden's Prosecutor's Office has announced it will present the conclusions of its criminal investigation in a press conference scheduled for Wednesday morning.

"I am optimistic about being able to present what happened with the murder and who is responsible for it," Chief Prosecutor Krister Petersson told Swedish public television in February.

(Article also features the theory of our own Dr. Jan Bondeson)

Dr Bondeson, meanwhile, believes the murder was linked to arms deals with India. Swedish arms company Bofors had a deal to supply India with artillery in the 1980s and 1990s, but it was later revealed the company had bribed several middlemen in India for the contract - a scandal that implicated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

"It may well be that Palme found out that the Bofors company was corrupt the very day of the murder," he said. "That gives the middlemen behind the Bofors deal a strong reason to murder him. But that's something the police have always ignored."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52909643
 
According to reports, the actual murder weapon has now been found and matched to the bullets!

The weapon was found in a private gun collection which belonged to a now deceased person. That person however was friends with one of the witnesses, The Skandia Man. Suggestions are that he is now the main suspect who may be charged.

(EDIT: I realised that the below information is incorrect as I have mixed up The Skandia Man with another witness. I'll leave this all here so the thread makes sense but FYI - The Skandia Man was NOT out drinking with friends. That was someone else.)

I'm not sure about The Skandia Man. The story is that he was out with friends having drinks. The group were all drunk. They stopped as a group to take out cash from a cash machine at the Skandia Bank (hence his nickname). The machine was in a lobby which was open all hours. The man didn't want to continue with the group and wanted to go home so when they all left, they all turned right to continue up the street but he turned left and headed toward the nearest subway station. This put him 5 metres behind Palme and his wife although he stated that he didn't know at the time who it was.

According to his statment, The Skandia Man saw the murderer approach the couple and saw the first shot. He was shocked and scared and hid in a doorway to stay out of danger. He heard the second shot and then saw the man run away. He approached the couple and only then realised that it was Palme and his wife. Lisbeth, shocked and confused, looked up and saw him standing there. Her description of the attacker matches The Skandia Man.

So problems:

1. If he was out with friends, drinking, why was he carrying a .357 magnum with him? His story must have been checked back in the day so we know that he was out with a group. Was he just casually carrying a large, heavy revolver?
2. How did he get to be in the right place at the right time especially when out socialising? If it was planned, then he must have made the whole group do what he wanted in order to be in the right place. However, Palmes movements that evening were spontaneous and even walking in that direction on that street was a spur of the moment decision so nobody knew where the right place was.
3. Multiple witnesses saw the murderer run away however The Skandia Man stood staring while people tried to help Palme.
4. Just because the gun matches the bullets doesn't mean the bullets have anything to do with the crime. The bullets are a point of contention. The "kill" bullet was found by Police just a few yards from where Palme fell but it happened strangely. They had already searched that area twice (with a fine toothed comb) before it magically just sitting on the ground on the 3rd search. The other bullet (the one that injured Lisbeth) was found by a member of the public 3 days later on the other side of the street despite the street having previously being searched. The theory being that these bullets were planted to help confuse the issue.

Just to give you an idea of how badly this whole thing was managed, both bullets were sent off for ballistic analysis in the US but in orer to make things easier, the Swedish Police had washed them with hot water and washing-up liquid first, eliminating all traces of blood and DNA before any forensic testing could be done.

They hope to present all the information soon.

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/uppgifter-palmevapnet-ar-hittat
 
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Ringo said:
The weapon was found in a private gun collection which belonged to a now deceased person. That person however was friends with one of the witnesses, The Skandia Man. Suggestions are that he is now the main suspect who may be charged
Click to expand...
Unlikely since according to the BBC article posted by @Tribble he killed himself in 2000! Does he really match the description? If that is him in the photo under Pettersson, it doesn't look very easy to confuse the two. Jan Bondeson describes him as "short and insignificant" (a very Bondesonian description).
 
Min Bannister said:
Unlikely since according to the BBC article posted by @Tribble he killed himself in 2000! Does he really match the description? If that is him in the photo under Pettersson, it doesn't look very easy to confuse the two. Jan Bondeson describes him as "short and insignificant" (a very Bondesonian description).
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Yes, it would be quite a spectacle to wheel in his corpse. But I meant posthumously charged.

My money is still elsewhere.
 
If he's already dead, that just makes it more convenient I should think. Case closed, nothing to see here.
 
Could Palme have been under surveillance by whoever wanted him dead? That might explain why the murderer happened to be in the right place at the same time.
 
Ringo said:
Just to give you an idea of how badly this whole thing was managed, both bullets were sent off for ballistic analysis in the US but in orer to make things easier, the Swedish Police had washed them with hot water and washing-up liquid first, eliminating all traces of blood and DNA before any forensic testing could be done.
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What? Were they deliberately destroying evidence?
 
I've just realised that I'm made an error in conflating 2 different suspects. I'll add an edit to my my previous post.

The Skandia Man is NOT the man who was withdrawing cash from a cash machine. The Skandia Man was an employee of the Skandia Insurance company (same building though). He had clocked out of work minutes before the shooting and then returned later to tell the security guards on duty about what had happened.

When questioned by the police about what he witnessed, he seemed to big up his own involvement and even suggested that he had tried to help the stricken Pm by moving his body into the recovery position. But he changed his story so many times and seemed so fuzzy on the details, that the Police thought he was just seeking attention.

None of the other witnesses recalled seeing him there and he certainly didn't help move the body.

pandacracker said:
Could Palme have been under surveillance by whoever wanted him dead? That might explain why the murderer happened to be in the right place at the same time.
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Possibly but unlikely. It was his wife who decided that they should go to the cinema that evening. They went without security (which was normal for him - he was "one of the people"). After the movie, they should have taken the subway home from the closest station (the one they had arrived at previously that evening) but Lisbeth wanted to look at a dress in a shop window a little further down the street and so she made Palme walk in that direction. They planned on taking the subway from the next station. It was outside this next station that he was shot.

Witnesses said that the murderer was waiting at the corner so he was "ahead" of the couple so to speak. I suppose if we want to talk conspiracy then one spotter outside of the cineama and numerous assassins at various possible routes could get the job done.

The cinema (Grand), the nearest subway station (Rådmansgatan), the shop with the dress, the murder scene and the next subway station (Hötorget )are all on one long, straight street. So the couple moved in a Southern direction from Point A (The cinema) walking down the street on the West/Left side of the street. They passed over to the East/Right side to look at the dress before continuing South passed the Skandia building and then to Point B (the murder scene outside the entrance to Hötorget subway station).

Mythopoeika said:
What? Were they deliberately destroying evidence?
Click to expand...

No, just being stupid. They thought that cleaning them would help the FBI get a better analysis.The staggering incompetence around this case is what has made it into a mystery. I could go on for a very long time about all of the mistakes, assumptions and excuses made but it basically comes down to a naive society being unprepared for a political assassination. The Police lacked the experience and infrastructure hence sending the bullets to the US for processing.

UPDATE: There is to abe a press conference on Wednesday morning at 09.30 (08.30 UK time) to presumably report on the weapon and the announce who did it. Everything is pointing to the Skandia Man but I just don't see how unless he was just carrying a weapon around after work, took the opportunity and then asked a friend to look after the murder weapon? Also, the murderer ran away up a huge flight of stairs taking him further away from his work. Why do back and talk to the security guards?

Bondeson hints at an Indian connection too but assassinating the PM because he found out about backhanders and corruption seems a little OTT. Especially when his reaction to the supposedly hearing the news that very day was not to call an emergency meeting but to go to the cinema. Theories involving South Africa, the CIA, the PPK, Indian and even the Police themselves have been bandied about for years. I guess we'll just have see what they have to say tomorrow.

My money is still on VG.
 
A few questions...

- What motive would there have been for a conspiratorial assassination? Why did 'Palme have to go'?
- The arm around Palme and Lisbeth's irritation, would this imply it was someone he knew? Or would her irritation just be at another Swedish citizen interrupting their neighbourhood stroll?
- The 86 steps... Jesus, some escape route. The Swedes are pretty athletic and fit people I suppose, but equally that would have to leave you very sure of your ability to outspent any would be pursuer up those steps. A getaway car waiting for a hyper-fit killer, or just a panicked choice of escape route and luck that nobody hotfooted it after the killer?
 
Ringo said:
...The staggering incompetence around this case is what has made it into a mystery. I could go on for a very long time about all of the mistakes, assumptions and excuses made but it basically comes down to a naive society being unprepared for a political assassination. The Police lacked the experience and infrastructure hence sending the bullets to the US for processing...
Click to expand...

Having read Hannes Råstam's, Thomas Quick - The Making of a Serial Killer, I've often wondered if it was similar factors that marred the investigations into Sture Bergwall/Thomas Quick. With all due respect to the Swedes here, and to Sweden - a country I very much like - there seems to have been a period in the not so long ago history of policing that appears more in the way of Inspector Clouseau than Saga Norén. But then, all countries have had their incompetent coppers and buggered up investigations - I'm sure it's very different now.

(The tragedy of the Bergwall/Quick case is that many of those actually responsible for the crimes involved will now, in all likelihood, never be brought to justice.)
 
Tribble said:
Stig Engström, also known as 'the Skandia man', is suspected of having killed Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. But because he is dead, the 34-year-old investigation will now be closed.

https://www.thelocal.se/20200610/br...cision-on-murder-of-prime-minister-olof-palme
Click to expand...
I'm watching the press conference live. It's basically "We're closing down the investigation and this guy (The Skandia Man) was probably responsible.

They have said that he's the one that stands out as not fitting in with the known series of events. He gave the police information which could only come from the vicinity of the murder scene yet none of the witnesses remember seeing him there (as he claims to have been). According to the lead investigator, they have enough that would allow for him to be brought in for questioning but they have:

No clear motive for the deed
He owned no weapon and the Police have not been able to link him to one either.
They don't know if he had a weapon with him that night. (The murder weapon has not been found despite testing 788 revolvers.)
Skandia Man was wearing a cap. Only 1 witness said the murderer wore a cap. All others (up to 20 or so) described a knitted wooly hat.

The one thing that points to him is that:

He described to Police a person (wearing a blue jacket) whom he saw near to the murder scene and tried to draw attention to Blue Jacket man as a possible suspect. He claimed that Lisbeth had also mentioned to him at the murder scenen a man wearing a blue jacket. She did no such thing.

Blue Jacket man could only have been seen and noticed from a very specific angle - namely at the murder scene yet no-one saw the Skandia Man there. So how could he have described the man and where he was standing?

The man in the blue jacket claims to have heard the shots and then hidden behind a portacabin. He heard the murderer run past and run up the starirs. He peeped out to look. The murderer, having climbed the stairs now looked back down and saw Blue Jacket man peeking out. The Police suggest that the Skandia Man saw the blue jacket man and as it wasn't from being amongst the helpers then it must have been from the top of the stairs - ipso facto he is the murderer.
 
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