The arrest was made possible by a new law on DNA-based genealogy in murder investigations that came into effect last year. According to senior prosecutor Hanna Flordal, the man's DNA matched DNA from a trace secured at the crime scene, strengthening suspicions. Tor Öberg and Gerd Wiklund were murdered on a farm in Brattås outside central Härnösand in May 2005.
Police secured DNA traces from an unknown person at the crime scene. Both victims were found brutally beaten to death, apparently with an axe, inside the barn. Barbro Öberg discovered the murders when she came to the farm two days later, on June 2, 2005.
The motive for the murders remains unknown, according to multiple reports. The man has been requested to be detained, with the detention hearing scheduled for Friday in Ångermanland District Court. Defense attorney Johan Lavås stated that the man denies the crimes.
In related developments, two people were arrested on Friday in Kumla suspected of murder, a man in his 40s and a woman in her 30s, but they have now been released. Prosecutor Martin Drugge explained that the suspicions against them have weakened so much that there was no longer any reason to keep them detained. Artist Moto Boy, whose real name is Oskar Humlebo, was wrongly identified on social media as the suspect in the Brattås murders, according to multiple reports.
m. on Wednesday, according to multiple reports. The incident is being investigated as aggravated assault, and police are searching for a perpetrator, though there is currently no one arrested or suspected.
The preliminary investigation into breach of confidentiality, where three Tax Agency managers were served suspicion, has been closed, according to multiple reports. Similarly, the preliminary investigation into suspected poisonings at Akademiska Hospital in Uppsala has been closed, according to multiple reports. In traffic-related news, a girl of middle school age was hit by a car outside Kristianstad, near Tollarp, according to multiple reports.
Two police officers were taken by ambulance to hospital after an accident at sea during training with the maritime police off Dragsö in Karlskrona, according to multiple reports. In Örebro, a 17-year-old girl has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing a 16-year-old boy to death on Friday night, according to research from three sources. A Norwegian citizen was found dead in the detention center in Uddevalla on Sunday, charged last week with murdering a close female relative outside Strömstad in January, according to research from three sources.