Casefile True Crime - Case 244: Engla Höglund & Pernilla Hellgren

Episode Date: April 22, 2023

*** Warning: This case involves a child victim *** On April 5 2008, 10-year-old Engla Höglund went missing while cycling home from soccer practice near the small Swedish town of Stjärnsund. As news spread, a witness came forward who had captured Engla in a photograph just moments before she disappeared. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Holly Boyd Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon This episode's sponsors: Zocdoc –  Find a doctor near you For all credits and sources, please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-244-engla-hoglund-pernilla-hellgren

Thank you. Crisis Centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. This episode was originally released on Casefile's Patreon, Apple Premium and Spotify Premium feeds as an early bonus for our paid subscribers. These episodes are designed to be slightly shorter, allowing us to cover a broader range of cases. designed to be slightly shorter, allowing us to cover a broader range of cases. To receive these episodes early and ad-free, you can support Casefile on your preferred platform. Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all listeners. On the morning of Saturday April 5 2008, married couple Tuomas and Katarina Lungton left their home in the Swedish city of Stockholm to begin a long journey northwest through the countryside. One hundred and ninety kilometres later they reached their destination, the small inland

village of Skärerensund. The Lungtons were visiting their friends, the Tulbys, who lived nearby on the edge of Lake Gricken. Toulmas had brought his brand new digital camera with him and he spent the day testing it out by documenting the group's activities. After a barbecue lunch, they took a stroll into town. activities. After a barbecue lunch, they took a stroll into town. As they wandered down the rural forested roads towards Sherensund, Tormas snapped candid photos of their journey, capturing the trees, birds and people they passed along the way. It was about 2.15pm when the group emerged from the forest and onto a main country road. There, Tumas spotted a young girl riding a white hybrid-style bicycle towards them.

She was wearing black sports shoes, black tracksuit pants and an olive green winter coat zipped up to her chin. zipped up to her chin. Her long brown hair was pulled back by a headband and her brown eyes looked out from behind a pair of burgundy-rimmed glasses, focused on the road ahead. Eager to test out the sports feature of his new camera, Toulmas dashed across to the other side of the road and took a series of photos of the young cyclist as she pedalled past. the road and took a series of photos of the young cyclist as she pedalled past. When Tuomas rejoined his group, his friend Ulla Torbi asked, wasn't that Carina's daughter, Engla? Ulla's husband turned around just as the girl was preparing to turn right onto a gravel track that led into the forest. onto a gravel track that led into the forest.

Sjörensund had barely 100 residents, making it easy to recognise 10-year-old Engla Herglund. It was clear she was heading home, as her family's cottage was nestled in the forest, just over 500 metres away. The End Earlier that day, Angela Herglund had ridden her bike into Scherensund to attend soccer practice. Before she left, she made a promise to her mother, Carina. Angela could ride home by herself as long as she called to check in with Karina along the way. Shortly before 2pm, Engler phoned her mother on a mobile phone to let her know that soccer practice had finished and she was heading home. The ride home was roughly 4km, which would take

Engler about 15 minutes to complete. At 2.09, Engler rang her mother again, dutifully reporting that her trip was going well and that she would be home very soon. As the minutes ticked by, Engler hadn't yet returned and Karina's phone remained silent. Engler's journey would have taken her down the main road and onto a 400 metre long gravel track through the forest From there, it was just 200 metres to the Herglands cottage Yet 2.30pm hit and Engla was nowhere to be seen Karina called her daughter's mobile to check what was holding her up There was no answer She tried several more times to no result

Worried, Karina left home to walk the route Angler would have ridden from soccer practice She made it all the way into town, having found no sign of Angler along the way. It wasn't until Karina made her way back home that she made a significant discovery. As she approached the turn in the forest 200 metres from her family's cottage, Karina spotted a white bicycle abandoned a short distance away amongst the trees. It was Angler's. Carina immediately phoned the country police, who wasted no time in organising a search party to scour the forest for Angler, complete with tracking dogs and a helicopter. The small local community also rallied together to help search the expansive countryside. That evening, when local couple Peter and Ula Torby heard about

Engla's disappearance, they realised they were the last people to have seen the 10-year-old before she rode into the forest and vanished. Their friend who was with them that afternoon, Tuomas Langton, looked back through the photos he had taken as the group walked into town. He had happened to capture Angla mid-ride right before she entered the forest. Less than a minute later, Tuomas had snapped another photo that captured a compact red vehicle driving along the road a short distance away. It was a late 90s Saab 9-3. Toulmas wasn't the only one who had noticed the red Saab. Local woman, Aunt Sophie Lexian, had been driving about two kilometres outside of town when she passed Angla

on her bike. Shortly after, Aunt Sophie spotted a man standing on the side of the road, leaning against a parked red Saab. He was facing oncoming traffic and smoking a cigarette. Aunt Sophie recognised the man, but she couldn't recall exactly who he was or why he looked familiar Driving onwards, Aunt Sophie then passed the Lungtons and Torbys on their walk into Sherensund Police showed Aunt Sophie the photographs taken by Thomas Lungton Sophie the photographs taken by Thomas Langton. She confirmed the red car travelling behind Engler was the same vehicle she'd seen the man leaning against. While she couldn't recognise him at the time, Aunt Sophie now realised she knew exactly who it was. He was a truck driver whom she'd met at the service station where she worked.

His name was Anders Eklund. Records showed that Eklund owned a red Saab 9-3, but that wasn't all. Case File will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. 42-year-old Anders Eklund was born and raised in a small town 20 kilometres from Scherensund. For the most part, he led an unremarkable life. That was until the age of 30, when Eklund was convicted for the attempted rape of a young woman.

He served 22 months in prison and upon his release, he assaulted a 16-year-old girl. Eklund was sent back to prison, but he was released again within six months. He then attempted to rape another 16-year-old girl as she slept in her bed. For this, he was convicted of sexual coercion and sentenced to four months prison. As reported by the publication Often Blooded, Eklund was evaluated as being low risk for repeat offences and was released back into the public. In 2000, he was fined for sexual harassment after exposing himself to a woman. Four years later, he was found in a girls' locker room. Engler Herglund had been missing for almost 30 hours by the time police finally caught up with Anders Eklund.

His truck was spotted at a rest stop in southern Sweden, nearly 600 kilometres from Scherensund, not far from the border of Denmark. Police converged on the vehicle and found Eklund, who they promptly placed under arrest for suspicion of kidnapping. Engler was not with him. At the same time, police searched Eklund's studio apartment in his hometown. Beer bottles and clothing were strewn about the messy and cluttered space. Pornographic magazines were scattered across the floor and piled in a wardrobe. He was in possession of 17 films depicting illegal sex acts with animals and also had a collection of used women's underwear. But Engler Herglund was nowhere to be seen.

Analysis of Erklund's laptop revealed that he participated in online chat rooms that were accessible to users as young as 15. According to Uftenbladet, online, Erklund claimed to be a 37-year-old, quote, dark blonde, powerfully built truck driver. In reality, he was a bespectacled and overweight man with grey balding hair. 56 illicit images of children were also found saved to his hard drive. found saved to his hard drive. Carina Herglund woke on the third day of her daughter's disappearance to snow-covered ground. An arrest had been made, but the cold snap in the weather meant that if Angela was out in the elements, her chances of survival were low. Search efforts were consequently scaled down as police honed in

on Anders Eklund. Eklund denied having anything to do with Engla Herglund's disappearance and claimed to be shocked by the arrest. Police were able to obtain a sample of Eklund's DNA and, to their surprise, it led to an unexpected discovery. Eight years earlier in the summer of 2000, florist Pernilla Helgren packed her bags and left her home in Stockholm to begin a long journey through the Swedish countryside. The 31-year-old was headed to the inland town of Forlán to visit her mother for her 50th birthday. A party was held on the night of Saturday June 3, after which Pernilla and her sister left their mother's apartment and headed into town together. They visited two popular restaurants before getting swept up in the revelry of an annual street festival.

restaurants before getting swept up in the revelry of an annual street festival. It carried on into the early hours, and by 2am on Sunday June 4, Pernilla had had enough. Wanting to go to bed, she parted ways with her sister and walked off alone in the direction of her mother's apartment, which was a few kilometres away. Shortly after, teenager Linda Sherstrom was cycling home along a bike path about two kilometres south of Forlandstown Centre. As she approached a small bridge, she heard grunting and groaning coming from a nearby cluster of trees. Linda looked in the direction of the sound and saw a heavyset man sitting cross-legged on top of a slender woman. The woman's short blonde hair appeared to be stained with blood and it looked like the man had his hands wrapped around her throat.

Linda rushed home and immediately phoned one of her friends, whose father was a police officer. Authorities rushed to the overpass and discovered the body of Pernilla Helgrian. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. The man responsible was nowhere to be seen. While Pernilla's killer had worn a condom, his DNA was recovered on the leg of her trousers. The sample was cross-checked against the DNA of 800 men, but there wasn't a match. In time, Pernilla's case went cold. That was until eight years later, when Anderses Eklund's DNA was filed following his arrest for the kidnapping of Engla Hergland. While Eklund's DNA didn't reveal anything about Engla's case, it came back as a match to Pernilla Helgren's killer.

When detectives informed Eklund of this revelation, he requested a private conversation with his lawyer Afterwards, he told the detectives that what had happened that summer had been gnawing away at him for eight years Eklund had attended Forloon Street Festival on Sunday June 4 He was heading back to his car in the early hours when he spotted Pernilla Helgren walking down the road. They struck up a conversation, during which Eklund claimed Pernilla invited him back to her mother's house for sex. Eklund suggested they sleep into the nearby woods instead, but Penilla was apprehensive. Eklund dismissed her refusal and forced himself onto Penilla as they crossed a bridge spanning

a bike path. He struck her so hard in the head that she fell over the railing and rolled down the hill to the ground below. Blood seeped from her head wound. Eklund dragged Penilla into the nearby trees and proceeded to rape her. She tried to escape, but Eklund used his considerable weight to incapacitate her. Eklund claimed he never intended to kill Penilla, he just wanted to strangle her until she fell unconscious so it would give him the chance to flee. Investigators were unconvinced of Eklund's version of events. Whatever the truth, Eklund had confessed to raping and killing Pernilla Helgren. While the DNA had convinced investigators of this fact, they were still stunned that he openly admitted to it

Emboldened by Eklund's willingness to talk, interrogators once again brought up 10-year-old Engla Hergland Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Eklund maintained he had nothing to do with Engler's disappearance, but ultimately requested to speak to his lawyer in private again. Afterwards, he began to tell another story. On the afternoon of Saturday April 5 2008, Eklund claimed he'd been driving home when he pulled over just outside of Scherensund to smoke a cigarette.

Shortly after, Angela Herglund rode by on her bike. Eklund returned to his car and continued driving up the road. He noticed the right-hand turn onto the gravel track that led into the nearby woods. Eklund thought there might be some deforestation happening nearby and wondered if he could secure some work transporting woodchips in his truck. He turned onto the track and soon passed Engla again, who was cycling along the same route. A little further ahead, Eklund parked his car and got out. He wondered why Engler was cycling alone in such an isolated area. When she approached, Eklund asked if she lived nearby, to which Engler supposedly replied that she was taking a shortcut. Eklund claimed that Engler was acting arrogant and cheeky towards him and she kicked him in the leg.

This prompted Eklund to grab Engler and drag her towards him and she kicked him in the leg. This prompted Eklund to grab Engler and drag her towards his car. Although he denied it at first, Eklund eventually confessed to having sexually assaulted Engler. During the attack, Engler kicked Eklund again, causing him to stumble backwards. She tried to run away, but Eklund caught up with her quickly and threw her to the ground. He was so enraged that he suffered what he described as some kind of tunnel vision. This led him to put his full weight on Engler's chest while proceeding to strangle her with his bare hands. He then put Engler's

lifeless body in the trunk of his car before throwing her bike amongst the surrounding trees. Eklund began driving away from the scene, but before long he heard a noise coming from the trunk. He stopped to investigate, realising it was the sound of Engla's mobile phone ringing in her jacket pocket. It was her mother checking to see why she hadn't come home yet. Eklund threw the phone off to the side of the road, then continued home. There he changed his clothes and made himself a coffee. He then got back into his car and continued driving, wanting to create as much distance between Engla and her home as possible.

Along the way, he stopped to buy cigarettes and eat a pizza until he reached a secluded forest. He removed Engla's body from the trunk of his car, doused her with petrol, and set her alight. On the drive home, Eklund visited a service station and washed his car. He found Engler's burgundy-rimmed glasses in the trunk and promptly threw them in a bin. His attempted clean-up wasn't perfect, as traces of Engler's blood were found on the tailgate of his car. Officers searched the forest where Eklund claimed to have left Engler's body,

and soon found her charred remains. charred remains. Afterwards, a funeral service was held for Engler, with so many mourners packing out the church that many had to watch the event on large projector screens outside. The service was also broadcast live around the nation. This was a first for Sweden, a testament to the impact that Engler's ordeal had made It allowed the whole country to remember Engler as the spirited young girl she was, and not just a murder victim Under Sheckland faced trial for the rape and murders of Pernilla Helgrian and Engla Herglund in July 2008. With DNA and blood evidence linking him to both crime scenes, it was an open and shut case. Eklund took the stand and while he didn't deny the crimes, he blamed a side of himself that he

called Evil Lundesh. He admitted there was no logic in what he had done to Pernilla Helgrian, while still maintaining he had never intended to kill her. Eklund's lawyer attempted to mitigate his client's moral responsibility by likening Engla Herglund's fate to a tragic accident. He quoted the famous short story To Kill a Child by Stig Duggerman, a Swedish journalist who rose to prominence in the aftermath of World War II. In the piece, the protagonist accidentally kills a child by running over them with his car. Observers regarded this as an appalling attempt to elicit sympathy for Eklund

It was particularly upsetting for Carina Hergland, who swore under her breath as the prose was read aloud Her profanities got louder and louder until she eventually shouted at Eklund and his lawyer, resulting in her removal from the courtroom. Before leaving, Karina looked directly at Eklund and snarled, Is that the best you can do? He stared back passively in response. Anders Eklund was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to life in prison The district court rejected the stories he concocted about the lead-up to both attacks In Pernilla's case, it was likely he had stalked her as she walked home alone from the street festival

She had not propositioned him like he had claimed She had not propositioned him like he had claimed. The court was also dismissive of Eklund's story about driving down the path that led him to Anglar in search of work. They had no doubts that his sole motivation to turn down the forested track was to assault the ten-year-old. Penilla's father spoke of how Eklund's guilty verdict brought to an end eight years of uncertainty. He described those times as a rollercoaster between hope and despair. Quote, Every time I woke up I knew there was someone on the loose that had murdered my daughter. on the loose that had murdered my daughter. Neither I nor my family have lived properly. Now it feels better, but far from good. You live with this every single day.

Ander Sheklund was housed in a sex offenders ward, where in 2014 he was attacked by his fellow inmates. As a result, the process began to have him moved to a new facility for his own safety. In 2018, after 10 years in prison, Eklund applied to have his life sentence commuted to a fixed term. This opened up the possibility of parole. His request was denied as the court found him to be a, quote, concrete and significant risk of relapsing into a serious crime. Eklund's request to move prisons was granted in 2020. Upon his arrival, Eklund was beaten by a fellow prisoner. Swedish authorities continue to investigate Anders Eklund as a possible suspect in other violent unsolved sex crimes across Sweden. In any case, he will die in prison. In any case, he will die in prison.

In the aftermath of Van der Scheklund's trial for the murders of Pernilla Helgren and Engla Hergland, information came to light that stunned the community. When police were first attempting to identify Pernilla's killer in the year 2000, they drew up a list of Sweden's known violent sex offenders. It featured 1,213 names. Anders Eklund was number 21. Linda Sjöström, the teenager who had witnessed Pernilla being throttled, provided what was described as first-class recollections of the man responsible. He was an overweight, thin-haired white man. This matched exactly with Andes Eklund's appearance. While the suspect list was gradually whittled down, Eklund's name remained.

down, Eklund's name remained. Despite having solidified his spot on the suspect list, Andes Eklund wasn't one of the 800 men whose DNA was cross-checked against the DNA recovered from Penilla's trousers. In fact, the overwhelming majority of those men were just ordinary citizens with no history of sexual violence. Police then seemingly disregarded their suspect list altogether and instead relied heavily on tips from the public, none of which led anywhere. In November 2006, an investigative crime program detailing Penilla's murder was broadcast. 2006, an investigative crime program detailing Pernilla's murder was broadcast. An astute viewer phoned police and named Andas Eklund as someone worth looking into. Despite Eklund's

name having remained on their suspect list from its inception, investigators did nothing about this tip at all. Their reason was that nothing about it, quote, stuck out. Engla Herglund's family sued the Swedish government for the failures of police. Had they done a thorough investigation, Eklund wouldn't have been free to kill Engla after Pernilla's murder. The Stockholm District Court decided that the link between the crimes was too distant and unpredictable and therefore the lawsuit was unsuccessful. This was despite an independent inquiry into the police's conduct which found that had a competent and resourceful investigation into Penilla's murder

taken place, Andes Eklund would have been apprehended within months. In a 2018 interview with Publication Expressen, Engler's mother Karina described her grief at losing Engler as pain so unbearable it hurt too much to cry. Engler had an older sister named Sue, who was 11 years old when Engler was murdered. They were born just 20 months apart, affording them a relationship that was more akin to best friends than sisters. Sue told Expressen that part of her disappeared forever when Angela was killed. Despite their grief, Karina and Sule advocate for other victims of crimes. Karina has always sought to speak personally with Ander Sheklund.

She wants the exact truth of what happened to her daughter, but he continues to deny her request for a meeting. In her interview with Expressen, Karina contemplated what Engler's life would have been like if she was still alive. Since she was a little girl, Engler loved being in the spotlight She entered as many talent contests as she could, singing and dancing to the delight of her audience A recording of Engler performing had been played during her funeral service, sharing her joy to the nation Carina imagined Engler would have grown up to live in Stockholm and attended Kulturama, the largest performing arts college in the Nordic region A statue of an angel now marks the spot in the forest where Carina found Engler's bike The name Engler in Sweden means angel. Thank you.