Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “Hannibal Lecter of Sweden” Sture Bergwall

Episode Date: June 11, 2020

He claimed to be Sweden's first serial killer. Throughout the 1990s, Sture Bergwall made shocking confessions to dozens of brutal murders across Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. But his final confession was the most surprising of them all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, assault, rape, child abuse, and pedophilia that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. On a Friday night in March 1974, Leonard Hergland stumbled into his apartment. His lips urgently mashed against those of fellow college student, Stura Birdvall. Their entwined bodies spilled onto the couch as they pulled at each other's shirts. After a few minutes, Hergland pushed Bergval off him and stood up to go to the bathroom. He told his guest he'd be right back.

He left Bergval lounging on the couch, but when Hergland returned, he wasn't there. Hergland followed a rustling sound into the kitchen. Without warning, Bergval burst from the kitchen and rushed toward Hergland, a knife gleaming in his hand. Before Hergland could react, Bergval stabbed him. He plunged the blade into his back and abdomen a dozen times. When the frenzied attack was at last over, Hergland opened his eyes. He lay on the floor, covered in his own blood,

and watched as Bergval walked to the sink and calmly washed the knife. After he finished, Bergval slipped the weapon into his jacket and left. He didn't spare a backward glance for his victim who lay prone as his blood pulled onto the floor. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is serial killers, a podcast original. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're taking a look at the life of Stura Bergval, also known as the Hannibal Lecter of Sweden. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other podcast originals for free on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

To stream serial killers for free on Spotify, just open the app and type serial killers in the search bar. This is a one-part episode on Stura Bergval, who achieved infamy in the 1990s as a brutal, unrepented serial killer. First, we'll take a look at Bergval's childhood and early adult life. will hear about his shocking confessions to dozens of brutal murders across Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. We'll begin Bergval's story right after this. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer, the hunt can be exhausting. When detectives looked and searched to find any kind of evidence to find the person they were looking for,

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anniversary. U.N. Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Despite being surrounded by a large family, Stura Bergval always felt very lonely. He had a twin sister named Goon and five other siblings, yet he mostly kept to himself. His isolation was only exacerbated by his rural hometown setting of Korsh-Nass, Sweden. Bergval's lonesomeness, Sweden. Bergval's lonesomeness intensified in 1964, when the 14-year-old realized he was gay. His parents were ardent Pentecostals, and he believed that they wouldn't be supportive. Fearful of his family rejecting him, Bergval hid his sexuality and coped by turning to drugs. He became addicted to inhaling an industrial

solvent called trichloroethylene, which is the main ingredient used to dry clean clothes. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here, Anthropsycholene. the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or a psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Trichloroethylene is known to cause hallucinations, and it was this escape from reality that held such a lure for Bergval. A 2011 study by the LGBT Foundation in the UK revealed that drug use among members of the queer community is seven times higher than the general population. The study found that gay men often feel inclined to use drugs due to encounters with homophobia and rejection,

as well as internalized shame, all things that Bergval experienced and feared. Although same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in Sweden in 1944, many people in the country were still homophobic and viewed homosexuality as immoral. So it's not surprising that young Bergval sought an escape, even if it was chemically induced. Content to pass the time in a psychedelic haze, Bergval mostly kept to himself during his teenage years. But in 1966, when he was 17, he fell in love with his first boyfriend, a man we know only as Tom. Bergval worked part-time at a retirement home, and Tom, who was at least a decade older, was his manager.

Much like Bergval, Tom struggled with his sexuality. Despite any misgivings, the pair had about the opinions of others. They couldn't ignore their feelings for one another. They shared an intense relationship, Bergwald would later call transforming and bewildering. They mostly saw each other at work, where they directly cared for the elderly. But after a year together, the relationship ended in tragedy. Tom died by suicide, leaving Bergval heartbroken and inconsolable. In his despair, he spent the next few years getting high on triclural ethylene and wandering the city of Falloon each night.

He felt alone and unworthy of love. It was around this time that he began acting on a sexual attraction to young boys. According to psychologist Dr. Nilu Dardashdi, the feelings people go through with first loves often influence how they define love during the rest of their lives. The intoxicating experience of first love is something many try to replicate again and again. For Bergval, this first love involved a disparity in age and power, and it's possible these factors influenced his impulses in a sinister way. During his nighttime wanderings, Bergwald started sexually assaulting underage boys. One night in particular proved just how deadly his colliding impulses and drug use could be.

In 1969, 19-year-old Bergval worked as a nursing assistant at Falun Hospital and often got high during his shifts. While intoxicated one night, he pulled a nine-year-old boy into a supply closet and began to molest him. Terrified, the boy screamed out for help. Trying to silence him, Bergval put his hands around the child's neck, but he started banging on the door with his hands and legs. Bergval tightened his grip. When he noticed blood dripping onto his hands, Bergval panicked. He dropped the boy and ran. In a nearby bathroom, he looked down at his blood-covered clothes and cried.

He was terrified that he had just murdered the boy. Luckily, Bergval's victim survived the attack. He went to the police and Bergval was apprehended. While in custody, his earlier crimes came to life. He was eventually convicted on seven counts of sexual assault from 1964 until 1969. Following his conviction, Bergval specifically requested psychiatric care because he feared being sent to prison. He was sent to Satyr Mental Hospital and spent some time bouncing in and out of residential treatment programs. A 1970 report from his stay at Satter stated that Bergval had a constitutionally formulated, high-grade sexual perversion

known as pedophilia with sexual sadism. Criminal profiler Dr. Michael Burke told the Toronto Star that sadistic pedophiles only see children as instruments for their own sexual gratification and fantasies, which is likely what Bergval experienced. After three years of treatment, 23-year-old Bergval was released so he could attend Uppsala University.

His college life was without incident until March 1974, when he met fellow student Leonard Hergland at a bar. Hergland invited Bergval to his place, not knowing he was high on trichloroethylene. Back at the apartment, Bergval attacked Hergland, stabbing him with a kitchen knife 12 times. Later, Bergval blamed the attack on his hallucinatory state, brought on by his drug use. Hergland survived the attack and called the police. When interviewed by investigators, Bergval denied stabbing Hergland and claimed that an unknown third person committed the crime.

Despite his denials to police, Bergval was inwardly ashamed of his actions and swore off taking trichloroethylene ever again. His weak denials couldn't save him from punishment, though. He was convicted of the attack and sentenced to another three-year stay at Satter. After Bergval was released in 1977, his mental health issues allowed him to file for disability. He lived with his aging parents, helping them around the house. He stayed away from drugs and seemed to make a concerted effort to improve his life.

In 1982, 32-year-old Bergval and his brother, Stenova, opened a tobacco shop. It became a hangout for the neighborhood kids, including 11-year-old Patrick Ulofson. Bergval befriended the young boy, who enjoyed helping at the shop and taking Bergval's dog Paya for walks. Bergval became very close to Patrick, as well as his family. When the tobacco shop shut down in 1986, Bergval partnered with Ulyfson's mother, Margut, to open a new shop in nearby Grigsbo. But it was around this time that Bergval's relationship with Patrick turned predatory. They spent even more time together.

with Patrick's parents fully aware and seemingly consenting of the relationship. Before long, the Ulofsson saw Bergval as a member of their family, and he celebrated several Christmases with them. Bergval later said, this was the happiest time of his life. The shared business did well

until the late 1980s. Then the shop went out of business during Patrick's parents' divorce, and the teenager sought refuge with Bergval. But without an income to support them, the situation was far from ideal. By 1990, 40-year-old Bergval and 18-year-old Patrick were penniless. But Bergval was determined to make the arrangement work by any means necessary.

He recalled that his old store was next to a bank and that it was run by a friendly manager. It seemed like the perfect target. On December 14, 1990, Bergval and Patrick broke into the bank manager's home wearing Santa Claus masks and speaking with faux-finish accents, they threatened the manager and his family with a knife and a gun. They made off with some money, but the manager recognized them and called police once the men left. Bergval and Patrick were arrested the next day.

Eventually, Patrick was sentenced to three years in prison for the robbery, while Bergval, given his history, was remanded for psychiatric evaluation. He pushed to be readmitted to Satyr instead of going to jail, and he got his wish. Despite his criminal past, Bergval received a considerable amount of freedom at the hospital. Significantly, he qualified for day release, which meant he could sign himself out, then return before nighttime. Bergval found joy in day trips to the Royal Library in Stockholm. He loved reading books and perusing old newspapers on microfilm. But there were questions about how else Bergval used that freedom.

Back at the hospital, he met with his doctors, Shell Person, and Joran Franson, three times a week. During a therapy session in June 1992, Bergval said mysteriously, I wonder what you'd think of me if you found out that I'd done something really serious. In a moment, Bergval's confessions begin. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong.

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In 1992, 42-year-old Stura Bergval was a patient at Satir mental hospital in Sweden. During a therapy session with his doctor, Shell Persone, Bergval teased that he had something shocking to confess. The doctor took time off from the hospital, and when he returned in March 1993, Bergval began to unravel his revelation. But before he shared, he told Person that, from now on, he wanted to be known as Thomas, quick. Curious about what was coming, the doctor acquiesced. That's when Bergval dropped a bombshell. He had committed murder when he was just 14. Bergval proceeded to share in detail the May 1964 murder of 14-year-old Thomas Blumgren.

He recalled how he abducted the boy from People's Park in Vekwa, then sexually assaulted and strangled him. The memory, he said, had come back to him suddenly. But from the beginning, police harbored doubts Bergval was actually responsible for the murder. Local authorities had already arrested a suspect for the murder and weren't actively looking for another. There was also the question of how Bergval traveled six hours from his home in Falun to Vecua at the age of 14 without anyone noticing. But their misgivings didn't matter. The 25-year statute of limitations had elapsed. so Bergval couldn't be prosecuted for the crime regardless.

Still, the confession made police and his doctors aware that Bergval was a potentially dangerous man. He further proved that by next claiming responsibility for one of the most famous disappearances in Sweden. In 1980, 11-year-old Johann Asplund had vanished, captivating the nation. In March 1993, over a decade after Johann's disappearance, Pergval confessed to strangling him to death. Bergval waited for the boy's school to let out and then approached him. Bergval told him that he accidentally hit a cat with his car and asked for his help. When the 11-year-old crouched down to look underneath the car,

Bergval said he smashed his head against the car door to knock him out. He pulled his limp body inside and drove him to a wooded area. There he sexually assaulted him. before finally choking the life from him. Bergval then dismembered the body, burying various legs and limbs, but he saved the fingers, those he claimed he ate. The second confession filled Bergval's life with doctors, detectives, and journalists, all asking about his involvement in the notorious cold case.

But Johann's parents, Anna Clara and Bjorn, didn't buy Bergball's story. Anna Clara and Bjorn divorced after Johan was born, and Anna Clara began a relationship with another man. Shortly after Anna Clara broke up with this new boyfriend, Johann disappeared. His parents were convinced that her ex had abducted and killed their son as revenge. Anna Clara's former partner never denied murdering Johann, but there wasn't enough evidence to convince a jury. He was eventually convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to two years of. prison. Bergval's confession angered Anna Clara and Bjorn. They were confident they knew who murdered their son, but this was Bergval's second, unprompted confession. Law enforcement felt they had to

take it seriously. Berkval told interrogators that Johann bore surgical scars on his stomach. The detectives asked Anna Clara and Bjorn to confirm this and provide more information about specific markings on their son's body. The parents were hesitant to say more because they thought whatever they revealed would only provide Bergval with more details for his confessions. They suspected Bergval was getting most of his information from the questions detectives asked in his interviews. When she declined to help, police threatened to charge Anna Klaura for withholding information and protecting their son's alleged murderer. Backed into a corner, she drew them a picture of her son's birthmark, located on his right butt-ock. When asked about it, Bergval remembered seeing it on the boy's body.

As the investigation continued, other doubts began to stack up. Police searched for body parts where Bergval said he hid them, but extensive searches with cadaver dogs proved fruitless. Public prosecutor Krister van der Kvast wasn't discouraged by the lack of evidence. He told the press that since Bergval had murdered Thomas Blumgren, he was capable of killing Johann Asplund years later. Bergval's attorney Guner Lundgren also asserted that his client's confession was the real deal. To help with the investigation, Bergval went on numerous trips with police to try to find any of the body parts he said he buried, but they never found anything.

Despite the lack of hard evidence, Bergval was eventually convicted of Johann's murder. His sentence was to remain in psychiatric care at Satter, but while discussing the specifics of Johann's murder, Bergval remembered something else from his childhood. He recalled being sexually abused by his father at the age of four. According to Bergval, his mother discovered the abuse when she was seven months pregnant, and the shock caused her to miscarry. His mother blamed her son for the miscarriage and tried to drown him in Lake Room. From that day on, she sexually abused him too.

In Dr. Shel Persson's 1993 report, the psychologist concluded that that in the murder of Johann Asplund, Bergval recreated this sexual trauma from his childhood. His diagnosis was based on the object relations theory, which states that the way people treat others during adulthood is rooted in how they were treated by their family as a child. Person felt assured of his theory, since Bergval's memories of his molestation seemed to be intertwined with that of Johann's murder. A 2015 study by Northwestern University suggests suggested that traumatic memories, like child abuse, can be hidden by the brain to protect a person from emotional pain. The chemical glutamate usually helps the brain store memories, but during

times of incredible stress, the chemical can be blocked. In cases like Bergval's, he wasn't able to recall the memory until he was returned to a similar mental state. But the Bergval family vehemently denied the abuse claims. One of Stura's brothers, Dinova, even wrote a book about the accusations, my brother Thomas Quick, a story about the incomprehensible. He wrote, I'm not suggesting that we grew up in a perfect family, but none of us siblings have memories that back up his story. There are also no records of Bergval's mother ever miscarrying a child at the time. The accusations caused a rift between Bergval and his family for many years. After confessing to Johann Asplun's murder, all eyes were on Bergval.

Soon enough, he confessed to more kills as Thomas Quick. By November of 1993, he had confessed to five more murders, occurring between 1967 and 1983. Some Swedish newspapers began to call him the country's first serial killer, but one particular confession pushed him over the edge into infamy. In June of 1994, he admitted to sexually assaulting and murdering 15-year-old Charles Zelmanovitz, who disappeared in 1976 after attending his school's disco in PTO. Charles went to the event, excited to dance with a girl he liked. They hung out together, but when he asked her to be his girlfriend, she told him she didn't feel the same way.

He left the dance and walked home in tears. Bergval claimed that on that same night, he and a friend drove nearly nine hours from Falloon to PTO, looking for young boys. When they got there, 26-year-old Bergval spotted Charles walking alone. Bergval rolled down the window and tried to comfort Charles, telling him everything was going to be all right. He and his friend then offered the boy ride home. Charles accepted. While in the car, Bergval convinced Charles, to masturbate with him. Bergval's friend stopped the car in a logging yard so he could join.

Charles said he felt uncomfortable with the situation and asked when he could go home. At that, Bergval grew angry and strangled the boy. Bergval and his accomplice used a knife and saw to cut up the body. Then they scattered the parts and covered them with moss. But Bergval said he took a leg and a hand home with him. After the 1994 confession, PTO police took 44-year-old Bergval back to the scene of the crime. There, he pointed out the exact spots where Charles' remains were found. Bergval sat on one of the rocks and declared it was where he sat while dismembering the boy's body.

Detectives were shocked. The details Bergval provided about the murder weren't publicly known at the time. The confession seemed credible. It was enough for a jury to convict Burghur. Bergval of the murder in November 1994, but he still had more to reveal. Next, Bergval makes his most shocking confession yet. From sauce to dust to nuggets. It's Taco Bell's new Diablo-Dusted crispy chicken nuggets.

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By the end of 1994, 44-year-old Stura Bergval was known as Sweden's first-ever serial killer. He had confessed to multiple murders, stretching back decades, and insisted that his alter ego, Thomas Quick, was responsible. For his most recent confession, the 1976 murder of 15-year-old Charles Zelmanovitz, Bergval was sentenced to continued psychiatric care at the Sadr Mental Hospital. One week after Bergval received the verdict, he called senior police officer Sepo Pintaninan. Bergval suggested that he should be questioned about a double murder that occurred a decade earlier. He was talking about the July 1984 slaying of Dutch couple Marinas and Yanni Stahas.

The pair were on a driving holiday around Scandinavia that summer, stopping along the way to visit family and friends. In July, they headed to Norboten, Sweden's northernmost county. 34-year-old Marinus and 39-year-old Yanni were planning to live in the wilderness of the Swedish Alps. But the journey was a hard one, filled with inclement weather, mosquitoes, and car trouble. When their Toyota Corolla broke down on July 12th, they were told it would take several days, to repair, but the couple had run out of money for hotels, so they decided to spend the night camping by Lake Apoyara. Bergval said he had journeyed nearly 1,000 kilometers north to the

tiny town of Yakmok. Once there, he stole a bike and just rode around, not sure where to go. He eventually ended up by Lake Apoyara. He saw Marina Siniani during the day, but waited until night fell to attack and kill them with his hunting knife. The next day, their bloodied bodies were found in their collapsed tent. Police found a thin-bladed fillet knife outside, but the murder remained unsolved for years until Stura Bergball's November 1994 confession. But police noticed that the 44-year-old's account of the murder was vague, and the victims weren't his usual targets, young boys. Wanting to be sure of his guilt, the police pressed him for more details. Bergval was happy to oblige them. In particular, he recalled that he met his accomplice,

Yanni Forabrink, that day, and together they stabbed the couple. Police recognized Forer Brink as an existing suspect in the murder, and were intrigued. At the time of Bergval's confession, Forer Brink was serving a 10-year sentence for a different murder. When asked about Bergval, claims, he told the Swedish newspaper Expressen that he had never met Bergval or Thomas Quick, but given his previous conviction, Forre Brink's credibility was shaky. Meanwhile, Officer SEPO Peniton was convinced Bergdahl's evolving confession was legit. He believed that the early vague statements were a subconscious attempt to protect himself, and prosecutor Vadrkavost was ready to move forward with charges, saying that the confession

lined up all of the facts of the case. With his latest confession, Thomas Quick became something of a celebrity. Stockholm University psychology professor Svin Christensen came to Satter several times to interview Bergval. The professor felt he might have insights into the motivations of another notorious serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer. Additionally, Bergval was able to leave Satter on lavish investigation trips. In July of 1995, Police sent Bergval to Apoyabra in a private jet, surrounded by an entourage of doctors, care workers, and a memory expert. At Lake Apoyara, the 45-year-old led the team to the picnic

spot where Marinas and Yanni Stahas were killed. Investigators set up a gas stove, a tent, and other props to replicate the campsite before the murder. Then two detectives lied down in the tent and authorities gave Bergval a stick to use in place of a knife and asked him to reenact the murder. Bergval sneaked up to the tent, then attacked it in a frenzy. He grunted and roared as he pushed through the opening. The detectives inside were genuinely scared and screamed for help. Authorities stopped the reenactment for their safety, but noted that nothing Bergval

did to the tent corresponded with the couple's actual wounds. Still, they decided to give him another chance. During his second attempt, Bergval perfectly recreated the murder, according to the evidence. Investigators and prosecutor Krister van der Kvost were pleased with their experiment and fast-tracked the case to trial. In January 1996, Bergval gave a self-assured testimony that convinced a jury to hand the 46-year-old his third murder conviction. But he still wasn't done confessing. Bergval was free to speak to reporters while he was a patient at Satter. During these interviews, he often dropped hints about other murders, seemingly daring the police to investigate him.

Even as he was helping police with the Stahas murder, he told the newspaper Expressin that he murdered five other children, one girl and four boys. Unable to ignore the claim, police started another investigation. The most notable of these victims was nine-year-old. Theresa Johansen, who was sexually assaulted and murdered in Draman in July of 1988. Her disappearance was Norway's most famous unsolved mystery, and Bergval's confession raised a red flag for investigators. According to renowned former FBI agent and behavioral analyst John E. Douglas, serial killers usually operate within a certain geographical area, target specific types of victims,

and use a particular weapon. but authorities realized that Bergval's kills followed no consistent pattern. However, prosecutor Krister van der Kvost wasn't put off. He argued that serial killers sometimes diverge from their own preferences. But not only was young Terese not a typical choice for Bergval, his description of her was completely off. He said she had blonde hair and lived in a rural area, when she was actually a brunette who lived near the city.

Bergval told investigators he cut Teresa's body up into small pieces, which he then threw into a lake. In response, authorities spent seven weeks draining the lake and sediment. No remains were found. But as police searched the nearby forest, a cadaver dog found a 0.5 millimeter bone fragment. Van der Kvost declared the discovery of victory, and 48-year-old Bergval was convicted of the murder soon after. Once again, his sentence was to continue his care at Satter. By the summer of 1999, Bergval had admitted to a total of 25 murders, and in the spring of 2000, he was convicted of the sexual assault and murder of 17-year-old Trina Jensen in Oslo.

But Bergval didn't receive as much press coverage for his latest conviction, and several journalists published op-eds calling his confessions into question. They believed he was lying. In November 2001, criminology experts and historians publicly mocked the investigations, calling Bergval a mythomaniac who lied about the murders. It was enough to prompt a response from him in the Swedish newspaper, D.N. DeBot. The 51-year-old attacked the experts who were skeptical of his confessions and declared he would no longer cooperate with police.

In response, Van der Kvast halted, all investigations in progress at the time. This drastic shift in Bergval's behavior coincided with an adjustment in his medication. Satter Hospital had a new chief physician, Joran Kalberg, who was shocked to learn just how many meds Bergval was on. Until now, Bergval had been taking a cocktail of benzodiazepines, commonly known by names like Valium and Xanax. Benzodiazepines are calming medications that can reduce anxiety.

and relaxed muscles. Calberg gradually reduced Bergval's dosage over eight months until he was completely off any benzos and sober. Bergval experienced withdrawal symptoms and secluded himself during that time. Then suddenly, he announced that he didn't want to be called Thomas Quick anymore. He stopped talking to journalists and his doctors. In the years following, doubts about Bergval's convictions grew stronger.

Police officers who were once. Once part of the murder investigations publicly spoke out, saying they didn't believe Bergval after all. As for Bergval, he had no contact with the outside world and wandered the corridors of Satter. After seven years of silence, he made one final shocking confession. In September of 2008, 58-year-old Bergval told Swedish journalist Hannes Roestam that he didn't commit any of the murders that he confessed to during the 1990s. He recanted all of his confessions, and slowly, the full story of Thomas Quick emerged. During the 1990s, Bergval had been given extra doses of his medication as he claimed

responsibility for more murders. At the time, his doctors felt it would help him cope with the emotional stress of recalling the memories. Bergval's medication schedule included up to 20 milligrams of Valium, a volume. a dose so heavy it could make someone pass out. Such a high dosage could help unleash underlying impulses. Bergval told the Guardian that he relied on the drugs to invent the Thomas Quick persona. He claimed that he was only partially aware that he was lying while he was intoxicated. He wrestled with both identities at night, often becoming violent in his room.

Bergvald told the publication, When I woke up, I got a dose of benz-o, and I could forget it and push it aside. He told the Guardian in 2012 that the benzodiazepines made him feel ruthless and less compassionate. Bergval recognized that his lies might hurt the families of the murder victims, but at the time, he just didn't care. However, medication side effects weren't Bergdahl's only motivation. He also wanted attention. His therapy sessions were boring, and he felt the pressure to confess to something, but he wasn't sure what. He had noticed that psychiatrists paid more attention to the patients who had committed more serious crimes.

From his perspective, the criminals who committed horrible atrocities were admired and revered. They were rewarded with attention. Having felt desperately alone for so much of his life, Bergval wanted to find a way to belong to that group. So during his day trips to the Royal Library in Stockholm, he studied psychoanalysis and newspaper. articles about murder cases. Back at the hospital, Bergval watched the movie The Silence of the Lambs and read American Psycho. He was fascinated by both. Bergval wanted Thomas Quick to be known as Sweden's Hannibal Lecter, after the villain in the Silence of the Lambs. So he invented his new persona. He studied the lives of notorious serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer and made sure

Quicks' story mimicked the biographies of famous serial killers. He gave Quick a history of childhood sexual abuse and assault. Once he established Quicks' traumatic beginnings, Bergvald noticed that most serial killers had an early kill, showing their sinister urges emerged in their teens. He wanted to make sure Quicks' profile was believable, so he built a foundation of credibility for his future confessions. He built that foundation by confessing to Thomas Blumgren's 19th for all of the subsequent murder investigations, Bergval got his information from a mix of old newspaper articles and by listening closely to how the police and his therapists interrogated him. They often asked leading questions and dropped hints about the information they were looking for.

As Bergval made his false confessions, Quick became a media sensation and a man who was much feared by Swedish people. Bergval told Vice in 2013 that it was as if Sweden needed a demon, somebody to point at and to be scared of. But once Bergval weaned off the benzodiazepines, he finally felt the guilt of what he had done and how the lies he told affected the families of the victims. After he finally told the truth, Bergval reconciled with his family and even wrote a tell-all book with his brother, Thomas Quick is dead. From 2010 to 2013, Bergval was retried and acquitted of all of his convictions. For two decades, people in Sweden couldn't stop talking about Bergval. But in the years following his 2014 release from Satter,

Bergval himself has stayed quiet. He hasn't made a confession since. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with a new episode. For more information on Stura Bergval, amongst the many sources we used, we found Thomas Quick, the making of a serial killer by Hannes-Roestam, extremely helpful to our research. You can find more episodes of serial killers and all other podcast originals for free on Spotify. Not only does Spotify already have all your favorite music, but now Spotify is making it easy for you to enjoy all of your favorite podcast originals, like serial killers for free, from your phone, desktop, or smart speaker.

To stream serial killers on Spotify, just open the app and type Serial Killers in the search bar. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler and is a parcast studio's original. Executive producers include

Max and Ron Cutler, sound designed by Juan Borda, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden, and Travis Clark. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Mallory Cara, with writing assistance by Abigail Cannon and stars Greg Polson and Vanessa Richardson. This podcast is brought to you by Carvana.

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Schedule pickup, and we'll come to you with a check in hand. Your car, your timeline, your car. terms. Visit Carvana.com to sell your car today. Carvana. Pick up these may apply. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcast this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime. Crime. Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.