RedHanded - FROM THE VAULT - Episode 275 - The Assassination of Olof Palme

Episode Date: December 13, 2024

In February 1986, the prime minister of Sweden was walking home from the cinema, when a man stepped out of a shop doorway and shot him in the neck with a .357 Magnum. The killer ran down a side street – and disappeared without a trace.The mystery surrounding Olof Palme’s death is a Swedish national obsession that's barely left the headlines in the decades since. Hundreds of theories, from international hitmen to lone gunmen and police conspiracies, have swirled around one of the most extensive murder investigations in history.And then, in 2020, investigators called a press conference – to announce that they had finally found the killer…Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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I'm Sruti. And welcome in Swedish to Red Handed, which is probably, I think Swedish and German are quite similar languages. I think it was like, I did some late night walking around Stockholm when we were there. And I think it was like, velkommen in or something like that. I think you're probably right. Hey, hey, that's what they say. That's what all the Scandis say. Hey, hey. But yeah, we thought we would do a Swedish case because we recently did obviously our European tour. We had an amazing time when we went to Finland, Sweden and Norway. And we thought, let's do this one because it is like big news in Sweden. Everyone's obsessed with

this. Yeah, like big, continuous conspiracy news. So we're going to appease the ghosts that haunted us in Stockholm and offer them this story. And hopefully they'll stop following me home at night. Very clandestine information there. If you have listened to our Under the Duvet where we talked, but I can't remember if we talked about it on the main show or not, but basically the theatre that we did our Stockholm show in was so incredibly haunted that we're doing this as a sacrificial episode. So Stockholm and Sweden is not only full of ghosts, but winter nights can get bitterly cold and darkness descends for up to 18 hours a day.

That's a lot. That's a lot of time. I would not cope. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't survive, I don't think. I think, I mean mean one of the many times I've completely lost my marbles but uh I think probably it was probably the book we're probably doing the book and I just completely went bonkers and I was I'm just gonna move to Norway and herd

reindeer like I'm just gonna that's that's the answer to this problem and then my best friend who is Swedish was like Hannah you know it's dark all the time, right? That's a terrible idea. You hate that. Anyway, 18 hours a day can be dark in wintertime Swedenland. But on the 28th of February 1986, that chill was easing up. So the 59-year-old prime minister of Sweden, Olof Palme, decided to walk home unescorted from the cinema with his wife. As a staunch social democrat, Olof Palme insisted on living as normal a life as possible. He wanted nothing to separate him from the people he served.

So he often walked around the capital without any official protection. And that night, Olof's son Martin had bought tickets to see a comedy film called The Mozart Brothers, which sounds utterly awful, with his girlfriend, and he'd invited his parents to come with them. And so Olof and his wife Lisbeth met their son and his girlfriend Anki outside the Grand Cinema in Stockholm at about nine o'clock. The film finished around ten past eleven in the evening and the couple said their goodbyes and parted ways. As Martin and Anki headed into the subway, Martin glanced back at his parents and saw a dark figure

seemingly follow after them. But he couldn't make out a face. Two things, well, three things. First thing, going to the cinema with your parents and your girlfriend is a very sweet thing to do. That is very sweet. Second thing, the Swedish subways are really cool. They are. I don't know if it's everywhere in Sweden, but definitely in Stockholm.

It's very like every subway station, metro station, whatever they call it, has like a theme. And it's very like artistic yeah they're all big art installations yeah basically even like a friend of mine who used to live there was like this is going to sound really bizarre but literally just take the metro yeah yeah we did do that like just bomb somewhere on the metro it'll be mental and we were like what really and then it's so yeah if you're ever in stockham just get on the tube third thing this is quite literally the beginning of Batman. Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking.

Exactly what I was thinking. But spoilers, Martin Palmer doesn't go on to become a cape-wearing vigilante. As far as we know. Or does he? As far as we know. So Olof and Lisbeth set off down Sweden's busiest road, which is called, and I'm going to try my best with all the pronunciation today so everybody just calm down, Sveavägen. Very nice.

Thank you. We'll just say it to ourselves. We don't know what the Swedes are thinking. And at 11.15, the couple crossed the road so that Lisbeth could look into a shop window just 300 metres from the cinema. Then, at around 11.31pm, they reached the corner of Sveavägen and a narrow side street, Tunnelgården. They passed Decorima, which is a painting supply store,

on the corner, which was shuttered for the night. And in the doorway of this shop, a tall, broad-shouldered man had been lurking in wait. He was holding a.357 Magnum handgun. When the Prime Minister had passed the doorway, the man stepped out behind him and fired two shots. The first entered Olaf Palmer's neck, severing his carotid artery. It snapped his spinal column, tore through his windpipe

and left a gaping hole in his neck. The leader of Sweden was dead before he hit the ground. The second shot was fired at Lisbeth and would have hit her shoulder if she hadn't have twisted away in response to the attack. As it was, it grazed her coat, leaving burns on her skin. More than a dozen witnesses saw the man fire his gun and run down tunnel gorton as the killer fled he ran past 25 year old lars who was walking in the opposite direction lars instinctively set off after the shooter the side street ends with a paved stairway like in the joker apparently very batman themed and the killer sprinted up these stairs which if i was in pursuit of this shooter i would be done

for i would just look at concrete stairs and be like, probably not. There's no sprinting up concrete stairs happening here. I saw this amazing tweet. I nearly sent it to you yesterday, actually. That was like, does anyone else breathe quieter when you're walking uphill so no one else can hear you fighting for your life? Yes. When I find myself on hills, which I do quite regularly because I seek them out. Generally speaking, the people that I'm with are breathing heavier than me so i'm like i'm okay the place where i really feel it

is when you decide to make the move onto the left side of the stairway oh god yeah on a tube station and you're just like i'm gonna walk because i'm in a rush all these people are it's all too slow and then you're like oh i'm so out of breath i'm so out of breath have you ever done the stairs at russell square uh no that's not gonna happen i tottenham court road is my absolute match oh whoa okay yeah no i i did uh russell square i think i've only ever done it twice which considering my university was on russell square is atrocious it's like 700 steps i think anyway it's not 700 that's such an exaggeration it's like 150 maybe, I think. Anyway, it's not 700. That's such an exaggeration. It's like 150, maybe. Anyway, the killer flees up these concrete stairs.

And Lars, who is a braver man than either of us, sprinted straight after him. Up 86 steep concrete stairs. But when Lars reached to the top, the street was empty. The killer was nowhere to be seen. Whoever he was, he had just gunned down the most powerful and respected man in the whole country and then disappeared into the night without a trace. There was no murder weapon, no solid evidence and no clear suspect. No one had a clue who had killed Olof Palme. It's hard to express the magnitude of Palmer's assassination in Sweden.

This public slaying of a prime minister shook a country that had been at peace for over 200 years. And it could be, possibly, the only time in history that head of state had been killed without a single clue as to who did it. For many, Palmer was a symbol of the best of Sweden, known for his dedication to peace and compassion on the global stage. His murder left an open wound in the national psyche, and over the past 35 years since his murder, the case has become a national obsession. It's been said that it would take one person nine years to read all the information related to this case. That's fucking nuts, man. That is crazy.

So we've done our best. Bear with us. We cannot do this case in the way that maybe some people would like it done. It is a very extensive, very sprawling, absolute behemoth of a case. Well, I mean, it's just as you said, it's a national obsession. Absolutely. The whole country is obsessed with it. And if you are like, I would love to become a person obsessed with this case,

then a great place you can start that journey is by listening to a podcast that is out there that is solely dedicated to this murder. It's called Parma Mordant, which I'm assuming means Parma murder, murder of Parma, something along those lines. And it has over 360 episodes. That's more episodes than we have at Red Handed. That's so true. I was looking at, I was uploading something to Patreon, I think. And I looked at like Larry Hilblum or whatever the last one was. And it was like episode 275.

And I was like, is that it? Like, I feel like we've done so many more than that. I mean, we are currently now doing like three weekly podcasts but this show like i said it has 360 episodes exclusively about this murder and it's been going on for six years and they still release updates so this isn't a dead case that just has a archive no no no this is still a case that just has a archive. No, no, no, this is still a case that is actively being spoken about by some people in Sweden. And also in Sweden, there are countless books and also a thousand page report by the Review Commission all about the murder of Olof Palme, plus several wikis and blogs constantly poring over old theories and new revelations. It was one of the longest and most

extensive murder investigations in history. And with a botched police response, governments all over the world with a bone to pick, and hundreds of loose ends that just don't add up, it's easy to see why Sweden can't stop talking about the death of Olof Palme. Not least because in 2020, investigators suddenly called a press conference and said that they had finally found the killer. But pull your knickers back up because we're coming back to it later. For now, let's go back

to the last minutes of the 28th of February 1986, the beginning of the Batman. What's bat in Swedish? Shall I look it up? Yeah. Oh. Fladermus. Fladermus is a bat in Swedish. I bet it literally means flying mouse.

I think it does. What's man in Swedish? Mansika. Fladermus Mansika. There you go. My best Swedish accent. I'm obsessed with you. Oh my gosh. Right. So at the beginning of The Batman, we have a world leader lying in a pool of his own blood with no trace of a suspect. And what didn't help was an extremely weak police response. Straight off the bat, almost everything went wrong. The murder scene wasn't properly cordoned off, which meant that onlookers and mourners walked all over it, and they destroyed any potential fingerprints or DNA evidence. On top of that,

alerts to police were inexplicably slow and first responders were repeatedly given the wrong priority code. So that meant that many police officers were completely unaware that the prime minister of the country had been shot, despite the fact that some first responders were only a few kilometres away. This case is very much like one of those classic things of cover-up or incompetence. And Stockholm is not a big city. I don't know how big it was, but yeah, it didn't... I mean, who knows? I was like in a haze when we were there. So tired and so hungry. Of the two bullets that were there, one of them was taken in immediately,

but the other wasn't found until 37 hours after the murder. How? Well, especially how because it was only four metres away from Palmer's body. Where were they looking? Just within the chalk outline of his body? I mean, it feels like they weren't really looking at all. Or maybe they're just wading through all of the people they've let stomp all over the crime scene. Also, some sources say that both bullets had been cleaned before they made it to the lab. And again, this is just a point worth making that a lot of claims have been made about this case and a lot of them are very hard to back up.

So we're just going to tell you the things that people say who are particularly sort of tinfoil hattie about this. I'm not saying that they're wrong to be, but I'm just saying that they are. But we can't verify exactly what the situation is. Despite the shitshow of a crime scene, in the ensuing days, thousands of people were interviewed and more than 10,000 leads and testimonies were covered by police. There is no way there was 10,000 people on that street corner. That is madness. Let me look up the population of Stockholm. Okay, it's like nearly a million now, but I don't know what it

was then. But yeah, that's a lot of people. It's tiny for a city. Well, I guess 1,000 people and 10,000 leads. But again, is it just like, look busy. Look busy.esus is coming mourners left flowers poems and gifts at the scene a state funeral was held on the 15th of march 1986 a white coffin was marched through the street surrounded by socialist red roses plus wreaths of yellow and blue symbolizing the nation's flag true Scandi style, the funeral had a breezy soft jazz soundtrack,

and children from every Swedish municipality were asked to sing in a choir. At the wake, South African priest Alan Boissac likened Olof Palme to Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa, which is quite the eulogy. Fuck her. I mean, fuck Mother Teresa, yeah. We should do a shorthand on what a fucking bitch she is. And he also said that Olaf Palmer's name was legendary in the developing world. His words, not ours.

So following the funeral, the investigation into the assassination started slowly. From witness descriptions, police put together the following profile of the killer. A white male, aged 30 to 40, medium height, broad shoulders, wearing a grey hat with ear flaps and a dark sports coat and dark trousers. So everyone in Stockholm, basically. Yeah, yeah. So in the first instance, police and journalists said almost unanimously that all the evidence they had collected pointed to a professional, meticulously planned execution. For example, the killer appeared to have a premeditated route of escape. And there were many witness accounts of men in the surrounding areas

acting strangely in the minutes leading up to the murder, saying cryptic things into walkie-talkies, tailing the Prime Minister or walking close ahead of him. And authorities knew that the bullets came from a.357 Magnum, one of the most powerful handguns in the world. Apparently, they can even penetrate a bulletproof vest. None of these things pointed to an opportunistic chancer. It had all the hallmarks of a professional hit. But as far as leads went, that was sort of it. Witness accounts were mostly a mess of contradictions and dead ends. And investigators weren't sure where to start. They even ordered the Swedish Air Force into action.

Jet fighters repeatedly passed over the city at low altitude, trying to photograph every roof in the area, searching for the gun. Which seems like maybe I'm missing something, but kind of maybe an odd move. Once again, look busy. How good is the eyesight of these pilots? That's what I want to know. Maybe they had information that the gun was on a roof, but like, who's telling you that, but not telling you which roof? I don't know. Who's running up 86 stairs and then chucking a gun on a roof? Yeah, and if it was a professional hit, he's not leaving his gun behind. A reward of one million kroner, which is around £100,000, was also offered to any lead that helped police catch the killers.

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So before we get into the multitude of groups that had it in for the Swedish Prime Minister, we're going to tell you a little bit more about him. His full name isn't Olof, it's Sven Olof Joachim Palmer. He was born in 1927. He was born to an upper-class family that had connections to aristocracy, which is pretty common for every prime minister ever. He grew up in well-heeled Ostermalm, neighbourhood of Stockholm, and went to a boarding school. His family were intellectual, artistic and cultured, but they were also strong conservatives with a strong military lineage. They were every bit the old elite of Sweden.

And whilst we may think of Sweden as the spiritual home of the liberal left, that hasn't always been the case. We have to remember that this is the land of Vikings, which we learned at the Viking Museum is an occupation. We did indeed. Kind of like how I guess Spartans were like, we're warriors first. So you go Viking, you aren't a Viking. Ah, yes, yes, yes. You're right. Good facts from our trip to the museum. Also, interestingly, you know, again, I think people think of Sweden as, like you said, the spiritual heartland of the liberal left.

But in elections that happened in 2022, much to a lot of people's surprise, we saw a big shift in Sweden towards the right and a big rise in the number of people who were voting or the percentage of people who were voting for the Sweden Democrats. Yeah, very nationalist. Yes, very anti-immigration, very right-wing.

And although they aren't officially, like, in power now, and I know this has nothing to do with the episode, but it is interesting, they areersfarn, famously, which is the beginning of the Viking Age, according to a lot of historians. That world-conquering situation continued way into the 18th century. Sweden has been at peace since 1814. In the 1930s, it distanced itself from all the bad shit that was bubbling up in Germany, and Sweden turned towards social democracy and managed to stay neutral throughout the Second World War. In the early years of that turn towards social democracy, Palmer graduated from his law degree and joined the Social Democratic Party, and he soon became the protege and personal secretary of the prime minister himself, Tage Erlander. Erlander was one of the fathers of the Swedish welfare system, and he was hugely respected. He entered office in 1946 and stayed

there uninterrupted for 23 years, which for someone who's technically not a dictator is incredibly impressive. And by the end of Erlander's tenure, the Social Democrats had been in power in Sweden for 44 years. So his successor, Olof Palme, had some pretty enormous shoes to fill. But he took that 44-year foundation and ran with it. He doled out messages of social equality, world peace and a strong welfare state. One of Palme's most famous quotes is, As we are here, we should try to make life as decent as possible. That is very simply the basis of my political ideology. That's what

politics is about. Palmer also took all formal political power away from the monarchy. He invested massively in education and healthcare. Then he created loads of nurseries and preschools, which allowed many more women to enter the workforce and improved gender equality significantly. Also, education was free up to PhD level. So sure, taxes were high, but social benefits were pretty good too. Palmer's aim was to build a society where people would want for nothing. So it's very easy, especially when eulogising Palmer, to paint him as a big-hearted patron saint of good vibes who just wanted everyone to get along and be nice to each other. Which is how I think of Sweden, to be honest. But not everyone loved the Palmer idealism. Olive Palmer had a real

rogues gallery of enemies. Outside of the political left, his approach was called, and this is a quote, radical anti-imperialist internationalism. And critics said that life in Sweden was not as free or as easy as Palmer thought, or even claimed. Business owners felt choked by his reforms, and the political right absolutely hated him. Caricatures and dartboards were made up with his face on them palmer was perceived as having an incredibly high opinion of his own intelligence and often came across as smug or arrogant in debates which is every politician isn't it like i don't think that's particularly out of the ordinary and he also had the occasional press scandal we've got one example for you a journalist revealed a watergate-style recording of Palmer talking about potential rivals in the press.

Palmer sent that journalist to prison. And while we're on scandal, Palmer is also believed to have had an extramarital affair with Shirley MacLaine, who said that Palmer was like catnip to her, which is really gross. And it is the very same Shirley MacLaine that you are thinking of from Steel Magnolias. What's she doing in Sweden? Like, how did that happen? Where did they meet? Was he at the Oscars?

Just more questions. Just more questions. Outside of the bedroom and on the world stage, Palmer acted strongly against racism, war and colonialism. Imagine having a strong anti-colonial and anti-war agenda in the bedroom. I mean, I do. Doesn't happen very often, but when it does, not having any of that imperialism. Palmer was of the Maguire School of Bedroom Antics and took a hard line stance

against anyone involved with any colonialism, war or racism nonsense. And that made him plenty of extremely powerful enemies because if there's three things that world leaders like, it's colonialism, racism and war. That's the top three. And despite how we may feel now, the 70s and 80s were a very tense time indeed for global politics. Palmer was the West's biggest and most unapologetic critic of

the Vietnam War, which obviously the White House didn't like very much. Palmer called the US's bombing of North Vietnam one of the worst crimes ever perpetrated against humanity, and compared it directly to the Holocaust. Which, he's not wrong. No, I mean, I don't think you're going to get many people who disagree, just probably American politicians, especially at the time. Which I can't remember which episode it was, but we were talking about the Vietnam War. And I was like, oh, well, you know, when America lost the Vietnam War, blah, blah, blah. So many people emailed us being like, oh, my God, we did lose. Yeah.

I've never even thought of that before. So, yes, America, you did lose the Vietnam War with an enormous cost to yourself. Read a book. Yes, indeed. And Palmer also said to the New York Times in 1973, referring to his criticisms of the bombing of North Vietnam, quote, I don't regret it because in this world, you have to speak up fairly loud to make anyone listen. I can't keep silent on this issue and won't be pressured into silence. Which we're going to go on to discuss his other views, none of which I disagree with. And like, I'm also like, fucking good for you, man. Like, yes, he made a lot of enemies. But I rate a leader that isn't just being like, oh, I'm not going to say what I really think

because I need your trade. Yes, no, quite. I think, you know, there's no denying politics is an incredibly difficult game to play. I mean, you can go into it idealistic and the reality of the situation and like the alliances you have to build and the situations you have to manage with the rest of the world and constantly changing geopolitics must make that incredibly tricky to hold on to your idealism and hold on to your moral values and what you really think. So it is nice to see a politician saying those things. I'm not of the school that all politicians are assholes who don't think any of these things. I'm sure lots of people think these things. They just don't say it because of the cost to whatever they're trying to achieve politically.

And that is why it's called politics. So yes, he didn't keep silent on these things. But if it sounded like he was picking sides in the Cold War, then you should probably also know that he wasn't exactly buddying up to the USSR either. He came down hard on the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and its invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Which everyone forgets about. But the Soviet vacuum created by the USSR leaving Afghanistan is literally why we have the Taliban. Oh, 100%. We talked about this at length in maybe the Bethnal Green Girls episode.

I think so. So yeah, go listen to that if you want more details. Which is also why Rambo 3 is dedicated to the Mujahideen, which everyone forgets. There you go. They are the lightest skinned, bluest to the Mujahideen, which everyone forgets. There you go. They are the lightest skinned, bluest eyed Mujahideen that you have ever seen. And they ride in on white horses, etc. But yes, Rambo 3.

Interesting. Interesting. Who knew? So I think what we're trying to say is that Olaf Palmer attempted to toe the line between the capitalist West and the communist East, pushing for disarmament at every opportunity, a path that he called the third way, which sounds like a cult, but isn't. This sort of towing the line either way, sort of straddling the fence, predictably just ended up with him pissing off both sides even more. And speaking of his enemies, we also can't leave out South Africa's

apartheid government, because Palmer called apartheid, quote, a particularly gruesome system, and through regular financial support behind the African National Congress, which is the opposite of what Margaret Thatcher did. So the ANC, for those of you who don't know, was an anti-apartheid organisation that later became a political party, and eventually saw Nelson Mandela elected leader in the first post-apartheid election. Back then though the ruling and hyper-racist National Party were very much in power and very against support of the ANC obviously. And Palmer didn't stop there. Palmer called Franco's government in Spain goddamn murderous. And in his role as a mediator in the Iran-Iraq war, he made even more enemies in the interests of peace. And finally, as a loud critic of Pinochet's government in Chile, he was also hated there too, just for good measure.

Yeah, he's bristling with enemies. But for being a principled guy, which I rate. So you can see from the long list that we just went through, there were lots of reasons that somebody somewhere could want Olaf Palmer dead. But just 10 days into their investigation, police issued statements that they had brought in a suspect. And that suspect was 33-year-old Victor Gunnarsson. Gunnarsson was part of the European Labour Committee, which is a Marxist movement that went so far left, they found themselves knee-deep in the far right, which is an easy mistake to make. Gunnarsson had a well-documented

obsession with Palmer. He had been overheard frequently saying that the Prime Minister, quote, needed to be shot, and he turned up to several of Palmer's public appearances. Gunnison was known to have been in the area at the right time the night that Palmer died, and when he was talking to police, Gunnison had obviously lied about some key details. He also owned clothes that seemed to match the description of the killer given by witnesses, and he had received arms training whilst working as a private guard, so he would absolutely know what a.357 Magnum was. And ten minutes after Palmer had been shot, Gunnarsson was seen going into another nearby cinema,

half an hour after the film that was being screened had begun. It all looked pretty conclusive, so Sweden breathed an initial sigh of relief. But just hours before he was due to appear in court, Gunnarsson was released. A witness who had previously said that he saw Gunnarsson trying to hitch a car after the murder changed his mind and said that he could not be absolutely sure that it was him. So the investigation, just 10 days later, was already back to square one. And maybe there's more to the Gunnarsson story that has not been revealed by the police, but I find it hard to believe that their entire proceedings that they were planning against this man hinged on one eyewitness who now was just saying, I can't be sure that it was him.

But that is what happened. And in charge of the investigation was a man named Hans Holmer. Once it had been shown that Gunnarsson wasn't the killer, apparently this is how they decided that. But again, to me, that doesn't prove... It doesn't feel right, does it? It feels like a very quick and easy decision to have made. So I'm not going to say that it was shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gunnarsson

wasn't the killer. But for some reason, they turn their attention away from him. We can say that that happened for sure. I have a favourite theory. This is not it. I don't think he did it. It doesn't feel conclusive enough for me. No. For them, apparently it was. And Holmer, after they decided to move away from the Gunnarsson theory, went all in on his own pet theory, that it was all carried out by a Kurdish militant group known as the PKK. Holmer hit TV reports announcing progress of great importance. And with the support of the country's replacement prime minister, Ingvar Carlsson, Holmer initiated the biggest crackdown in Swedish police history,

Operation Alpha. Kurdish people began coming into Sweden in the 60s as part of Parma's national liberation movements. They came as political refugees, fleeing suppression by the Turkish, Iranian and Iraqi governments. In the 80s, the PKK was fighting a guerrilla campaign on behalf of Kurdish people against Turkey. Parma had declared it a terrorist organisation for its killing of defectors in Sweden. It was known to have carried out at least three political murders in the previous two years. All of them had been past members of the group. Palmer had also refused to grant asylum to its leader, Abdullah Akhlan, and put most of its members under travel restrictions. And the

headquarters just so happened to be right around the corner from the spot where Palmer breathed his last breath. Although, if you were going to carry out a super mega high stakes political killing, would you do it right outside your office? I probably wouldn't. I'd probably do it somewhere else. I mean, those commutes are tricky, you know. He's there, get him. Fantastic.

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fall of Diddy. Listen to The Rise and Fall of Diddy. Listen to The Rise and Fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery Plus. Omar was absolutely convinced that the shooter had been flown in from Turkey, kept hidden and driven to the street corner to carry out the assassination before they were flown home. Again, it's just a theory that like, where's the root of this apart from just speculation? It's hard to know if he had more or if this was just sort of like things he was pulling out. Yeah. And we'll see why later on. Homer focused most of the investigation's resources on the PKK for many of the first crucial months. But they were impossible to infiltrate. With the PKK's history of killing traitors, it was very hard to track down any Kurdish people willing to spy on their countrymen for the Swedish police. And you can't just send

Hans fucking Christian Andersen, the very famous Swedish police officer, undercover into the PKK. We do know he was Danish. Don't fucking get your knickers in a twist, right? Homer spent all summer investigating the PKK, looking for an in. He oversaw a slew of increasingly dramatic arrests, raids and interrogations. Not once did he seek permission from a judge. Homer went ahead and signed all of the warrants himself. Sure, Homer. My favourite, this literally just popped into my head,

my favourite Hans Christian Andersen story is like, so famous, a bit of a weird guy, right? He was a huge Charles Dickens fan and they wrote to each other and Dickens being English was like, oh, well, you know, you must come and stay. And Hans Christian Andersen, being Danish, didn't understand that that wasn't an actual invitation. So he showed up at Charles Dickens' house and he didn't leave for six months. I hate Dickens. I don't want to be at his house for six

months. I mean, I'd rather be Dickens in that situation than Hans Christian Andersen. What do you mean? I'm not entirely welcome here for as long as I want? Great accent. It was a flailing. I really thought I was going to commit to it. And I was like, I haven't been to Denmark. I have no idea. After months of intense investigation into the PKK, a climax was reached. Police raided a bar in Old Town called Stampen and arrested several Kurds. No evidence or even any clues at all were

found and police had nothing on any of the people that they arrested. So, Kurdish or not, they had to just let them go. That was one failure too many for such a high-profile case and Holmer was forced to resign. But years later, in 1998, former PKK commander Sedmin Saikic was quoted in a Turkish newspaper called Sabah. And he said, I do not know the details of the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, nor do I know how the murder was planned or how the decision to kill him was taken. But I know that this murder was committed by the PKK.

Oh, interesting. So everyone was like, it was them! Well, maybe. Or was it? Because this case has gone through six investigations and three commissions. Within that time, theories and leads have come and gone. And over the years, everyone and their mum seem to claim the assassination for their own.

Just two months after the assassination, a neo-Nazi group, calling itself the European National Socialist Union, which is scary stuff, sent a letter to the Swedish news agency, TT, saying, quote, we are behind the killing of Palmer. German traitor Willy Brandt will be next. The words national and socialist aren't bad on their own, but next to each other, it's pretty bad stuff. And the letter claimed that the neo-Nazi group's aim was to, quote, rid the world from so-called statesmen who pave the way for Bolshevism. Two months after that, an American citizen who was in league with the Chilean secret police said that he had received orders from the Pinochet regime to kill Palmer. Soviet news

pointed the finger at the US, claiming that Palmer had been being surveilled by the CIA for years because of his opposition to illegal wars. And years later, a former South African police officer, Colonel Eugene de Kock, claimed to reveal definitively that Palmer was killed by an agent of the South African government for his stance against apartheid and support for the ANC. The South African connection was one of the many theories advanced by none other than the Scandi-Noir godfather himself, Stig Larsson. As well as writing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Larsson dedicated almost 20 years to investigating the Palmer murder. He's a weird

fucking guy, man. How do you get all that done? That's what I'm like, do you sleep, Steve Larson? It sounds like you don't. Or maybe you just fucking knocked out the girl with a dragon tattoo on a Wednesday morning and the rest of the time is solely Palmer dedicated. As a journalist for a newspaper, which has a Swedish name that I'm going to attempt, but you can't be mad at it. Dagens Nyheter. Nailed it. Nailed it, smashed it, crushed it. Larsson devoted a huge amount of his time to Palmer investigations,

and he started with the extreme right. Larsson's work, and the work of a team of journalists who were working under him, led to a lot of concrete theories and tips for the police. In a letter to a friend one month after the killing, Larson wrote that it was, quote, one of the most unbelievable and amazing cases of homicide I have ever had the unpleasant job of covering. You love it, Larson, don't lie. Where do you start your investigation with literally thousands of suspects and not one single clue. So, the investigation checked out the Kurdish PKK, Chile, South Africa, neo-Nazis and the USA.

And then there was Kirsten Pettersson, who was arrested, charged and crucially sentenced for the murder of Olaf Palmer in the 80s. He was picked out of a line-up by Palmer's wife. But Pettersson too was let out on appeal after just a few months in prison because there was a total lack of evidence. Yeah, I mean, we have visited Sweden and its justice system with the Thomas Quick episode. They do seem to, and I'm not saying this is still the case, but historically there does seem to have been a, that's good enough, stick him in prison. Like, come on sweden with thomas quick he literally was just confessing to any murders that you put in

front of him and everyone was just like all right cool there's no evidence but this is good enough and there is an element of that here also everything you've just heard are just the theories that we have time to fill you in on there are hundreds of potential perpetrators from governments to lone gunmen right-wing extremists to dodgy, arms-dealing Indians. And this mystery has been poured over for decades. Every Swede ever has their own take. I'm going to ask my best friend's dad what he thinks and tell you what I'm doing because he'll know because he's a spy. Anyway, before we get to the dramatic press conference from two years ago that we told you about on the top of the show, which is the one where the police declared that the murder had

finally been solved, we have two more factors that we would like to introduce you to. First, the Scandia man. And that was the nickname given by the press to Stig Engström, one of about 20 witnesses to the killing. He had clocked out of work just two minutes before Palmer was shot. And I just can't move past nickname on Under the Duvet last week if you did watch it or whenever this was. I think we're recording ahead of time. Hannah, you shared with us some of the best nicknames that you've seen on Twitter. And my personal favorite was, what was it, like a five foot guy called Anthony who everyone called Sh Shetland Tony and I was telling ACD face about it and he sent me this link which I have to send you of like just a guy reading the best nicknames he's ever seen oh my god amazing

and one of the best ones was there's two that are so good and one of them was um yeah the place I used to work there was a guy with one hand that was smaller than the other. So everyone used to call him the clock. There was another one where a guy was like... I started working at this factory and there was a guy and everyone called him Keth. And I called him Keth. And it wasn't until many years later that I realised that his name was actually Keith. And it was just because he was missing one eye. Oh my God. That is the best thing I've ever heard say what you like about the english uh you can say we have no culture if you want but we're really good at nicknames so good so so good

so yes back to this nothing to do with anything so i know so yes stieg enstrom scandia man he basically clocked out of work just two minutes before Palmer was shot. He left the Scandia insurance HQ just across the road from the scene of the crime, briefly chatted to security guards, and 20 minutes later he returned to tell them that the Prime Minister, Palmer, had been shot just 40 metres away. Engström had grown up in India, with servants and, you know, the whole, the whole like you know post-colonial

overlord situation and he moved to Sweden at 12 to live with relatives as a child he was frequently dressed in English military uniforms and played with military toys so you know a really narrow range of interests you're developing there for your child his parents and as an adult he went on to have a very intense sense of justice, which is one of the most terrifying ways in which you can describe any person ever. Imagine, you'd be like, oh, I met this guy. He's really great. I think you should meet him, Anna.

He's got a really intense sense of justice. It's never good stuff, is it? It never ends well. And this is a good example of this intense feeling of justice that he had. He'd once taken an incorrect electricity bill all the way to Sweden's high court. Hackney Council have finally caught up with me. They sent me three bills. Yeah.

Yeah. I'll get you. Yeah. I mean, to be fair, it was not my fault anyway. I will pay the council. So Engström was also a keen bridge player and played cards with high-ranking military personnel and diplomats. One of his neighbours was also an arms collector. So I know this sounds like a variety of smorgasbord, if you will, of information that we're giving you about Engstrom.

But basically what we're telling you is like, this is how they're connecting the dots to him. They're like, oh, he could get the arms from here. He's got this kind of personality, etc., etc. I've actually got a smorgasbord bone to pick with Sweden. Okay. We went to the Grand Hotel. We did. To have their very famous smorgasbord dinner. And we tried to order wine.

And the waiter was like, no, in Sweden, we drink beer when we eat smorgasbord. I was like, that is mental because that's just going to fill you up even more. Like, it was like eight courses. That's insanity, Sweden. I know. I feel like, was it though, was it just like, this is what I was saying when we were eating it, it kind of just was like, this is all the stuff,

and I mean like how it developed as a Swedish tradition, this is all the stuff we've got. Some fucking pickled herring and some bits of cracker, and like, you're going to be really hungry after, so just drink loads of beer with it. I don't know. I'm not here to shit on your culture,eden but i'm just wondering yeah it was um i mean we were also all a incredibly tired and i was really not very well because i've forgotten to take my drugs two days in a row which like it's like just fucks with my stomach so i was sitting there being like are you gonna be sick and then be like have more of this pickled herring

which was surprisingly it was surprisingly tasty. It was delicious, yeah. You know, I'm not going to go looking for more pickled herring in my life. But while I was there, I ate it and I did enjoy it. You did, yeah. So anyway, back to Engstrom. He's got all these things going on. And he also made absolutely no secret of hating Olaf Palmer.

And later in life, he developed a serious alcohol dependency. And the rage to match it, which is always fun. So yes, put a pin in Scandia Man for now. We will come back to him. Stab him right in the face. The second factor that we are going to tell you about before we let you get on with your life is a factor that comes in the form of a question,

which is just how ineffective do you have to be as a police force to derail an investigation quite this badly? We've already told you that the crime scene wasn't properly cordoned off, people stomped all over it, and that crucial alerts were not given to city police that could have helped them to track down the killer. Police also failed to question and hold key witnesses. Many only got in touch after they saw media campaigns asking for those with information to get involved.

Even Engstrom, the Scandia man, wasn't properly interviewed at the scene, even though he personally approached an officer to give his account of events. Suspect. Red flag. But also very matching of his personality also. He's a fucking jobsworth. Yeah, that's so true. Before the shooting, one witness had reported seeing a man that he recognised as police officer Thomas Lint standing by his patrol vehicle with a walkie-talkie in his hand. And this is where we enter Hannah's favourite theory town.

Lint was a part of a police squad that handled petty crime, and they called themselves the Baseball League, because they all wore baseball caps. And the Baseball League were well known in the early 80s for their excessive violence whilst on duty, and also for their links to the extreme right. The Baseball League organised evenings that they called Friendship Nights, which sounds like whiskey and fisting if I ever heard it,

which fascist guest speakers would appear and rile everyone up. And occasionally on these Friendship Nights, there was an odd dance to German military music. Sounds like a good time. The Baseball League was established by drum roll please none other than hans holmer it really does sound like the beginning stages of like the proud boys the baseball league exactly it's it's the first 10 minutes of american history actually like truly sorry i really took the wind out the fact that that Hans Holmer was the founding member of this.

And if you need reminding, Sausage, Hans Holmer was the murder of Olaf Palmer's first chief investigator who did such a terrible job he was forced to resign. He oversaw months of shoddy police work and derailed the case in its first crucial months because he was obsessed with the PKK. So Harmer kitted the Baseball League out with automatic weapons, which he sourced from a delightful chap called PJ Carlstrom, a former police officer who left the force to pursue his other loves, arms dealing and extreme right rallies. And he still left to do it. And if you need convincing of anyone's political leanings in this situation, just have a look at any of the many photos of PJ Carlstrom

doing the actual Hitler salute at the actual Brandenburg Gate. Conveniently for him, at the time of the murder, Carlstrom was in hospital recovering from appendicitis. But on the day of the assassination, he signed himself out against all of the advice of his doctors he was like listen here i know you're a doctor with all your fancy medical degrees but i'm a nazi so i can sign myself out actually i know better than you though to be fair when i had my appendix out i also did sign myself out and have you had your

appendix i did yeah so when i went in for my emergency, emergency. They were just like, whilst we're in here. Genuinely, because they thought I had appendicitis. And then they got in and they were like, oh no, you've got raging endometriosis. And no one in this surgical room is equipped to deal with that because no one gives a fuck about endometriosis. But yeah, they were like, we'll just take your appendix. And then afterwards, I was just like in this fucking hospital and I was miserable.

And I was like, this is starting to affect my mental health. I was like, I'm checking myself out. And they were like, I don take your appendix and then afterwards I was just like in this fucking hospital and I was miserable and I was like this is starting to affect my mental health I was like I'm checking myself out and they were like I don't think you should do that and I was like I'm checking myself out and I've already called my parents and they're on their way to take me home and my parents turned up and the doctor was like she's not meant to leave and then I convinced them all and when she went to go get my discharge papers I had been nil by mouth for like almost five days and my parents had brought a box of strawberries with them. I ate all the strawberries while we were waiting for the doctor to go get my discharge papers. She walked back in reluctantly with the papers to let me check out.

And then I threw up bright red everywhere. And I was like, it's just because I've eaten a box of strawberries after five days of eating nothing. It's not blood. I promise you, please let me leave. Anyway. And then you went to the Brandenburg Gate. And then I shot Olaf Palmer. blood i promise you please let me leave anyway and then you went to the brandenburg gate did you know if you go to you know they're like uh research labs and stuff they're at the north and south poles if you go there you have to have your appendix out before you go yeah makes sense just in case makes sense i think it was after one researcher who went there with her appendix still

intact and then they had to like cut it out of And then they had to, like, cut it out of themselves. She cut it out herself. Yeah, she cut it out herself. Because otherwise, you're just going to die. So, yes, on the day of the assassination, he checks himself out against the advice of his doctor. And on that same night, another member of the baseball league parked his car at the top of the stairs where Palmer was shot. In full view of the crime scene. Exactly where the chasing witness, Lars, if you

remember, had lost his tail on the assailant. Yet another Baseball League member, Hans Zetterland, was on duty at the Police Radio Communication Centre that night, and reporters have said that he showed a pretty amazing lack of urgency when he received that night's emergency calls. Usually, emergency calls take priority, but Zetland replied to a call from a taxi rank over calls from the murder scene. On top of that, when he answered the phone to a taxi driver reporting gunshots,

Zetland apparently hung up. It's not looking good, is it? No, it's not. He didn't even call an ambulance despite reports that a man had been shot. And he assigned the assassination of the actual Prime Minister of Sweden the lowest possible priority level.

Which is why so many police were not aware of the murder until it was miles too late. And why so few were hunting the killer. And if that isn't enough for you, there's plenty more anecdotal but equally unnerving stories. There was a journalist who was listening in to police frequencies and they heard a mysterious exchange about the weather, followed immediately by the words,

president has been killed, and then total silence. And then there's two Finnish women, Katja and Perio, who said that they were on the corner where Olof died and they asked a man for the time. And when they did that, the women noticed that this man not only had a watch, he had a gun. And they heard him say, I've been spotted. What do I do? An answer shortly came into his walkie-talkie

that was hard luck, continuous planned. Obviously it depends how much you trust these Finnish women or that journalist but we could go on. There are as many anecdotal stories as you could possibly imagine and we could also tell you all about the obvious contradictions in the police reports, the information incorrectly entered into the police computer etc etc the list goes. But let's just say that there is also an active theory that an extreme right faction of the Swedish police organised the murder of Olof Palme. And that's what I think. Hans Olbrov, once the head of the murder inquiry, one of the many heads of the murder inquiry,

refused to follow any inquiries leading to the police force. He said the following to interviewers. We have made enough progress to assure you that there is no conspiracy. My job is not to make inquiries about the police force. It is to arrest the killer of Olof Palme. Well, that's very convenient, isn't it? And he also went on to say that Sweden is a great democracy, and so we have a democratic and efficient police force.

Half the police officers are social democrats themselves. Do you really believe us capable, as democrats, of killing our own prime minister? But what about the other half-hands? They have so little on any of the other theories they follow up on, and they have just as little, admittedly, other theories they follow up on. And they have just as little admittedly on this, but it's also because they didn't look into it. So why not look down this avenue? Obviously, we know why, because they closed ranks. I also feel like it's such an odd argument to be like, actually, I have you know that 50% of police officers are really

great people. Well, he's saying like 50% of them are social democrats. But this idea that you could be a social democrat but still not want to kill the prime minister because you disagree with him and his way of doing those things. And also the fact that the others are not social democrats, therefore, and any number of them could be bad eggs. Like, it's just, it's such a non-starter of an argument. But that's what he goes with. And in June 1999, an investigation was finally conducted into police involvement but not a single police officer or witness was interviewed so it's a quite the investigation the resulting report cast doubt on the witnesses he had come forward so people like the finnish women and cited only documents provided by the police and if they were a choose

your own adventure fucking coloring book style warrant like like Hans Holmer was just filling in his own warrants, these documents are probably not worth very much. That's the next serial killer colouring book. It's just loads of blank police warrants that you can fill out yourself. So basically, after this report came out, it was concluded that there was no link between the police and the murder of Olof Palme. At 9.30am on the 10th of June 2020, where Sweden was letting coronavirus rip through it, Swedes gathered in front of their televisions, because Swedes were allowed to gather, the rest of us were inside.

They watched a live press conference, in which the assassin's identity would finally be revealed. How dramatic. The theatre of it all. And prosecutor Krista Pettersson led an almost two hour long press conference. And if that name sounds familiar, you are very clever and you can have 10 points. The man who was jailed in the 80s and then cleared of the murder of Olaf Palmer was also called Krista Pettersson. They are different people.

This press conference, Prosecutor Pettersson, not Felon Pettersson, said to the nation... Cleared felon. He probably did something else. They finally... That's very Swedish of you. Finally, he announced to the nation that Sweden had their killer.

It was Stig Engström, otherwise known as the Scandia Man. Police cited Engström's military past and membership of a shooting club. They spoke about his mingling in anti-Palmer circles. They mentioned his financial problems, his struggles with addiction, but they can talk a big game all they want. There is still no murder weapon and no real motive for the assassination of Olaf Palmer. Oh, Jesus fucking Christ. Like, all of the things I've listed about this guy are just things that would make you look into someone as a suspect. There is no probable cause there to be like, this is the reason we think it's him. And they held a two-hour press conference

about this. Wow. Even more annoying than the Delphi press conference. It truly is. I'm incredibly triggered right now. So Prosecutor Pettersson went on to say that at the time of the murder, Engstrom was frustrated with his lot in life. He said this, quote, He had not advanced at his job. He didn't get the positions that he felt he deserved.

He had no family, no prospects in sight. So he was kind of a disappointed man at that point in his life. But he also had a drive to be recognised, to make something great of himself. Apparently, after Engström contacted the police, he had been questioned several times over the years, but repeatedly dismissed as a suspect. This conclusion that he was now the killer, that they were broadcasting to the whole of Sweden, seemingly came with no new solid evidence. It had been reached through re-evaluation of past witness statements, which I'm not saying is not an effective way to get them. In the Delphi case, it doesn't seem, although we don't have the probable cause affidavit, that there wasn't new information. It does seem from reports that I've heard that it came from

re-examination of past witness reports. So I'm not saying that's not an accurate way. I'm just wondering what's not an accurate way. I'm just wondering what else there is. Well, apparently, after Engstrom's wife was questioned by police, she told the Expressen newspaper, quote, it is out of the question. He was not that kind of person, that's for sure. He was too much of a coward.

He wouldn't harm a fly. And despite the police finally closing the case and naming the murderer, there had been no arrest. And there would be no further trial because stig engstrom had killed himself 20 years earlier at the age of 66 it's literally pinning it on the invisible man yeah like it's that is so outrageous and let's just remind ourselves that this happened two years ago in 2020. We're not talking about a pastow case, not the murder, but this announcement that it was Stig Engstrom. I'm annoyed. Pettersson said, quote, we can't open proceedings or interview him.

How convenient. Because he's dead. So my decision is to close the investigation as the suspect is deceased. That's outrageous. So after decades of scrutiny, the investigation was quietly drawn to a close. And for us, and a lot of Swedes, it was a deeply unsatisfying end. There are so many twists and turns in this story. We've got international hitmen, intricate police conspiracy

that went all the way to the top, And, of course, extreme right terrorism. So after all of that, the idea that it was just a lone, unaffiliated gunman rang a bit hollow. Could a frustrated alcoholic who was fed up with his lot in life just suddenly decide to shoot the Prime Minister? Sure. Did he? No. Now, we've spoken about proportionality bias before on this show.

It's our natural tendency as humans to think that big events must have big causes. And it's the fuel behind quite a lot of conspiracy theory thinking. I think we see this in true crime all the time. The case I'm working on at the moment that's going to be our two-parter to end the year at Red Handed is very, not very similar. But what I mean is that people want things to be bigger than they are. And especially when you create a vacuum like this where the police seemingly just covered up a load of shit of course you're going to have conspiracy theorists galore just pouring over this case and we have to

understand that in Sweden Palmer's death was seismic. He represented so much in terms of Sweden's national self-image and his sudden death felt like an attack on what it meant to be a modern Swede. The sudden return of violence to Swedish political life after 200 years of peace was an affront on every member of the population. And the idea that it could all be caused so simply, with so little thought, was unthinkable. So I think we've made it reasonably clear what we think happened. You can make up your own mind because you are an individual. If you need more answers, bon chance, mon chéri. There is more information about this case than you can shake a stick at. It's all out there. You can go and read it.

You can go and read Reddit threads aplenty. And there are actually lots of authors who've made their entire careers out of picking apart the causes and context of the assassination of Olaf Palmer. And, as you would expect, there is an army of internet sleuths working non-stop to spread their own theories about what happened. Even though the official investigation has unsatisfactorily come to a close, the public obsession with the death of Olof Palme is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down.

So there you have it. The assassination of Olof Palme, our sacrifice to the Swedish ghosts. Literally, you could read about this for the rest of your life. I would advise not. If you want more, there is more, but that's where we're going to leave. That's where we're going to leave it. We've hit all the main points. Yeah, I think so. I often feel frustrated when I listen to like a 10-part podcast on a case, and I know we're going to do two parts. And I feel feel like it's okay, Sruti, we can't compete with that. We definitely can't compete with a show that's put out 360 episodes on this case. So that is the story of the assassination of Olaf Palmer.

Tell us what you think on social media. It's definitely an interesting one, especially if you're Swedish. What are your theories? But other than that, we're going to leave it there for today. If you follow us on social media, then thanks. Then thanks. And keep your eyes peeled next week, especially if you are an American or a Canadian. Keep your eyes peeled and you'll be maybe getting

some information there next week or some sneak previews at least. We'll be back next week with something else. Hooray! Bye! They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. When TV producer Roy Radin was found dead in a canyon near L.A. in 1983, there were

many questions surrounding his death. The last person seen with him was Laney Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who desperately wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry. But things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing. From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of The Cotton Club Murder early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.

I'm Jake Warren, and in our first season of Finding, I set out on a very personal quest to find the woman who saved my mum's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now exclusively on Wondery Plus. In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti. It read in part, Three years ago today that I attempted to jump off this bridge but this wasn't my time to go. A gentleman named Andy saved my life. I still haven't found him. This is a story that I came across purely by chance but it instantly moved me and it's taken me to a place where I've had to consider some deeper issues around mental health.

This is season two of Finding and this this time, if all goes to plan, we'll be finding Andy. You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.