True Crime Campfire - "So I Can Stop:" The Murder of Lovisa Lindh

Episode Date: May 6, 2022

Elle Newmark wrote, “Unrequited love does not die; it’s only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded.” Most of us have felt that special kind of pain that comes from pining after somebody who’s not pining after you. Most of us manage to take the hit and move on. But a few take…another path. This is the story of Jonna Henningsson, a bright, outgoing young woman who loved animals and caring for others. Jonna seemed to have everything going for her. Most people knew nothing about the darkness coiled up inside her, a darkness that lay sleeping most of the time. But when she fell obsessively in love with a man who couldn’t seem to choose between her and his other girlfriend, that darkness opened its eyes and stretched. Sources:A BIG thank you to our patron, who chooses to remain anonymous, for translating these Swedish-language sources for us!Swedish podcast "Rättegångspodden," episode "Styckmordet i Askersund:" https://aca.st/a8d2fbA stack of Swedish-language court documents YouTube channel "The Fear Files," Episode "The Case of Jonna Henningsson:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qUm3eYL5nQFollow us, campers!Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfireFacebook: True Crime CampfireInstagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfireEmail: [e-mail]! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.

Hello, campers. Grab your marshmallows and gather around the true crime campfire. We're your camp counselors. I'm Katie. And I'm Whitney. And we're here to tell you a true story that is way stranger than fiction. We're roasting murderers and marshmallows around the true crime campfire. El Newmark wrote, Unrequited love does not die. It's only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded. Most of us have felt that special kind of pain that comes from pining after somebody who's not pining after you. Most of us managed to take the hit and move on. But if you

take another path. This is the story of Yona Henningson, a bright, outgoing young woman who loved animals and caring for others. Yona seemed to have everything going for her. Most people knew nothing about the darkness coiled up inside her, a darkness that lay sleeping most of the time. But when she fell obsessively in love with the man who couldn't seem to choose between her and his other girlfriend, that darkness opened its eyes and stretched. This is so I can stop, the murder of Levisa Lind. So, Campers, for this one, we're in Sweden, a little town called Ascarsund on June 18th, 2014. And by the way, thank you to one of our listeners for suggesting this case and translating a boatload of Swedish language sources for us so we could cover it.

Yonis Albin had been trying to get hold of his girlfriend, Levisa Linde, for hours. He usually saw her at work. They both worked for the same mining company, but he hadn't seen her that day. Now, that by itself wasn't that weird. Sometimes they just missed each other. But then he got home from work, and Leviso wasn't there. There wasn't anything, obviously, out of order. The place was extra clean and need and the bathroom reeked of bleach, so he figured she must have been cleaning. But LaVisa was nowhere to be found. And when her mom called and said she hadn't been able to get hold of her either, Yonis started to worry. Right as Jonas and Levisa's mom were starting to compare notes and try and figure out where Levisa might have gone,

a call came into the police station in Orobru nearby. There was a young woman on the other end of the line. In a hesitant tone of voice, she began by asking if anybody had spoken to them yet. The police were confused. Like, what do you mean has someone spoken to us yet? Spoken to us about what? The woman was quiet for a second, and then she launched into her story. She'd been involved in a kind of love triangle lately, she said, with a guy named Jonas and another girl. She and Yonis had been together for about a year, but now there was this other woman, and today she'd finally realized that Yonis had made his decision. He'd picked the other girl over her. So, the caller said, she'd decided to go over to his place and pick up her stuff. And lo and behold, when she got

there, she realized the other girl was there in Yonis' apartment. She hates me, the caller said, and she can be really aggressive. A lot of people have told me that. Okay, the officer said, what's this young woman's name? La Visa, the caller said. I think it's La Visa Linde. All she'd wanted to do was get her stuff and get out of there, she told the police, but she and this other girl had gotten into an argument, and the girl had picked up a knife. I tried to defend myself, she said.

I put my hands up to shield myself and got a cut on my hand near my thumb. She was coming after me. And then, the caller said, she'd managed to wrestle the knife away from the other girl, and in self-defense, she stabbed her. Then, in a panic, she fled the apartment. what you stabbed her? The officer said, where? In the throat, the caller said, I think, anyway, on the side of the neck. Now, I'm sure you all can imagine what this must have been like for the officer on the other end of the line.

This is not the kind of call that a small town police force gets every day. The guy had to be wondering if it was a joke. But the more the woman talked, the less likely that seemed. She was given a lot of details. After she ran from Yonis apartment, she first went back to her place. But she couldn't relaxed, worrying about what condition the other girl might be in. I know it was stupid to leave, she told the officer, I should have stayed. So a little while later, she went back to Yonis place. She got pulled over for speeding on the way, she said, chuckling a little. Later, the police would find a record of the speeding ticket, written at 1149 that day. Okay, hang on, the officer interrupted. You got pulled over on the way back to the apartment and you didn't think to tell the

officer what had happened there that morning, that you got into a fight and ended up stabbing a girl? Nope, the caller said that hadn't occurred to her. Well, all righty then. When she got back to the apartment, the caller said, Levisa was gone. She was relieved, she said. She figured if Levisa had left the apartment,

she must not be too badly hurt. And she said she noticed someone had cleaned up all the blood, hers and Levisas from their fight earlier that morning. So she's thinking, okay, she's all right. She's cleaned up and gone out. Couldn't have hurt her too much. But now, Yonis and Lovisa's mom were both calling, saying they couldn't get a hold of her, saying they knew she was one of the last people to speak to her. They were asking her all kinds of questions, she said, and she wasn't sure what to do.

The girl spinning out this bizarre little story was 25-year-old Yana Henningson, a fun, outgoing home health care worker with big doe eyes and a bright smile. She and Yonis had been dating for about a year, and the reason he and Lovisa's mom were blowing up Yana's phone now was this. When he'd gotten home to his empty bleach-smelling apartment that day, he'd found a handwritten note on the table. Not from Lovisa, from Yana. It read, Hi, considering your silence towards me, I have realized that you have not chosen me, so I thought I'd stop by to collect my thing. I was greeted by a furious Lovisa. Glad to see you've already moved on.

I'll mail your key and remove all things that might remind you of me from your apartment. I hope you and Lovisa will be very happy together. She reminds me of you when she's angry. Take care. I will always love you, Yonis. Hugs from Yana. This note. And now nobody could get a hold of Lovisa?

Where was she? and why was Yonah acting so weirdly evasive about the last time she'd seen her? Why the cryptic comment, she reminds me of you when she's angry. The whole thing gave Yonis a sick feeling. Yana wasn't the type of girl you'd expect to end up in a situation like this. She seemed like a great girl. She'd had a normal childhood with parents who loved her. They split up when she was little, but she'd always had a great relationship with both of them.

And she loved animals, especially horses. so much so that she was thinking about going to veterinary school. She had her own horse, and she spent lots of time at the stable where she kept him, riding and grooming and taking cute selfies with him. Yana had plenty of friends, and they all thought of her as gregarious and funny, sort of up for anything. One time she challenged their whole group to a contest to see who could bag the most dudes. Oh, wow.

What's the trophy look like for that one if you win, right? Yeah, we all know. So, get a good mental image. So obviously, Yonah is a girl who likes to get some fun out of life. Doesn't sound like the type to take herself too seriously. Yeah, that was probably true for most of her life, but then came May 2013, about a year before that frantic call to the Orobru police. Yana and her friends had gone out to a club for drinks and dancing.

There she was enjoying the night, and then she caught sight of Yonis Albu. in across the crowded dance floor. And it felt like somebody stuck a firework up her ass. Wow, that's vivid. But yeah, pretty much. She told her friends later on that it was love at first sight.

And Yonis must have been interested, too, because he added her on Facebook the next day. Oh, yes, and the dance begins. The fabled Facebook messenger dance of love. So they started messaging each other on Facebook. And before long, that evolves into seeing each other in person, like once a week or so, then more and more often. But when you read articles about this case and see how each of them describes the relationship, it's real obvious they were coming at it from two totally

different planets. Yeah, Yonis says he never really thought of it as a serious relationship. He just enjoyed Yonah's company and was sort of in it for fun. But Yonah was just ass over tea kettle for this guy. She later said that he was like a drug to her. I feel like it's always a little bit of a red flag when you're using that kind of language to describe a guy you just met. In fact, if you're tempted to use any nine-inch nails lyrics to describe your relationship, you might want to take a step back and reevaluate a couple things. Unless obviously they're the lyrics from that song closer because that was a love song. Yeah. Any song with the lyric I want to feel you from the inside is one to say for your first dance. Romantic.

So anywho, as far as Yonah was concerned, Yonis was the perfect drug. And while he was just rolling along, enjoying what he thought was a little bit of fun, casual sex, Yonah was mentally picking out bridesmaid's dresses and baby names. The name Jody Arias just float through anybody else's mind? Yeah. Mine too. So from the spring of 2013 through the fall, Yonis and Yonah kept seeing each other, Yonah getting more starry-eyed by the day. But by the time the holidays rolled around, Yonis was finally starting to figure out that this girl was way, way more invested in him than he was in her. So he did what so many people do when they decide they want out of a relationship. He just kind of started making himself scarce. What are the kids calling it these days,

ghosting? Ghosted her like Danny Phantom. I don't know who that is, but yeah. He was ghosted. Exactly. So he was less. He was less. Less and less available, and when they were together, he was distant. For Yonah, it was a special brand of torture, and she took it big, dealt with it by throwing herself into the party scene. Hard. Lots of drinking, lots of drugs. She started to look a little rough, like the after half of a before and after drug use PSA.

After Christmas, though, Yonis went on a trip to Thailand. And while he was over there for some reason, boredom, a really short memory, just general horniness. I don't know. he started reaching out to Yona again. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Yeah, I guess so. We're hornier. So, of course, Yonah is over the moon about this,

and she figured once he got home to Sweden, they'd pick right back up where they left off and be head over heels in love again. White picket fences, here we come, right? But when Yonis got back from his trip, Yonah was totally baffled. He was acting all cold and standoffish again. Or at least sometimes he was.

He was veering back and forth between hot and cold, cold so fast that Yona was starting to get whiplash. What the fuck, dude? So, after a few days of Mick Signals boogie, Yona got fed up with it and stormed over to his apartment. Okay, what the hell is going on? She wanted to know. Why was he so sweet and loving one minute and then ice cold the next? Was it a joke? Was he punking her? For God's sake? What? Which, fair enough, to be honest. I mean, that shit is infuriating. My ex used to do that. I'd dump him for his hosebag behavior. Then he'd obsess about getting me back. And right up until about 15 minutes after I took him back, I'd be the most beautiful and fascinating creature on earth until he realized he had me again,

at which point the hose bag would return. It's crazy making. So Yona had a little hissy fit, asked him what the hell was going on, and Yonis pretty much gave her exactly what she wanted. He kind of brushed over his shitty behavior, convenient, but he laid on the frufey love talk with a trowel. He'd been missing her so much. He cared about her so much.

He wanted her so much. Now, campers, I know some of y'all have been in this situation before. There's probably a part of you that knows that this is some virtuoso level bullshit and you shouldn't be falling for it. But you're going to go ahead and fall for it anyway, because it's all you wanted to hear from the guy for six months. Laying in bed, crying, and listening to Indigo girls and crawling inside a bottle of Bacardi-Limon just a little bit too often. Yeah, I might have been there a couple times myself. My point is, it's hard to resist, and Yona didn't. she stayed the night with Jonas that night

and when she woke up the next morning she probably thought she could pick right back up where she left off with the bride magazines and the baby name books so the next night Yana was invited to a party so she went had a few drinks, got a little tipsy and decided that instead of going home

she'd pop in on Yonis instead which we all know guys love for sure yeah who doesn't love an unannounced pop-in What could possibly go wrong? So she got to Jonas's apartment just as he was coming home from working the night shift. He was confused about what she was doing there. They didn't have plans that night, but he let her come in anyway.

Big mistake. And while they were talking, Jonas's phone started blowing up. And the caller ID says, Lovisa. Uh-oh. this campers is 24 hours after yonis poured his heart out about how much he'd missed yonna and how much he cared for her and wanted her yeah so yanna of course was not pleased she was shocked and she was pissed and apparently lovisa wasn't too happy either when she figured out that yonis had another girl in his apartment oh we answered the phone

For God's sake, dude. I know. I know, right? Let it go to voicemail, my dude. Put out one fire at a time. So when Lovisa started getting pissed off on the phone, Yonis kind of panicked a little. Like, wouldn't you?

Like, worlds colliding, big bad. So he says to Yana, okay, come on, I'm taking you home. Which, she's hammered. That's a good move. Good on you, Yonis. But Yana refused to leave. And when I say refused to leave, what I mean is she physically blocked the only door so neither one of them could get out. And Yonis's response to this was to say, all right, fine, and jump out the window.

Oh, my God. Fortunately, he lived on the first floor, but still. Oh, okay. If you got to jump out a window to escape your significant other, that's a red flag, to say the least. Yeah, that's a red flag. And apparently, he wasn't trying too hard to escape anyway because once he got outside, he just went and got in his car and waited for Yana to come out. The woman blocked his front door with her body to try to keep him from leaving the house, and he was still going to drive her home. Now, that is a man who is letting his small head do the thinking.

Eventually, Yana gave up and came out to the car, but before they could drive away, caller ID girl Lovisa showed up and she was pissed, screaming and yelling, screaming and yelling, telling Yana to get out of the car. Yikes. Yeah. Somebody, I'm not sure if it was Yanna or Lovisa, opened to the car door and it sounds like they might have been about to fight or something. I'm not sure. There was definitely a lot of screaming and arguing. And Yonis was pissed at Yonah too. I guess he figured if she hadn't popped

in on him without calling first, none of this would have happened. Oh, gross. How about acting like a grown adult and letting your two girlfriends know about each other, dude? Oh, please. That is not the bro code. Brocode says keep your bitches ten light years apart at all times. And failing that, in the words of Shaggy, deny everything. It wasn't me. Keep those hoes in different area codes. Oh, my God, I'm so breaking up with you. Hey, don't hate the player.

I hate the game. I hate them both. Don't boss me. Okay, so Yonos drove Yonah home. I assume there were some tears and some pissy words back and forth. And after that, just crickets. Yonis went dark on her again. Later, Yonah would tell detectives that Yonis was really suffering, poor thing, from the side effect of this little love triangle that they'd found themselves in.

It's a Bermuda love triangle. You know, I was involved in a lovedodecahedron once. Oh. I don't really want to talk about it, but those other 11 people know exactly what they did. So, Yonis was once again icing Yona out. And for a couple of months, it was just silence. And then, in the beginning of April, in fact, it was April 6th. Yonah would later tell the jury at her trial, and the fact that she knew the exact date

really, I think, says a lot about how obsessed she was with this dude. So on April 6th, Yonis reached out to Yonah again. And instead of telling him to go eat an entire bag of dicks, she took him back. She went over to his place the next day, and it was like, no time had passed at all. They picked right back up where they left off, in fact, quite a bit hotter and heavier than before. Yonah started spending every night at his place, except when she had to pull a night shift with one of her patients. Finally, Yona felt like she was basking in the warm glow of Yonis's love and affection again. The stars were back in her eyes, the wedding day dreams were floating through her head again, back on her favorite drug once more.

Yeah, it's going to work out great. And then in early May, Yona and a bunch of her friends got invited to a wedding in Germany. So they all went out there together, and while she was there, she and Yonis kept in close. touch texting and calling and sending Snapchats back and forth all seem to be well but then one night Yonah catches sight of Jonas's Snapchat list

now this is basically a list of the people you contact them most often on the app kind of a barometer of who's on your mind the most at the time remember the old MySpace top eight you know like that and as you can imagine it's blown up more than its fair share of relationships so

I know this is going to shock you so you better sit down but guess who Yonah saw at the tippy top of his Snapchat list. Yep. You guessed it. La Visa. Now, this would have been bad enough all by itself, but on top of that, Yonah was starting to feel kind of sick. At first, she just figured it was all the German food

and beer she and her friends had been scarfing down on their trip. Lots of sourcrow and sausage, I assume. But the nausea followed her home and kept up, even after she got back to a schnitzel-free diet. She started to get a sinking feeling that something else might be going on, and on her way home from work the next day, she stopped by the drugstore for a pregnancy test. It was, she'd later tell investigators positive. This wasn't exactly good news for Yonah. She wasn't in a great position to bring a kid into the world right then. She was still living with her ex, for one thing, a guy named Jonathan, a situation

that would be complicated to extricate herself from since they owned the house together. Their relationship hadn't worked out, mostly, according to Jonathan anyway, due to Yonah's histrionic behavior and obsessive jealousy, but they were still friends and he cared a lot about her, so they were still living together for now. Not to mention the fact that Jonas hadn't been the most reliable partner lately. Dude had been on and off more than a light switch the past few months, so at first she didn't plan on telling him anything about it. At least, that's what she'd tell the detectives later on. I doubt it myself. I feel like she'd jump at any chance to lock the guy down, and a pregnancy is definitely one way to do it.

Yeah, so supposedly she didn't initially plan on telling Yonis, but she did it anyway, and she did not get the reaction she was hoping for, which I'm assuming was something like pure unadulterated joy and a two-carat diamond. Yeah. Instead, Yonis pretty much freaked out, told her she needed to make an appointment for an abortion like yesterday. So, unsurprisingly, this really upset Yana.

But not long after that conversation, she went back and told him she'd taken care of it. She couldn't bear to see him upset, the poor puppy. So she terminated the pregnancy. But she later claimed she hadn't really. She was still pregnant. She just couldn't figure out how to tell him. Now, apparently, while all this was going on, Leviso was keeping in touch with Yonis. She was contacting him, not the other way around. According to Yana, anyway, I have my doubts. Yonis and Lovisa went way back. They'd known each other since they were kids,

and they'd been dating on and off for years. Yeah, so I doubt she was just blowing up his phone and he was ignoring her. It sounds to me like he was trying to have his cake and eat it. You know, wanting to keep it going with Lovisa, but keep new girl Yonah on a shelf just in case it didn't work out. You know, you always got to have your reserve option, right? Your auxiliary chick. Okay, so now we're up to the last week or so of May.

According to Yana, she was still pregnant, and she'd figured out that Yonis was still seeing Lovisa behind her back. So one night, Yonis goes out on the town. And at one of the pubs, both Yana and Lovisa happened to be there. Awkward. Yeah, small towns. Just like the Thai dolly sign lyric from his hit song, Paranoid. I see two of my bitches in the club, and I know they know about each other.

I think these bitches trying to set me up. really hits home. I love that song. It's so good. And he finishes it with, maybe I'm just paranoid. But so back to back to our trio. Terrible trio.

The ladies didn't back away from the challenge. They both got right up in his face and told him he needed to make a choice between them. God damn it. Just pick one so the other one can move on. But Yonis, poor tortured soul, said he just couldn't do it. Torn between two lovers. I'm sorry, does anybody else just kind of want to smack Yonis a little bit? I mean, bless his heart and all, but dang, dude.

I guess for like six months he's living the, like the toxic masculinity dream, you know? Yeah, exactly. Two bitches fighting over you. Sounds like a nightmare to me, but that's just me. it really does so yonis told them he couldn't choose between them and lavisa and yana both went away mad later that night yana went with a group of her friends to a gas station to pick up some

hot dogs and sodas and stuff you know drunk food and yana took a couple bites of hers and then yacked it all up one of her friends a mom herself got suspicious she said hey what's this about? Are you pregnant? I mean, fair question, I guess. But she'd also been out drinking all nights. It's not the only option. It wouldn't have been my first question, but whatever. I know, right. But Yonah admitted it. Yeah, she was. And Yonis was the dad. Now, apparently this is like an incestuous friend group because one of Yonah's buds, who's also friends with Yonis, overheard this conversation. And the next day, they went and told him, like, hey, man. Nar? You didn't tell me your new girl was pregnant. She was harking up a hot dog last night at the gas

station. This, of course, was news to Jonas because Yonah had told him she'd had an abortion. She just couldn't stand to see him upset. Come on. Yeah, he's a martyr for our times. So, Yonis called Yana up all guns blazing, demanding to know the truth, blah, blah, blah. But after some fireworks at the start of the call, they started to calm down and ended up talking things over for hours. Yonah apologized for lying about the abortion and swore up and down she'd never lie to him again. Not even a white lie, as she put it. And later that night, Yonis called back and told her he'd made a decision. He'd broken things off with Lovisa. He wanted to be with her. So, great, good. Cool, cool, cool, cool. Everything's fine now, right?

Not so much. According to Yonah, about a week later, she started to bleed quite a bit, and when she took another pregnancy test, it came up negative. She didn't tell Yonnas, but she said it was really hard on her. She figured she'd miscarried the pregnancy. So that was bad, but in the same breath, she'd later say that this week was one of the best of her entire life. She was basically living at Yonah's place,

and they were in that honeymoon phase, I guess, when you break up and get back together, you know, that's usually good for like a week or two before it all starts going to shit again. And, go to shit, it did. Because one Sunday evening, not long after this, Yonis phone rang, and guess who it was on the line? Of course, La Visa. Seeing her name on the caller ID, Yonis opted to take the call in the other room, where Yonah couldn't hear, and apparently this sent Yona into a spiral, so much so that she had to run to the bathroom to throw up.

And as soon as Yonis hung up the phone, she confronted him. Why is your ex still calling you? Why are you answering? Why won't you talk to her in front of me? she was so upset she wanted to storm out and go home to her place but yonis convinced her to stay for the night anyway when they got up early the next morning yanna was still worked up she packed up a few things and announced she was going home but by the time she got there she was already regretting it her anxiety was getting the better of her and she called yonis to tell him she was going to come back but yonis apparently not in the mood for any more drama told her nope he wanted some time by himself that day maybe even a few days. She should just stay at her place for a while.

Now, for somebody with a personality like Yonnas, prone to jealousy and insecurity, this is nuclear. And it was at this point, I think, when the cheese really started to slide off baby girls' cracker. She had to come up with some way to get Yonah's attention and affection pointed back in her direction. So she hatched an ill-advised little plan to make him feel sorry for her. Never the right call, in my opinion. You want him to stand in awe of your magnificence, not throw you the odd pity fuck. Come on, girl, I have some self-respect. Look, I don't believe in playing mind games in a relationship.

I left that shit on the cutting room floor decades ago. But if you're going to, okay, if you're going to try to maneuver a guy, you don't do it by making him pity you. You do it by acting like you couldn't care less if he lives or dies. Trust me, that's what gets the butts in the seats. That's what's going to get him panting after you. Yeah, make him the gimley to your gladrail. Exactly. All shall love you and despair. But, you know, we don't all have the huevos for that. And I got to point out here, we didn't have time to include all of these in the episode, though you better believe we're going to post them on socials because they have to be seen to be believed. But all throughout this time, Yonah was sending Yonis an endless stream of text that would scare anybody off. Yeah, I mean, look, I'm not exactly a Yonah Stan. He made some gross choices. But these texts were like, so,

I know you said you were going out hunting with your friends after work, but my gut is telling me you're with Lovisa. Would you mind to send me a Snapchat from the woods so I can trust you? Please, I won't be able to sleep if you don't. And that's just one tiny example. It was non-stop shit like that, day in and day out. Real sad bitch shenanigans. Could you just like send me a picture of you with a dead boar? Like just just once holding today's newspaper like he's a hostage.

Right, right, exactly. And I mean, it was a stream of stuff like that. We're not talking about the odd text. It was like constant, like clingy, insecure, like anybody would be scared off. So clearly, Yonah opted for the passive aggressive approach and you're about to see how well that worked out. So a few days later, Yonah called Yonis up and told him she'd spent most of the day in the emergency room. It was a clogged oviduct, she said, a complicate. from the miscarriage she'd had a few weeks before.

She had to have surgery, she said. It was horrible. Yonis, of course, expressed sympathy like anybody would and asked her to come around the next day, which was a Friday so they could hang out. And campers buckle up for this. Before she went back over to Yonis's place, this woman, I guess thinking she needed to add verisimilitude to her surgery story, took a knife, cut herself on the stomach around where she figured they'd probably operate

on a clogged oviduct, and then stitched herself up again with a needle and thread. Oh, no. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. And keep in mind, she's a home health care worker, not a certified nurse. Like, she... Oh, yeah. So this was the equivalent of, like, me or Whitney, stitching ourselves up.

Like... Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, she was not qualified to do that. No. So friends, dear friends, if you ever find yourself sewing yourself... up in your own bathroom so you can get some lukewarm dude to feel sorry for you. Just bless your heart. For the love of God, please get some help. I'm begging you because you have

entered the twilight zone. This is not how healthy people behave. And again, this is in the midst of a whole slew of pitiful, passive aggressive text that veered back and forth between syrupy promises to never quarrel with him again and always trust him and never get angry and angry stuff about how she just knew he was still seeing Leviso. Like, yes. So, surprise, surprise, the cherry on top of this banana split was that after one cozy night back over at Yonis's place, he asked Yana for his key back. She asked him if he wanted to go back to La Visa, and he said, no, he just wanted to be alone for a little while. Okay, so Yana's interpretation of this was, well, he didn't say it's over in so many words, so you're saying there's a chance. girlie just no no no no so of course yada kept texting our boy yonis and when he sent any response at all

it was usually just a terse little okay or i'm working tonight dude was clearly trying to break things off but she just kept on sending an avalanche of texts also i'm not a hundred percent sure when this happened it might have been before yonis asked for his keyback at some point, Yana sent Lovisa an email. An email. It said, in part, this may be completely idiotic of me to do, but I do it anyway, and I really hope you take it the right way. Starting off strong.

I know that both you, me, and Yonis are extremely tired of the triangle drama. It must end for the sake of us all. Jonas has looked me in the eye and asked me to trust him and that he will never leave me, he said. You talked and agreed not to be in touch for a while for everyone's sake. And I trust him. Yeah, right. She does. I believe and hope that both you and I want Jonas's best. And forgive me for saying that, but it's me who's best for him. He really needs a calm and confident girl like me who sees everything fine in him and accepts the less fine, who trusts him and never says nasty things. to him, who always tries to raise him instead of pushing him down, and who will never betray him.

I understand that it's a lot to ask, but please, Levisa, I beg you, move on from Jonas and find someone who makes you happier, who treats you better, and does not choose me over you all the time. You're my only Achilles heel when it comes to him, so please leave us alone and let us be happy. Then she gives LaVisa her phone number in case she ever needs to talk and signs off by saying she hopes LaVisa will be the happiest girl in the world. Calm and confident. Wow. Yep. And trusts him and never says any nasty things to him.

Right. Want to know what Miss Calm and Confident was up to the week leading up to the phone call she made to the police at the start of the episode? I'll tell you. For one thing, she was Googling the following phrases. How to murder someone. Using toxic substances. Injecting alcohol. Hitting someone with a hammer.

Autopsy after suicide. Can you get convicted of murder without a body? Easiest way to kill someone. How to hire a hitman. Jumping in front of a train. How to transport and dispose of a body. She was also cyberstops. stalking the ever-loving hell out of Lovisa, seemingly trying to keep track of her every move.

And last but not least, she was binge-watching one of her favorite shows, Dexter. Bet y'all weren't expecting a Jodi Aria slash marked, which will mash up, were you? Freaking Dexter, and I love the show, but for God's sake, how many murders, like a dozen or something I could name right off the top of my head. She wasn't sleeping, and she was so anxious she couldn't keep food down. She was just obsessing about Jonas and thinking about how she might get rid of her rival, or at least scare the living shit out of her so she'd never want anything to do with Jonas again. A plan was taking shape in her mind, the product of a week's worth of frantic Googling and Dexter. And on the morning of June 18th, she put it into action.

She knew Yonis would be leaving for work at 5.30, and her cyber-stalking had clued her in that Lovisa was likely to be in the apartment alone. She waited until she knew it was time for Lovisa to go to work herself. And then she slipped out of her car, carrying a bag of supplies. She had a hammer, two syringes, and a kitchen knife. She'd stolen the syringes from one of her clients at work. One was filled with vodka, and one with vodka and one with vodka and. a sedative called pterallium. And she had a bottle of vodka, too. Her plan was to wait behind the stairwell outside Jonas' apartment for Le Visa to leave for work. Then she'd hit Levisa in the head

with the hammer, knocking her unconscious, and drag her back inside. Like Dexter, she'd inject her unconscious victim with the sedative and alcohol, getting her instantly hammered and sedated. And then she'd take her out by the train tracks and lay her across them, the bottle of vodka on the ground nearby. Hopefully, a train would hit her, and she'd be killed instantly, and everyone would think it was a suicide, or a terrible accident. Foolproof, right?

What could possibly go wrong? The problem is, of course, that knocking somebody unconscious isn't as easy as they make it look in the movies. And when LeVisa came out and Yonah hit her with the hammer, she didn't pass out. She screamed and fought back. Panicked, Yona pushed her back into

the apartment and slammed the door behind them. And there, the fight continued. Levisa was screaming and struggling with all her strength, but of course, Yona was the one with the hammer. She hit her six times, and at some point switched to the knife she'd brought with her, then to the syringes. At one point, desperate to stop Levisa screaming, she pressed a dishcloth over her mouth and whispered, Please shut up so I can stop. Please shut up so I can stop. And as this life and death struggle was raging on, the doorbell suddenly rang. A neighbor had heard Levisa screaming and was concerned enough to turn.

try and figure out what was going on. None of the weapons Yonah brought with her was doing what she wanted it to do. LeVisa was still alive and still struggling. Still making an unholy amount of noise and that doorbell was still ringing. So Yonna reached for a big hunting knife Yonis kept on a table, and she stabbed LeVisa in the neck, as hard as she could. And at that, LeVisa finally went quiet and still, a pool of blood slowly growing underneath her.

The doorbell quieted, too. Later, Yonah would claim that she was just in a state of shock. She'd only wanted to scare her. She was just going to knock her out and then leave. She wasn't really going to kill her, not really. You can draw your own conclusions about that. But now, with a curious neighbor possibly calling the police right then, blood everywhere and a body on the floor of Yonis' apartment,

Yonah came to a decision. First of all, she didn't want Yonis to come home to a mess like this. So she tried to stuff Lovisa's body into a big bag she brought with her. And when it didn't fit, she sped home and picked up a couple of those big blue IKEA bags and a saw. On the way back to Yonis Place, she got stopped for speeding. Remember she mentioned that in the call to police at the start of the show? And when she got back to Yonis Place, this girl who everybody would later describe as kind, fun, and an animal lover, took the saw she'd brought with her and dismembered Levisa Lynn's body.

She cut off her head and legs and put them into the IKEA bags. And then with the bags on the floor at her feet She left that little note we told you about earlier Remember? I guess you've chosen Lovisa She reminds me of you when she's angry I'll always love you, et cetera And then she dragged the bags out to her car Oh and once she had the body parts loaded up

And ready to go she stopped by the neighbor's place And rang the bell She didn't want the lady to worry, she said She'd just gotten into a little fight with another girl Boy problems, you know how it is Jonas wasn't involved It was just me and the other girl but everything's fine now.

And inexplicably, the neighbor who apparently hadn't called the cops or anything, like just tried ringing the doorbell a couple times and then shrugged and went home, which is just astonishing to me, said, oh, okay, no worries. All righty then. Damn. By now, it was time for Yana to go to work. But she had body parts and IKEA bags in the backseat of her car, so she improvised. She parked her car at a convenience store and took Lovisa's car.

car to her job. Worked her shift? One of her colleagues noticed a nasty gash on her hand and took her to get it treated. After she finished her shift, Yana took Lovisa's car to Hallsburg. Apparently her original plan had been to leave the car on some train tracks. God, what is it with this bitch in train tracks? She's like a 1930 silent movie villain. Is she going to twirl her mustache and do an evil laugh too? I know, right? And leaving the car on the train tracks doesn't even make sense unless you're leaving the body in it, too. Not at all. The body that you didn't cut apart, right?

Like, it just doesn't... I know. It makes zero sense whatsoever is insane. But anyway, she didn't do it. She either panicked or ran out of time or realized that it was a moronic plan. I'm not sure. Right. Which it was. Yeah.

Something like that. So she just ended up leaving the car in a parking lot. Next, she went back to Askershund and got her own car. She drove way out into the woods and dug a couple shallow holes to put the IKEA bags in. She dumps in the murder weapons, too, and the bath mat from Jonas's apartment. And then she did something that completely baffles me. She called her sister and told her what happened.

Oh, wow. Or at least a watered down version, much like the one she'd later tell the cops. She said, LeVisa had come after her with a knife, cutting her hand, and she'd stabbed her in self-defense, and then left the apartment. Not long after that was when Yonis came home from work, and he and Lovisa's mom put their heads together and realized that neither of them had heard from her all day, and then started blowing up Yana's phone. Which, as you'll recall from the first part of the episode,

is what prompted Yana to panic again and call the police herself. Just another baffling move. Yeah. But I guess she was trying to get ahead of the narrative, like spin out this bullshit self-defense story and try to sell the idea that Levisa had been alive the last time she saw her. Mm-hmm. Oh, sure, sure.

So, you know, you just stabbed her in the neck once in self-defense and hauled ass out of there. And when you went back, she was gone and somebody, the crime scene cleanup fairy cleaned up all the blood. Right. Yeah, it makes perfect sense. You put the murder weapon under your pillow and then the crime scene cleanup fairy comes. It probably won't surprise you to hear that as soon as the investigators got Yana into an interview and started grilling her, she cracked like five minutes in. She told them everything.

And then she led them to the body. Now, in Sweden, the legal system works a little differently. Here in the States, when you have a confession, you often end up with a plea deal, too. But plea deals aren't a thing in Sweden. If the prosecution feel like they have enough to convict you, you go to trial. And interestingly enough, the jury isn't made up of regular people. Like, jurors are elected to represent the people like politicians. Oh, that's interesting.

So Yonah was going to trial. And as part of the preparation for it, they had her psychoanalyzed. Yana was trying to play this off as some sort of crime of passion slash panic. But the psychiatrist who examined her put the kibosh on that idea. Yeah, for all her claims that she was just planning. on going over there and scaring Levisa, Yonah had acted very methodically and with a great deal of premeditation. And I mean, you don't dismember somebody in a panic. That's a lot of work and a lot of commitment. It's also incredibly rare for a woman to do it, like vanishingly rare. So a crime of

passion, this was not. This was cold-blooded murder. And the jury agreed. Yonah was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Now, another little interesting tidbit about Swedish just over there, if the prosecution isn't happy with the sentence, they can actually appeal for a stiffer one. And that's what the prosecutors did here. They felt like Yanna was seriously dangerous and deserved more than 16 years, so they appealed it, and they won. And got an additional four years tacked on to her sentence for a total of 20 years. In fact, partially due to the gnarliness of this crime, a new law was recently passed in Sweden that allows killers who've committed especially awful murders like this one to be sentenced to life in prison. So the next

Yanna might not get off as easily as this one did. And an interesting little P.S. to this story. Yana has been a bad girl in prison. She quickly started up a romantic relationship with another woman when she first got there, but when the girl tried to break up with her, Yana showed her true bunny boiling colors yet again. She started stalking her, threatening to have friends of hers on the outside, tracked down and hurt the girl's family, all kinds of scary shit like that. It got so bad that the other inmate actually managed to get a restraining order, her in prison, which I did not know was actually a thing.

So any hope Yonah may have had for getting out early on good behavior is probably a pipe dream at this point. My guess is she's going to be there for every second of those 20 years, which will still see her getting out when she's in her 40s. Like she'll be like my age, which is really bananas. And I just think this case is a damn shame. It's like here we had two smart, beautiful young women with their whole lives ahead of them and now one is dead and the other's in prison.

And for what? You know, I'd say over some guy, but I think for Yonna, it was a little. about more than that. She's got some kind of deep, deep emptiness in her that she was just desperately trying to fill. And I think Yonis was just the thing she latched on to, to try to fill it with. And obviously, it wasn't worth it. And by the way, even if he'd married her, it wouldn't have worked. Because that kind of emptiness, somebody on the outside can just keep pouring and pouring and pouring and never get it full. You got to work on that stuff from the inside. So, for God's sake, please, if you ever get to a point like this where you're losing

your head over a relationship where you're throwing up all day and Googling how to hire a hitman, please recognize it's time to get help. And don't be afraid to reach out for it. So that was a wild one, right campers? You know we'll have another one for you next week. But for now, lock your doors, light your lights, and stay safe until we get together again around the true crime campfire. And as always, we want to send a grateful shout out to a few of our lovely patrons. Thank you so much to Shade Nightingale, awesome name, Houdini Mansions, an awesome name. Sarah, Star, Abby, Benjamin, and Samantha. We appreciate y'all to the moon and back. And if you're not yet a patron, you are missing out. Patrons of our show get every

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