Murder of Catrine da Costa

Catrine da Costa
Born	Catrine Beatrice Bäckström 19 June 1956 Luleå, Sweden
Disappeared	10 July 1984 (aged 28)
Died	c. July 1984 (aged 28) Solna, Sweden
Cause of death	Undetermined, considered homicide
Body discovered	18 July and 8 August 1984
Nationality	Swedish
Known for	Murder victim
Children	1

Remains of Swedish prostitute Catrine da Costa (19 June 1956 – 1984) were found in Solna, north of , in the late summer of 1984. Da Costa had been dismembered and parts of her body, in plastic bags, were found one kilometer apart on 18 July and 8 August. The case is known as Styckmordsrättegången (the dismemberment murder trial). How da Costa died has not been established, since vital organs and her head have not been found.

Da Costa, who worked as a prostitute in Stockholm in the spring of 1984, disappeared during Pentecost on 10 June, or soon thereafter. On 18 July, the first parts of her dismembered body were discovered under a highway overpass in Solna, just outside Stockholm. Da Costa's body was identified by her fingerprints. Her head, internal organs, one breast and genitalia have never been found, and no cause of death could be determined from what was found.

Shortly thereafter, Teet Härm a pathologist in a forensics laboratory at Karolinska Institutet was suspected of the crime. He was known to meet prostitutes, and his workplace was between the two places where the victim's body was found. After his arrest, he was released.

At this time, the wife of Thomas Allgen a general practitioner alerted the police that their 17-month-old daughter might be an incest victim. Pediatric examinations found no evidence of abuse, and the doctor and his wife separated in late 1984. Later in 1985, the wife told police that her daughter had begun talking about witnessing a dismemberment. Since the pathologist and the general practitioner knew each other superficially, the police connected the cases. The following trials were largely based on the then-2½-year-old child's stories, interpreted by her mother and evaluated by a child psychologist and child psychiatrist.

In 1986 police resources were stretched thin after the murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, and the dismemberment case was shelved until the following year. Härm and Allgen were arrested in the fall of 1987 and brought to trial in January 1988.

The first trial ended in a mistrial after a juror was interviewed for Aftonbladet on 9 March 1988 and commented on the court's justification for its judicial decision. In a second trial, the lower court asked the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare to investigate the circumstances of the case and found that da Costa's cause of death was unknown. As a result, the two defendants were acquitted, since it could not be established that da Costa died under suspicious circumstances. Although in its verdict the court found that the defendants had dismembered the victim's body, the statute of limitations for that crime had expired.

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Wikipedia