“We dropped Eleonora and Maria off at their hotel and drove north,” Therese explained. “I was pretty drained mentally, felt both empty and at the same time overfilled with impressions and feelings, now that everything was coming to an end.”
A couple of months from then, in the spring, Therese would receive an invitation from the Norra Förlösa Road Association. They wanted her to join them at a pizzeria in Oskarshamn. Ten or so Förlösa residents would be gathering there to toast her accomplishment and honor the dead.
“They said they wanted to thank me for not having to feel afraid anymore,” Therese said. “They finally had peace of mind. They gave me flowers, and they had also started a collection to help me. They knew I was struggling financially, so they gave me a couple of thousand-krona notes as well; it was incredible to be met with so much love.”
After the trial was over, Therese drove homeward through the winter gloom on the afternoon of December 12, 2014, talking quietly to her husband and Anders Lindfors about the tribulations of the past several months. They rolled north along E22, toward the house in Oskarshamn, past Lindsdal Junction and the exit for Norra Förlösa.
Four days later, on December 16, Swedish State Television aired the show Crime of the Week. The show usually draws over a million viewers every Tuesday night. This was the final episode of the season, and in Therese’s house a handful of people had gathered in front of the TV to watch.
The Lundblad family was visiting—Eleonora, Maria, and Irina—and Anders had come as well.
Just a few hours earlier, Kalmar County Court had remanded Martin and Sara into custody until their sentencing. It was unusual for a court to require several days to come to a decision about detention. It usually implies that the court doesn’t consider the case entirely clear-cut.
One of the segments of that evening’s episode was about the evidence archive in the basement of the Örebro Police Station. “It can make cold cases hot again,” said host Camilla Kvartoft.
On the show that night, criminologist and author Leif G. W. Persson, for his part, promised to tell the story of the “priest poisoner” Anders Lindbäck, Sweden’s first serial killer, who in the nineteenth century murdered three members of his congregation by putting arsenic in the communion wine.
But the program’s main story was about something closer in both time and space to the people in Therese’s living room: the Göran Lundblad case.
After a run-through of known facts, interviews with Detective Martinsson, and a segment where Therese talked about Martin’s confession, the program went back to the studio.
Camilla Kvartoft: This afternoon, we found out the twenty-three-year-old and the twenty-six-year-old have been remanded in custody until their sentencing, which won’t happen until January. How do you interpret that?
Leif G. W. Persson: I interpret that as they’re going to be found guilty of this murder. Otherwise they would probably have let them out, at least her.
CK: So the story Therese was able to tell the police was enough?
LGWP: Yes, that’s right. This is in fact Therese’s case, if I can be a bit ironic about the local plods. Without her, this would have remained a mystery.
“We had dinner together that night as well,” said Therese. “We cried and hugged a lot. It felt like they were finally able to close the books on their missing father.”
As that evening drew to a close, tears were dried. They all knew this was the end, but smiles and promises of friendship were exchanged between the Lundblad family members who were still alive and free, and Therese Tang, the investigator who had gone with her gut, who had stayed with the chase to the end.
Aside from the gravestone, the only enduring physical memory of Göran Lundblad is a light-gray rectangular patch in a field just north of Kalmar, in the dark heart of Småland.
AFTERWORD
This book constitutes one of many possible versions of a long and complex history and a gruesome crime.
The dramatized sections of the book are based on my own research into the facts, on published sources recounting situations and contexts, and on interviews.
Concretely, the material is drawn from:
The police investigation and sentences in case B2149-14, heard in the Kalmar County Court, and case B380-15, heard in the Göta Court of Appeals.
Previously sealed documentation from the police investigation in the same cases.
Other legal documentation, such as relevant police logs.
Audio recordings and transcripts of the trials. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank lawyer Sofi Sundbom, who runs the online blog rättegång.se. Her recordings and transcripts have been immensely helpful.
Articles, news reporting, and documentaries in newspapers and on television and radio.
Interviews with approximately ten people—witnesses and other people affected by the events—during 2016.
Interviews with Therese Tang, 2015–2017.
Other published sources—audio, images, and text—of interest to the investigation, such as text-message exchanges and Facebook conversations. The majority of this material was provided by Therese Tang.
In my rendition, tense and word order have on occasion been changed to achieve a better flow, provide a more coherent context, and adhere more closely to the conventions of written prose.
The following people’s names have been changed: Tiina Nieminen; Irina; and Doris, Henry, and Johan Nydahl.
Both Sara Lundblad and Martin Törnblad have, since they were incarcerated, worked on appealing their convictions and having them overturned. Sara maintains her innocence. Martin has from the high-security prison facility in Kumla made some new claims about “the shooter,” but this has so far led to no tangible results.
In other words, the story of the murder of Göran Lundblad and its aftermath continue. For the people who loved him, it will never end.
Joakim Palmkvist, Malmö, 2018
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are many people for me to thank for helping to bring this book into existence, but none more than Therese Tang, who cut through the veils of secrecy, took personal risks, and brought an impossible case to justice. There are more cases out there, Therese! Go get ’em!
I also owe the greatest of thanks to my Swedish publisher and good friend Martin Kaunitz. Without his guidance and laughter none of my books would have come true.
Martin, the world is not enough.
Publisher and editor Elin Sennerö was also instrumental in the making of this book. Elin, all my very best to you and your family.
My deepest gratitude and respect to each and every person who chose to talk to me and share their experiences and knowledge.
Among them, of course, the people of Norra Förlösa, in the dark heart of Sweden.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2017 Sofia Runarsdotter
Joakim Palmkvist worked for over two decades as a journalist and is one of Sweden’s most experienced and well-known crime reporters. He has interviewed some of the country’s most notorious criminals and lives under a protected identity after publishing accounts about the mafia and extremist groups on both the right and the left. Palmkvist lives in Malmö.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Photo © 2018 Sean McCreery
Agnes Broomé is a literary translator and preceptor in Scandinavian at Harvard University. She has a PhD in translation studies, and her translations include August Prize–winner The Expedition by Bea Uusma.
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