Sweden - Johan Asplund, 11, missing since November 7, 1980

[Rikissa]

The disappearance of the 11-year-old Johan Asplund is one of the most well-known Swedish missing person cases, not just because it was unusual that children disappeared without a trace, but also because of the "confession" made by Thomas Quick in 1993 that he had abducted and killed Johan, as well as having killed about 30 people in the Nordic countries between 1964 and 1993, all which is deemed being false confessions.

Johan disappeared early in the morning, his mother had already left for work, and Johan was getting ready to walk to school. He was last seen at 8 a.m., about 15 minutes after his mother had left for work. At about 14.30 (2.30 p.m.) Johan's father came to pick him up at the mother's (the parents were separated), they discovered that Johan had not been at school that day, and he was reported missing to the police at 15.40. There were much searching done by the police, but no traces have been found of Johan. There is a suspect, the stepfather of Johan, and he had threaten Johan's mother to harm the boy, after their separation. As there were no clear evidence found for the stepfather being involved in the disappearance, he was not prosecuted, but Johan's parents brought him to court for the abduction. The stepfather was first found guilty, but later on acquitted in a higher court.

938DMSWE - Johan Olof Mattias Asplund

Johan-fallet – Wikipedia (only in Swedish)
Sture Bergwall – Wikipedia (aka Thomas Quick)

 

[ChatteringBirds]

What about the alleged confession and potential burial area discussed on Doe Network? (It says "a man" allegedly confessed to burying him in the woods but there had been no search in the area as of November 2014.)

938DMSWE - Johan Olof Mattias Asplund

 

[scandinavian girl]

What about the alleged confession and potential burial area discussed on Doe Network? (It says "a man" allegedly confessed to burying him in the woods but there had been no search in the area as of November 2014.)

938DMSWE - Johan Olof Mattias Asplund

I remember when Johan went missing and the whole fiasco with Thomas Quick. It was a total shock to read about "the man", haven´t heard or seen anything about it.

 

[Rikissa]

There is a cell phone film clip where the stepfather of Johan is said to confess to accidentally causing the death, but the person who gave it to the police doesn't appear to be reliable. As to why the police haven't done any searches, I would think it's only an approximate area "north of Sundsvall", too large to start searching.

Erkännandet: Så dödade jag Johan

Elvaårige Johan Asplund lurades in i en bil och sövdes med kloroform. När kidnapparen sedan skulle väcka honom var han död. Aftonbladet kan nu avslöja vad manne

www.aftonbladet.se

GW: Mycket talar för att han är Asplunds mördare

Enligt Aftonbladet finns en mobilfilm där en man erkänner att han har mördat elvaårige Johan Asplund. Kriminalprofessorn Leif GW Persson tror att den utpekade är gärningsman, men menar att personen som tillhandahållit filmen inte är trovärdig.

www.svt.se

Even if it was to have been the killer who had confessed, and even if abody was found, the person responsible could no longer be prosecuted, because when the disappearance happened Sweden then had a prescription period of 25 years for murder, after that a person could no longer be prosecuted. There are no longer any prescription period for murder, the law was changed in 2010.

 

[FergusMcDuck]

I remember when Johan went missing and the whole fiasco with Thomas Quick. It was a total shock to read about "the man", haven´t heard or seen anything about it.

I've never heard of the 2014 confession either. I don't see a source on the site, so I'll try to look for it later.

EDIT: Nevermind, I was too slow. Yeah, "forest north of Sundsvall" is rather imprecise.

 

[Beekarina]

Interesting how the story seems to match with a break in with the hospital as well.

My question would be how did this man dig a grave in that weather? It must have been a very shallow grave? It says it had snowed the night before, and given November in Västernorrland, would think the ground is pretty hard?

 

[scandinavian girl]

I've never heard of the 2014 confession either. I don't see a source on the site, so I'll try to look for it later.

EDIT: Nevermind, I was too slow. Yeah, "forest north of Sundsvall" is rather imprecise.

yes, north of sweden is mostly forests so where do they start if that was all that was said.

 

[Beekarina]

You would also find wolves in those forests. Not to be graphic, but I wouldn't think putting the remains of a young boy in a presumedly shallow grave in the winter would mean years later his bones are where he was left originally.

 

[Rikissa]

My question would be how did this man dig a grave in that weather? It must have been a very shallow grave? It says it had snowed the night before, and given November in Västernorrland, would think the ground is pretty hard?

It was early November, and even if it was snowing it was not certain that the ground frost had yet set. Here's a link to temperatures in Sundsvall since 2010, even if there are single very cold days in November, the normal daily mean low is -1.2 °C for November, and 2.8 °C for October. Had it been late November, and until the beginning of April, it would have been impossible to dig due to ground frost, but if the autumn had been mild, there probably wouldn't have been any problems. I know it's likely that the temperatures were colder back in the 1980s, but probably not that colder.

Klimat och temperatur för Sundsvall, Västernorrland

Temperatur och klimat för Sundsvall, Västernorrland. Väderstatistik månad för månad. Hur blir vädret under året?

www.vackertvader.se

 

[ChatteringBirds]

At least searching with a team and cadaver dogs in a perimeter around the cabin would have made sense, though, in my opinion.

 

[Rikissa]

At least searching with a team and cadaver dogs in a perimeter around the cabin would have made sense, though, in my opinion.

According to the 2014 confession the body is buried about 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the cabin. There are not that many police dogs in Sweden (about 400), and very few specialised cadaver dogs, and they were even rarer back in 2014.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

According to the 2014 confession the body is buried about 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the cabin. There are not that many police dogs in Sweden (about 400), and very few specialised cadaver dogs, and they were even rarer back in 2014.

Okay, but I would like to know more about whether a search was at least attempted and what was done. I maintain if they could identify the cabin, it should have been forensically searched and the surrounding area searched as well as possible. The confession may or may not be fully true. He could have just claimed he went 10 kilometers from the cabin.