When a 25-year-old woman disappeared after arriving by commuter train at Rönninge station on the night before Boxing Day, her family raised the alarm already in the morning, concerned about what could have happened. Despite this, no active police operation was launched during the first few hours. Only after the relatives themselves searched the area around the train station and found her headphones, as well as items such as a hammer, zip ties, and suspicious tire marks, did the authorities bother to take a closer look at the alert. When the family’s discoveries the following day led to a suspected perpetrator, the authorities initiated a surveillance operation that lasted a full ten hours. According to a police source speaking to Samnytt, the woman may have been murdered or dismembered during this long wait.
– It would be really sick if he killed and dismembered her while we had surveillance outside, says the police source.

The woman grew up in Rönninge but was studying at a university in Skåne and was at her parents’ home to celebrate Christmas. On Christmas Day she went out for a so-called homecoming night and then traveled home at 00:33 from Odenplan in central Stockholm.

At 01:26, on the night before Boxing Day, the 25-year-old woman arrived at Rönninge commuter train station, where she was caught on surveillance cameras. Her mobile phone also connected to a mast in the area around 01:50.

However, she never came home from the station. Around 01:30, a witness in Rönninge reportedly heard a woman scream near the station area.

The family searched themselves

On the morning of Boxing Day, the family realized something was wrong and immediately contacted the police. Despite their concern, they received no response, and during the morning no operation was launched in the area to trace the woman. The family therefore chose to begin their own search around the commuter train station.

While searching in person, the family also shared a picture of the woman on social media. Reportedly, they did not receive help spreading the missing person’s notice, either from the police or from establishment media. However, Samnytt published the family’s photo during the search operation.

During the family’s own search, which lasted from Friday morning well into the afternoon, several discoveries were made without police involvement.

About 500 meters from the commuter station, the woman’s headphones were found, along with a hammer, zip ties, and tire tracks from a vehicle. If the family had not gone out themselves to search for their relative, these discoveries might never have been made, and the woman could have remained missing without a trace in the hands of the now detained suspected dismemberment murderer.

Only when the family found something did police respond

The family contacted the police again on Friday afternoon with information about the discoveries made at the scene. It was only then that the authorities showed interest in the incident – several hours after the family’s first emergency call on Boxing Day. A response operation was initiated with a helicopter, dog patrols, and ground resources. The operation, which was supported by rescue services and civilian actors, began at the Rönninge commuter train station.

– Certain information came to light that led us to start a preliminary investigation on suspicion of a crime, says incident commander Max Åkerwall regarding the operation.

At the same time, the findings were sent to the National Forensic Centre after 3 pm on Boxing Day, that is, on Friday. There, analyses of fingerprints and DNA led to a suspect being identified on Saturday morning, at which point a prosecutor became involved. The police were now treating the family’s notification about the missing woman as a kidnapping.

Slow surveillance operation against child kidnapper

But even though the police, via the NFC, managed to identify a suspect at the station – a dangerous individual previously convicted of attempting to kidnap a ten-year-old girl with zip ties, threatening prison staff with murder, and possessing tens of thousands of images and videos of child pornography and depictions of dead women’s bodies – they initiated a slow surveillance operation against him on Saturday morning, after half past ten.

During Saturday morning, the man was arrested in absentia and the police began to monitor his mobile phone to see what he was doing as well as to locate him. Once this was successful, a surveillance operation lasting a full ten hours was launched, during which the man was allowed to move freely without police intervention. Reportedly, this was done in the hope that the child-kidnapping transvestite would lead surveillance officers to where the woman might be held captive.

It was not until Saturday evening, around 9:30 pm – nearly two days after the disappearance from Rönninge commuter station – that the police in charge decided to strike against the suspected perpetrator Vilma Andersson. He was then caught red-handed in a forest area where he was in the process of burying the 25-year-old woman’s body parts. The man was arrested and detained on probable cause suspected of the woman’s murder.

– When we took the person into custody, it became clear that the woman was deceased, said commander Max Åkerwall at a press conference on Sunday.

The judiciary still does not know when or where the 25-year-old woman was murdered. The case files indicate that the murder is suspected to have been committed in Rönninge “or in another unknown location.” This raises questions about how effective the police’s approximately ten-hour surveillance operation really was.

Police criticize that the family had to search on their own

Samnytt could, as the first media outlet, reveal on Sunday the real name of the 26-year-old suspected dismemberment murderer, which had been protected by state confidentiality. He now claims to be a woman and calls himself Vilma Andersson. The name he has adopted is, except for a detail in the spelling, identical to Wilma Andersson, who was dismembered in Uddevalla in 2019.

A person within the Police Authority whom Samnytt spoke to questions how the police handled the search operation and the pursuit of Vilma Andersson. It was the family who were forced to go out and search, who found clues that could be linked to a suspected perpetrator, and who then contacted the police again to prompt an operation.

Meanwhile, the pedophile, child kidnapper, and now suspected dismemberment murderer was given time to move calmly and complete his crimes in other locations in southern Stockholm – several miles from Rönninge commuter train station.

Samnytt’s police source says that police management often beats its chest and speaks of “the unbroken chain of reaction” in the fight against gang crime, which is meant to ensure police act immediately and identify success factors early. For example, by creating scenarios for what might happen next. But according to the source, this approach is notably absent when Swedish women are subjected to violence.

– Based on the police’s efforts to combat multicultural crime, management speaks highly of the unbroken chain of reaction, the person says, and continues:

– But when it comes to the vulnerability of Swedish women, the unbroken chain of reaction does not seem to be a priority within the police. It was the parents who had to go out and search at the scene.

The person within the Police Authority says it is remarkable that the leadership did not apply the same method in this case, but instead let hours pass by.

– It’s strange that the same model isn’t used for other types of crime. We really could have acted based on the established model in this case with the woman. Quickly secured digital traces, quickly searched the relevant place, and quickly mapped out which dangerous individuals live around the area.

The conversation moves on to the fact that, in practice, it was the parents who did the basic work needed to get on the murderer’s trail and spark the pursuit of him. Otherwise, an operation and investigation would likely have been further delayed.

– Once the findings reached the police, things moved quickly. But I’m thinking about before that. The police could have found these things on their own if they had launched an operation immediately when the alert came in—not after the relatives found the items and then acted. That’s where the unbroken chain of reaction should work.

Police source: “Really sick if we stood outside when he murdered”

Against this background, the police source is critical of the operation and expresses concern that the leadership allowed a person like Vilma Andersson – convicted of attempted kidnapping of a ten-year-old girl, convicted of threatening prison staff, and possessing images including those of dead women’s bodies – to move around freely during a ten-hour surveillance operation while the woman was missing without a trace.

– Then you can discuss ten hours of surveillance on this sick individual. There is already a record that he is extremely sick and dangerous. If the priority is to save lives, you should act, says the police, and continues:

– It gets really sick if he murdered and dismembered her while we had surveillance outside. We should have localized him using his phone pretty quickly and acted. But well, the investigation will show what was good and what was bad.