John Ingvar Lövgren
John Ingvar Lövgren | |
|---|---|
 Lövgren in an undated photo | |
| Born | 22 October 1930 |
| Died | 9 February 2002 (aged 71) Salberga prison, Sweden |
| Other names | "Flickmördaren" John Ingvar Andersson |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Closed psychiatric treatment |
| Details | |
| Victims | 4 |
Span of crimes | 1958–1963 |
| Country | Sweden |
| State(s) | Stockholm |
Date apprehended | 1963 |
John Ingvar Lövgren, later renamed John Ingvar Andersson (22 October 1930 – 9 February 2002)[1] was a Swedish serial killer and rapist who confessed to four murders committed between 1958 and 1963 in the Stockholm region.[2] Lövgren was convicted and sentenced to closed psychiatric treatment at Salberga prison.[2] He went under the name Flickmördaren ("The Girl Killer"), because his last two victims were young girls.[2] He was, at the time of his death in 2002, no longer in treatment due to poor health caused by terminal cancer. He was buried at Sala cemetery.[3]
Biography
[edit]Lövgren's parents died when he was young and he was subsequently placed in a foster home. As an adult, Lövgren became infamous for drinking heavily and exposing himself to women, for which he was convicted several times. Because of this, he was enrolled in several different psychiatric hospitals between 1953 and 1961. The authorities described him as childish and weak, probably with a mild intellectual disability. At the time of the murders, Lövgren held a job as a gardener.
After the murder of Ann-Kristin Svensson in September 1963, her playmates identified Lövgren as the perpetrator. In addition, while fleeing the crime scene, he left an obvious trail in the form of Svensson's clothes while making a desperate attempt to get rid of them, leading the authorities to Lövgren's residential area.
After he was arrested, Lövgren confessed to another murder: the unsolved murder of 26-year-old Agneta Nyholm in Fruängen in June 1958. Despite this, Lövgren was never convicted of her murder and her case has since been closed due to reaching its statute of limitation. Police, however, consider the crime essentially solved and Lövgren to be the assailant.
Victims
[edit]- Agneta Nyholm, 26 – murdered on the night of 27 June 1958 at her home in Fruängen.
- Greta Löfgren, 62 – raped and murdered in November 1962 in her home on Kungsholmen.
- Berit Glesing, 6 – raped and murdered on 12 August 1963 in Vita Bergen on Södermalm.[2]
- Ann-Kristin Svensson, 4 – raped and murdered on 2 September 1963 in Aspudden.
Literature
[edit]- The novel The Man on the Balcony released by Sjöwall/Wahlöö in 1967 was based on John Ingvar Lövgren and his crimes.[4]
- The true face of the assassination: a criminal commissioner's memories by Gösta W. Larsson (1971), published by Stockholm: Bonniers
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ CD Sveriges dödbok 1901-2009
- ^ a b c d Inedahl, Petter (28 March 2012). "En avskydd man" [A despised man]. Magasinet Paragraf (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ^ CD Begravda i Sverige
- ^ "Stockholm – en guide till kultur, sevärdheter och - Vi kartlägger Fleminggatan nummer för nummer". Stockholm.edublogs.org. 17 December 2012. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2014.