A new analysis of the unsolved murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme using AI implicates a new suspect and threatens to derail the original investigation.
Palme was walking home from the cinema with his wife when an unknown assailant shot him at point-blank range in central Stockholm in February 1986.
In the years since, theorists have tried to blame the assassination on everything from foreign interference to aggrieved arms dealers to the CIA assassination.
The police eventually concluded that the real killer was “probably” the graphic designer Stig Engström, long treated as a mere witness to the murder, who died in 2000.
But a new AI comparison of photographs of the main suspects found that Engström looked much less similar in facial composition than another key witness.
Olof Palme was shot dead while walking home from the cinema in February 1986.
Christer Andersson was more compatible with the facial composition of the witnesses.
Palme’s unsolved murder sparked a series of wild theories. In the photo: the scene, ’86
Police identified that Palme had been shot to death with a .357 revolver
Jon Jordås, documentary director at production company Filt, said he felt there was “something wrong with this story.” The times.
When the investigation was closed, he began reviewing newly released documents about the case.
Of interest, he found a facial composite constructed from a description by the prime minister’s son of a man seen loitering near the cinema where his father was shot.
There were more than two dozen witnesses to the murder, and the suspect was described as between 30 and 50 years old, about 6 feet tall and wearing a dark jacket.
No one could give a clear and detailed description of what the murderer looked like.
But when comparing the composition with photographs of some of the main suspects in the case, Jordås’ AI analysis found a match with Engström’s photograph of only 18 percent.
Christer Pettersson, initially charged with the murder in 1989 but acquitted in 1990, agreed 25 percent. Pettersson died in 2004.
But Christer Andersson, a suspect who later shot himself, turned out to be a more compatible match.
Dozens of witnesses saw the Palme shooting, but could not give a clear description
Olof Palme and Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba in 1975
Stig Engstrom (pictured) was considered to have “probably” killed Palme in 1986. It was understood that he had received weapons training and did not like Palme’s policies.
Hans Holmer, former head of the investigation into the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, displays two Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolvers during a news conference in Stockholm.
Andersson, a subway driver turned investor who lived nearby and owned a .357 magnum like the one used to shoot Palme, was questioned in 1995.
A raid on his home turned up no clues, but subsequent testimony was considered unreliable and he failed to show up for several interrogations in the 1990s.
Andersson also refused to hand over his weapon, making it the only .357 weapon registered in the Stockholm region that was not tested.
He admitted to having financial problems and claimed to have already sold his revolver to pay off debts.
Police found some of his alibis strange and it was illegal to sell a firearm to a stranger.
His gun license had also been suspended for shooting at the television, allegedly while Palme was on the screen. Andersson denied deliberately shooting the screen.
But the police eventually abandoned the investigation.
Andersson was questioned a total of five times between 1995 and 1998, but committed suicide in 2008 when police rang his doorbell and asked to be let in.
Jordås said police stopped pursuing Andersson because they were convinced that the Kurdish PKK movement was behind the murder.
“If you look at the circumstances and on a practical level, a lot of things indicate that it was the act of a lone wolf,” he told The Times.
Jordås believes Andersson saw Palme enter the cinema and stood outside with his gun.
His theories are documented in his work The Last Book on the Murder of Olof Palme.
Palme was Prime Minister from 1969 to 1976 and from 1982 to 1986, and leader of the Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his death (pictured in 1982).
Flowers at the site where Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated in March 1986
Pettersson (3) was initially accused of the murder, but acquitted in 1990.
Christer Pettersson, outside his home in Sollentuna, was initially charged but later acquitted.
In the last 20 years, countless theories have emerged that point in different directions.
A special report shared by the INC In 1986 he described the assassination as “a classic KGB disinformation campaign.”
The German newspaper De Zeit published a article in 1995 with the suggestion that far-right Swedish police officers were behind the attack.
Others established connections with the Yugoslav security service, the INC – dismissed as “absolute nonsense” by the agency – and South Africasince Palme opposed apartheid.
Dozens of blogs continue to be updated today, based on anecdotes and evidence from around the world suggesting who really killed Olof Palme.