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 he was shot at close range by an unknown assailant in central Stockholm in February 1986.
In the years since, theorists have tried to blame the killing on everything from foreign interference to aggrieved arms dealers and CIA assassination.
Police eventually concluded that the real killer was ‘probably’ graphic designer Stig Engström, who for a long time was treated only as a witness to the murder and who died in 2000.
But a new AI comparison of photos of the main suspects showed that Engström bore much less similarity to the facial composite than another key witness.
Olof Palme was shot dead in February 1986 as he walked home from the cinema
Christer Andersson emerged as a better match to the facial composite of witnesses
Palme’s unsolved murder led to a series of far-fetched theories. Pictured: the scene, ’86
Police determined that Palme had been shot with a .357 revolver
Jon Jordås, documentary director at production company Filt, said he felt there was “something wrong with this story,” he said The times.
With the investigation concluded, he began reviewing the recently released documents surrounding the case.
Interestingly, he found a facial composite, constructed from a description by the prime minister’s son, of a man hanging out near the cinema where his father was shot.
There were more than twenty witnesses to the murder, with the suspect being between 30 and 50 years old, about 6 feet tall and wearing a dark jacket.
No one could give a clear description of the killer’s appearance.
But by comparing the composite to photos of some of the case’s main suspects, Jordås’ AI analysis found a similarity to Engström’s photo of only 18 percent.
Christer Pettersson, initially charged with the murder in 1989 but acquitted in 1990, was a 25 percent match. Pettersson died in 2004.
But Christer Andersson, a suspect who later shot himself, emerged as a better match.
Dozens of witnesses saw Palme’s shooting but were unable to provide a clear description
Olof Palme and Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba in 1975
It was believed that Stig Engstrom (pictured) ‘probably’ murdered Palme in 1986. He was believed to have undergone weapons training and disliked Palme’s policies.
Hans Holmer, former head of the investigation into the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, shows two Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolvers during a press conference in Stockholm
Andersson, a subway driver turned investor who lived nearby and owned a .357 magnum like the one that shot Palme, was brought in for questioning in 1995.
A raid on his home yielded no clues, but subsequent testimony was judged unreliable and he failed to appear at several interrogations in the 1990s.
Andersson also refused to surrender his weapon, making it the only registered .357 weapon in the Stockholm region that was not tested.
He admitted that he was having financial problems and claimed to have already sold his revolver to pay off debts.
Police found some of his alibis bizarre – and it was illegal to sell a firearm to a stranger.
His gun license was also suspended for shooting at the television, allegedly when Palme appeared on the screen. Andersson denied deliberately shooting the screen.
But police eventually dropped their investigation.
Andersson was interrogated 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 the Kurdish PKK movement was behind the killing.
“If you look at the circumstances and on a practical level, many things indicate that this was the act of a lone wolf,” he told The Times.
Jordås believes Andersson saw Palme enter the cinema and hang around 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 to his death (photo in 1982)
Flowers at the spot where Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated in March 1986
Pettersson (3) was initially charged, but was acquitted of the murder in 1990
Christer Pettersson was initially charged outside his home in Sollentuna but later acquitted
Over the past twenty years, numerous theories have emerged that point in different directions.
A special report shared by the C.I.A from 1986 calls the murder ‘a classic KGB disinformation campaign’.
The German De Zeit published one article in 1995 with the suggestion that Swedish right-wing extremist police officers were behind the attack.
Others established ties with the Yugoslav security service, the C.I.A – dismissed by the agency as ‘absolute nonsense’ – and South Africawhile Palme was against apartheid.
Dozens of blogs are still being updated today, drawing on anecdotes and evidence from around the world suggesting who really killed Olof Palme.