Who killed Swedish PM Olof Palme? Long-running murder mystery has finally been solved

Palme’s 1986 assassination was followed by years of botched investigations and conspiracy theories

Prosecutor Krister Petersson has identified one man who ‘we can’t get around one person as the perpetrator’

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Swedish politician Olof Palme makes the victory sign after an election victory in September 1982. Photo: TT News Agency via AFP

Published: 3:16am, 10 Jun 2020Updated: 9:15pm, 10 Jun 2020

After 34 years of conspiracy theories, Swedes just learned who killed Olof Palme, their former prime minister.

At a highly anticipated press briefing in Stockholm on Wednesday, prosecutor Krister Petersson said the assassin was Stig Engstrom, a former employee of Skandia who committed suicide two decades ago. Engstrom had worked as a graphic designer for the firm. Because he is no longer alive, the case will now be closed.

“We can’t get around one person as the perpetrator. He is Stig Engstrom,” Petersson told reporters.

With the announcement, police hope the mystery and intrigue surrounding Palme’s 1986 murder will be put to rest.

“This is important for the entire country,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said, describing the case as a national wound.

Palme’s assassination took place shortly before midnight on February 28, 1986. The killer approached the prime minister and his wife on a quiet street corner as they were walking home after a visit to the cinema.

Palme’s murder was a defining moment in Swedish history. The national trauma that followed was only made worse by a botched police investigation that led nowhere. There has been no end of documentaries and conspiracy theories surfacing at regular intervals as Swedes tried to make sense of the case.