A 25-year-old woman disappeared on the night leading to Boxing Day near Rönninge station and was later found dismembered. 26-year-old Vilma Andersson, who has a female first name but has not changed legal gender, was caught in the act handling body parts. He denies the murder but admits to gross desecration of a corpse.
On the night leading to December 26, a 25-year-old woman disappeared while heading home from the commuter train in Rönninge, south of Stockholm. She was reported missing that day, prompting a large-scale police search. On December 27, the National Forensic Centre identified a DNA match pointing to Vilma Andersson, 26, as the main suspect.
Andersson, who has changed names multiple times and uses a female first name without altering legal gender, was arrested at 9:22 PM that evening in a forest area where sources say he was burying the victim's body parts. Police also found large amounts of child pornography and images of dead women on his computer, similar to previous findings.
In 2019, Andersson was sentenced to two years and four months in prison for attempted manslaughter after a failed kidnapping attempt on a 10-year-old girl in Ekerö, as well as gross child pornography offenses. The court noted a risk of recidivism at the time. After serving his sentence, he trained as a truck driver and worked as a food delivery driver in Stockholm. On Saturday morning, just hours after the DNA hit, he delivered food to a café on Södermalm and appeared stressed, according to an eyewitness who later identified him.
Another person was initially detained but released after suspicions were dropped. The prosecutor states the victim was chosen randomly and that Andersson did not know her. On December 30, he was remanded in custody on probable cause for murder and gross desecration of a corpse. He admitted the latter but denied the murder.
The case has sparked strong reactions. A fundraiser for the victim's family reached over 2.6 million SEK by New Year's Eve. Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer called Andersson's name change 'offensive,' especially given its similarity to the name of a previous murder victim, Wilma Andersson (different spelling) from 2019. Energy and Business Minister Ebba Busch described it as 'madness' and criticized name change legislation. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wants a zero-tolerance policy on men's violence against women.
