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Tore Hedin
(1927 - 22 august 1952) was a Swedish mass murderer and police officer,
born in Stora Harrie, near Kävlinge.
Hedin
committed his first crime in September, 1943 when he broke into
a local brewery near his parental home to steal some oats. To
avoid detection, he then burned down the brewery to hide his
crime; this was a method he used later to cover his tracks when
he committed far more serious crimes.
On 28 November
1951, ironically the same night a local rally was held to keep
him as the local police officer, he committed his first murder.
He robbed and murdered his friend
John Allan Nilsson after a poker game at Nilsson’s home in
Tjörnarp. To cover his tracks he burned down the crime scene.
Being the local police representative, he took part in the
investigation and even answered questions from the national
media concerning the case.
Killing
Spree
Almost a year
later, in the night of August 21, 1952, he went
on a killing spree after being dumped by his
girlfriend, Ulla Östberg. His first stop was his
parents house in Saxtorp, where he killed them
both and set the house on fire sometime before
midnight.
Thirty minutes later he
arrived at the retirement home in Hurva, where
his ex girlfriend worked and lived. He climbed a
fire escape and entered the room where Östberg
usually slept.
This night however, she was
not sleeping there, but in the room of Agnes
Lundin, the matron. He discovered this, entered
the room and killed them both with an axe. After
killing Östberg and Lundin he blocked the
entrance to the retirement home and set it on
fire. Four elderly people died in the flames,
with a fifth dying some days later from severe
burns.
It is unclear at what point
he decided to take his own life. The police had
realised by now that Hedin was behind the
killings and had started a manhunt. They found
his car parked near a cabin by a lake. In the
front seat was a suicide note, his jacket and
his wallet.
The suicide note contained a
full confession of all crimes he committed. He
claimed he was only good at one thing, tracking
other criminals. It ended with his name,
occupation (murderer), whereabouts (unknown) and
an explanation to why he had killed his parents
— so that they would not have to suffer for his
crimes. Somewhat later his weighted down body
was found in the lake where he had drowned
himself.
Hedins corpse was transported
to the Institution of Anatomy at Lund University.
It was stored at the institution until 1974,
when it was cremated.
TV-series
An episode in the mini-series "Skånska
Mord" with the title "Hurvamorden" was made about these tragic
events. Ernst-Hugo Järegård played the role of Tore Hedin in
this episode which was originally aired in 1986.
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