# Swedish authorities close Prime Minister Olof Palme assassination investigation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 11, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-authorities-close-prime-minister-olof-palme-assassination-investigation/855422 "2020-06-11T01:18:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-authorities-close-prime-minister-olof-palme-assassination-investigation/855422/1 "2020-06-11T01:18:58Z")
> **[Swedish police say they know who assassinated Prime Minister Olof Palme,...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/swedish-investigators-name-suspect-in-1986-assassination-of-prime-minister/2020/06/10/4e6244e6-ab05-11ea-868b-93d63cd833b2_story.html)** > > Prosecutors said the key suspect, Stig Engstrom, is dead. They’re pretty sure they know who did it and why, and it’s just a regular guy who had a beef with his policies. I’m sure there were lots of conspiracy theories but it seems like the evidence is pretty clear that this guy did it. It’s not clear why he was cleared years ago. ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-authorities-close-prime-minister-olof-palme-assassination-investigation/855422/2 "2020-06-11T01:55:51Z")
It doesn’t seem that clear to me. More like the police want to close the case, and pinning it on a dead guy is an easy way to do that. This guy left his workplace (presumably at the normal time he always left work) and then 2 minutes later he shoots Palme? That’s pretty atypical of most assassinations. And Palme’s wife identified someone else. And he was in the army so he knew how to shoot? I think Sweden had conscription back in the day, so everyone knew how to use a gun. It seems more likely this Stig guy was just some attention seeking weirdo. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-authorities-close-prime-minister-olof-palme-assassination-investigation/855422/3 "2020-06-11T07:05:11Z")
They framed the wrong man last time, but I’m sure this time they framed the right one. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-authorities-close-prime-minister-olof-palme-assassination-investigation/855422/4 "2020-06-11T14:23:35Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I’m sure there were lots of conspiracy theories but it seems like the evidence is pretty clear that this guy did it. What evidence, exactly? Everything they presented seems like incredibly circular reasoning to me. They haven’t been able to find any indication that he even had a gun, other than they decided he’s the murderer because they weren’t able to pin it on anybody else, so obviously he must have had a gun to shoot Palme. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-authorities-close-prime-minister-olof-palme-assassination-investigation/855422/5 "2020-06-11T15:13:36Z")
Perhaps my comments were a bit strong, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of push back to the conclusions of the report. > **[Olof Palme murder: Sweden believes it knows who killed PM in 1986](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52991406)** > > Prosecutors say Stig Engstrom, who killed himself in 2000, was the man who shot Olof Palme in 1986. > **[After 34 Years, Sweden Says It Knows the Killer of Olof Palme (Published 2020)](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/world/europe/sweden-olof-palme-murder.html)** > > A prosecutor said there was “reasonable evidence” that the man who shot the Swedish prime minister was Stig Engstrom, a graphic designer, who took his own life in 2000. > **[Sweden closes 30-year murder mystery over killing of PM Olof Palme | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/europe/sweden-olof-palme-murder-intl/index.html)** > > Sweden has ended a 34-year investigation into the unsolved murder of the country's then-Prime Minister Olof Palme, saying the chief suspect is dead. > **[Sweden halts probe into 1986 murder of PM Olof Palme | CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/olaf-palme-murder-1.5605732)** > > Sweden on Wednesday dropped its investigation into the unsolved murder of former Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, who was shot dead 34 years ago in downtown Stockholm, saying that the decision was made because the main suspect died in 2000. It seems like the same conclusion was made in 2017 by independent investigators > **[Was the Killer of Sweden’s Leader in 1986 Under Investigators’ Noses All This...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/world/europe/sweden-olof-palme-killing.html)** > > A new theory proposes that a man interviewed as a witness in the fatal shooting of Prime Minister Olof Palme was actually the one who pulled the trigger. Everyone involved admits the initial investigation was a cluster, but with the information at hand it does appear that this conclusion is fairly well supported. Not definitive, but no new evidence is going to appear at this point. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-authorities-close-prime-minister-olof-palme-assassination-investigation/855422/6 "2020-06-23T17:26:01Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > They framed the wrong man last time, but I’m sure this time they framed the right one. That’s a good summary. The police were embarrassed by their bungled investigation and their failed prosecution of random weirdo Christer Pettersson. They are highly motivated to clear the case, and pinning it on _another_ random weirdo who is conveniently dead is an easy way to do that. Stieg Larsson, the Swedish journalist who wrote the Dragon Tattoo novels, spent 18 years investigating the Palme assassination and amassed a vast archive of information. He strongly believed that right-wing Swedish extremists were involved, but the police showed little interest in his work. I am generally allergic to conspiracy theories, but pinning the murder on Skandia Man at this late date is pretty weak sauce.