The Swedish Nanny Murder

Karina Holmer or "The Swedish Nanny" was a young, Swedish nanny who had come to the United States when she was in her late teens. She likely left with dreams of starting her adult life, going to school, meeting the right guy and whatever else young women think when moving to a foreign country. She would find none of those things in her new home. She began watching the Rapp family children in Dover, Massachusetts and staying at a studio owned by their father on the weekends. On one such weekend, she went out drinking with her friends in Boston. By the following day, she had been murdered.

Karina Holmer and her friends were partying at the Zanzibar club on Boylston Place in Boston in the early morning hours of June 23, 1996. Karina was underage, but she managed to get drunk that night anyway. At some point around 3am, she was left alone by her friends. The official consensus is that she was last seen walking the streets in the area. There were claims that she was seen sitting in a car near the club, talking to a townie (who later killed himself) and listening to a homeless man sing.

She was a happy, friendly, attractive young woman, so it is likely that Karina Holmer was chatting with people in the neighborhood. However, she could not have been doing all of the above things at once. She disappeared between 3 and 4am. Somewhere in that time, Karina either was taken or went willingly to the place where she was brutally murdered. Police have never found a crime scene and the killer has not been apprehended. Therefore, it is impossible to say if she knew her killer, if they were familiar with each other, if her killer was a serial killer or what his/her motive was. A few things are painfully clear, nonetheless.

Karina Holmer was taken or went somewhere. She was attacked and strangled to death with a rope. Her body was then cut completely in half. Whether she was sexually assaulted or dismembered further is unknown. Only the top half of her body was ever found-that in a dumpster in the Fenway Park area. There were rope marks on her neck and the aforementioned wounds on her midsection. She had been placed in bags, but the only evidence that could be eked out of them was a partial fingerprint.

There was an investigation into the horrendous murder of Karina Holmer, but there just was not anything to go on. There were no obvious suspects, no motives, no crime scene and no lower body. Karina Holmer's family could not even bury her entire body at her funeral services in Sweden. Even worse, unless her killer has died or has been imprisoned, he or she is still free to murder more young women in Boston or elsewhere.

Sources

Swedish Nanny Murder, retrieved 9/27/10, celebrateboston.com/crime/swedish-nanny-murder.htm

Thompson, Carolyn, Swedish teen found slain in Boston trash, retrieved 9/27/10, archive.southcoasttoday.com/dily/06-96/06-26-96/a03sr073.htm