A Norwegian man has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison by a Swedish court after his deceased partner’s body was discovered in a freezer. The man had been collecting her pension after her death, maintaining the illusion that she was still alive.
The man’s lawyer explained to local media that the couple had wished to be buried on their farm, leading the man to store his partner’s body in the freezer with the intention of burying her later. However, this plan was never carried out. The man, aged 57, had been telling friends and family that his 60-year-old partner was alive and well, despite her passing away from cancer in 2018.
The woman’s family reported her missing after losing contact with her. The man had been deflecting their attempts to communicate with her, initially claiming she was sleeping or unavailable, and later stating that she no longer wished to speak with them.
In March, following a tip-off, police discovered her body. The man confessed to hiding her death and her body. He initially stated that he had done so to wait for spring to bury her near their farm in Varmland.
There were also reports that the man had dismembered his partner to fit her into the freezer, where he also stored food. Prosecutors argued that this violated the sanctity of the grave each time the freezer was opened and closed, which they considered an aggravating circumstance.
Prosecutors revealed that the man had made nearly $117,000 through his fraudulent scheme. He had also transferred ownership and registrations of vehicles that were in the deceased’s name.
During his trial, the man claimed that he was still able to communicate with his partner through telepathy. However, court-appointed psychiatrists had previously determined that the man did not suffer from any mental illness, a finding that was confirmed by further testing.
The court convicted the man on charges of gross breach of civil liberties, gross fraud, mutilating a corpse, and falsification of documents, among others. Prosecutors had initially sought a four-year jail sentence, but the court reduced it and ordered the man to repay the money he had fraudulently obtained.