Chilling details emerge about Engla’s killing
Court documents released in connection with murder charges filed against Anders Eklund reveal in startling detail how the 42-year-old truck driver killed 10-year-old Engla Juncosa Höglund.
According to the indictment, Engla died after Eklund placed his knees and full body weight on the girl’s chest and strangled her.
He then put the girl in the trunk of his car and drove home to have a cup of coffee before going out to dump the body.
Eklund explained to police interrogators that he became enraged after being kicked in the leg by the 10-year-old girl, who he described as “cheeky” and “arrogant”.
“Things sort of went black,” he said, as he told investigators his recollection of events from Saturday, April 5th, the day Engla was first reported missing after not turning up following football practice.
When Engla then attempted to run away from her attacker, he chased her down along the wooden gravel road just a few hundred metres from her home and began strangling her to “calm her down”.
Eklund maintained during questioning, however, that rage-induced “tunnel vision” prevented him from recalling whether or not he hit the girl.
He admitted however to strangling the 10-year-old girl to death and then placing her lifeless body in the trunk of her car.
On his way home, Eklund stopped at one point to check whether or not Engla still had a pulse.
After finishing his coffee at home, he then went to buy a pizza and cigarettes, refueled his car, and then headed out again to dump Engla’s body.
Lars Nykvist of the Dala police department told the TT news agency that Ekland was unmoved and displayed no emotion when he confessed to police that he had killed Engla, and when he admitted to killing 26-year-old Pernilla Hellgren in 2000.
“We could be sitting in questioning for two or three hours and he had the same facial expression,” he said.
Nykvist added, however, that he didn’t believe Eklund had planned to kill the girl.
“From what I can tell, it wasn’t done with intent. What happened wasn’t planned,” he said.
Eklund’s defence attorney, Leif Silbersky wasn’t surprised by what stood in the indictment.
“It was in large part what we expected,” he said.
When Eklund’s trial begins next week, Silbersky said he plans to ask the court to reexamine the results of a forensic psychiatric examination which showed that Eklund doesn’t have a mental disorder currently or at the time he committed the crimes.
Eklund was charged on Friday in Falu District Court with the murder of Engla and Pernilla.
The indictment also includes charges for aggravated rape of a child in connection with the Engla killing, the aggravated rape of Pernilla, another rape which occurred in Sandviken in 2006, as well as child pornography crimes.
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According to the indictment, Engla died after Eklund placed his knees and full body weight on the girl’s chest and strangled her.
He then put the girl in the trunk of his car and drove home to have a cup of coffee before going out to dump the body.
Eklund explained to police interrogators that he became enraged after being kicked in the leg by the 10-year-old girl, who he described as “cheeky” and “arrogant”.
“Things sort of went black,” he said, as he told investigators his recollection of events from Saturday, April 5th, the day Engla was first reported missing after not turning up following football practice.
When Engla then attempted to run away from her attacker, he chased her down along the wooden gravel road just a few hundred metres from her home and began strangling her to “calm her down”.
Eklund maintained during questioning, however, that rage-induced “tunnel vision” prevented him from recalling whether or not he hit the girl.
He admitted however to strangling the 10-year-old girl to death and then placing her lifeless body in the trunk of her car.
On his way home, Eklund stopped at one point to check whether or not Engla still had a pulse.
After finishing his coffee at home, he then went to buy a pizza and cigarettes, refueled his car, and then headed out again to dump Engla’s body.
Lars Nykvist of the Dala police department told the TT news agency that Ekland was unmoved and displayed no emotion when he confessed to police that he had killed Engla, and when he admitted to killing 26-year-old Pernilla Hellgren in 2000.
“We could be sitting in questioning for two or three hours and he had the same facial expression,” he said.
Nykvist added, however, that he didn’t believe Eklund had planned to kill the girl.
“From what I can tell, it wasn’t done with intent. What happened wasn’t planned,” he said.
Eklund’s defence attorney, Leif Silbersky wasn’t surprised by what stood in the indictment.
“It was in large part what we expected,” he said.
When Eklund’s trial begins next week, Silbersky said he plans to ask the court to reexamine the results of a forensic psychiatric examination which showed that Eklund doesn’t have a mental disorder currently or at the time he committed the crimes.
Eklund was charged on Friday in Falu District Court with the murder of Engla and Pernilla.
The indictment also includes charges for aggravated rape of a child in connection with the Engla killing, the aggravated rape of Pernilla, another rape which occurred in Sandviken in 2006, as well as child pornography crimes.
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