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Millionaire froze to death in sand container

The Local Sweden
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Millionaire froze to death in sand container

A 59-year-old man who was found dead in a sand container on a train station platform on Easter Sunday was a lonely millionaire with no close relatives.

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The container stood on a train platform in Herrljunga, a town of roughly 4,000 in western Sweden. It is used to store sand, which is laid out on icy roads and surfaces in winter time.

The man probably got into the container to seek shelter from the harsh weather after missing the last train home, local newspaper Göteborgs-Posten wrote.

He ended up freezing to death.

He had no cash or credit cards on him, but he did have 4 million kronor ($603,000) in the bank.

He worked in a stock house in the town of Vara and has been described as a very lonely man.

"Of course he should have at least taken a cab, but perhaps he wasn't sure how to sort out the payment," Sture Eriksson, the man's former boss, told Göteborgs-Posten.

Eriksson, who worked with the lonely millionaire for 20 years, described him as an intelligent, hard-working man who never said a bad word about anyone.

"He was a bit old-fashioned and had no friends as far as I know," said Eriksson.

The man had been reported missing on March 15th, about two weeks before he was found dead. The caretaker of his apartment building had entered his home after the mailman said his mailbox was filled to the brim.

Policemen spotted the man on the Herrljunga train station six days later. He told the police officers that he was fine.

According to a cousin, the man lived with his parents for the most part of his life, but they have both passed away - the mother in 2009 and the father in 2012.

The police investigation into the case was closed on Tuesday, with no one suspected of any crime.

The 59-year-old's millions will now go into the Swedish Inheritance Fund Commission (Allmänna arvsfonden), from which money is distributed among children, young people and the disabled.

Every year, 600 Swedes die without having any closer relatives than cousins and without having prepared wills for non-family members.

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