New documentary on Knutby arrives with a new murder theory

Note! This article contains spoilers for the new HBO documentary.

– When the producer got in touch two years ago and asked if it was a case we really wanted to dig into, Knutby was the one at the top of our list. It is a story that has fascinated us, at the same time that we knew that there was very interesting evidence in the case. Now the cult has disbanded, and then the truth comes out, says Martin Johnson, who along with Anton Berg is behind the new HBO documentary series “In blind faith,” about the Knutby case.

Fifteen years have passed since the murder at the Philadelphia congregation in Knutby, just over an hour’s drive north of Stockholm. On January 10, 2004, Alexandra Fossmo (23), who was married to the Norwegian pastor Helge Fossmo, was found shot to death in the couple’s bed. Another member of the ward, Daniel Linde, was found seriously injured in the house next door, but survived.

The next day, Sara Svensson, Helge Fossmo’s lover, was arrested and later found guilty of the murder.

To say that there has been silence around the case since then would be an exaggeration of dimensions. Little by little, details have emerged about the Philadelphia congregation and its participants in Knutby. Details about violence, extreme control, brainwashing, jealousy, sexual exploitation and finally murder.

– I think we have never come across a case where so many people have been disturbed and destroyed. It has made a great impression on us, and something that has really been difficult to digest, the creators of the series tell Dagbladet.

The sexual shepherd “bride of Christ” breaks the silence

Breaking the silence

The recent documentary fits into the long line of coverage of the case, but still stands out dramatically. Johnson and Berg don’t just provide a detailed look at church life. Here, too, shocking new information is brought to light.

At the end of the documentary series, the biggest bomb of all is dropped, during an interview with the woman convicted of murder. Sara Svensson, who breaks her silence for the first time since she was sentenced to mandatory mental health care for the murder. She was released from the treatment facility four years later, and now says that Fossmo’s second wife may have died even before she was shot.

– I’ve thought a lot about how it was. In the first shot, which hit Alexandra in the hip, there was nothing. There was no reaction. How can that be, I don’t understand. Back then, I thought it was because of me, because of something I did. But now. I do not know. Maybe she wasn’t alive when I got there, says Svensson.

The information surprises, not only viewers, but also those who have worked on the documentary.

– Maybe it took 15 years outside the sect to see this. Now it is up to the police or others to take this information and the allegations further. That is why we have finished the series with what Sara says, because we leave it in the hands of the prosecution or other bodies that possibly take this further legally, Berg and Johnson tell Dagbladet.

Broken into pieces

From the evidence, the documentary makers point to, among other things, one of the police reconstructions, which was used as central evidence in the murder case. In the material that the creators have been able to know, a reconstruction of just over 20 minutes is shown, which was presented in court. The original, on the other hand, was six hours long.

To top it off, it appears that the way Svensson acts in the reconstruction, and the way he shows that the shots that killed Fossmo were fired, in no way correspond to the findings at the scene. Nor when the police officers who are present during the reconstruction almost instruct Svensson in what to do, does she manage to correctly recreate the murder. A situation that is recognized, among other things, by the recordings made during the inspections of the crime scene in the Thomas Quick case.

In this way, the entire reconstruction of the murder is shattered, and the evidence is further weakened when the creators of the series themselves make their own reconstruction of the murder of Knutby.

– We suspected we were facing a new Thomas Quick case, Johnson tells Dagbladet.

The documentary also gives an idea of ​​the degree of control that was exercised in the Philadelphia congregation. Svensson is among those who speak of a culture of fear that characterized the entire sect.

– It was just a shell, a robot. If they had told me to shoot myself, I would have done it, says the woman convicted of murder in the documentary, referring, among other things, to how the pastor and leader Åsa Waldau, better known as “the bride of Christ”, ruled the sect. with an iron fist.

The accident could have been homicide

The documentary also takes a closer look at the theory that Pastor Fossmo’s first wife, Helene Fossmo, was actually poisoned and killed, and did not die as a result of a bathtub accident, as police established a month after the incident in December 1999..

The trail of poisoning is not new, it has been before, most recently when Alexandra was murdered four years later. But the creators of the series have conducted investigations, investigations and interviews that reinforce the theory that Fossmo’s first wife was also murdered.

– With the amount of substance found in Helene’s blood, she should have been in a coma at the time the murder occurred, series creators Johnson and Berg tell Dagbladet.

The drug found in Helene Fossmo is the opium-like substance dextropropoxyphene, which is now banned. The people that the creators of the series interview in the documentary, put forward the theory that the woman was first poisoned and then beaten against the bathtub faucet.

This was life with “Bride of Christ”

Critical look at the “bride of Christ”

Waldau was not convicted until 2020 in connection with the Knutby case. The woman, who has changed her name today, was later sentenced to prison for eight cases of mistreatment in connection with the sect.

His influence over the members and how the closed society in Knutby was governed has gradually emerged in public view. However, the official truth has been that Helge Fossmo manipulated and brainwashed Svensson into shooting his wife, something for which he was also convicted.

However, the documentary series takes a very critical look at the possible role of the “bride of Christ” in the death of Fossmo’s wives. Waldau did not want to be interviewed when “I Have Blind Faith” was produced, but still responded in the form of a letter to the two creators of the series.

– It was important for us to include Åsa as a source, but she did not want to contribute more. However, there are many interviews with her from before that we have used in connection with the documentary series that give insight into her version of what happened in Knutby, says Johnson.

Don’t think the last word is said

Another clue the series creators spend some time on in the documentary is that police found other clues in the snow that led to the house where Alexandra Fossmo was found dead.

In addition, the creators of the series intensively investigate Helge Fossmo’s claims in the series that it was “the bride of Christ” who sent him text messages saying that Sara had to kill Alexandra. If he killed Alexandra, he would receive God’s grace, was one of the things that came out. From the way the image was drawn at the time, it was Helge who texted Sara brainwashed that she had to kill.

Pastor ordered the murder of his wife – released in 2021

– There are obvious clues there that the police have not investigated enough. Plus, new technology allows us to immerse ourselves in them, Johnson and Berg say.

– Do you think now will be the last time we hear about the Knutby case, or will it be a sequel as a result of the series?

– So far we have not heard from the police or others, but we will see what happens when Sara’s story comes out. We don’t know what the consequences will be, Johnson says.

– The only thing we know is that the more time passes, the more details come out about what happened in the sect. So we’ll see if this will be the last Knutby story, Berg adds.

“In Blind Faith” will air on HBO Nordic beginning April 4.