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Years go by, but the pain persists.
– It was so terrible. When it happened, we were barely standing, neither of us, says Inger Johansson.
The dog Kastor arrived at the family farm in the Möklinta Forest, outside Sala, five years after the girls’ deaths. He now has a gray mustache and is next to the cat, the couple’s only company in Ingvar Johansson’s childhood home.
Sisters Heléne and Sofie grew up in a religious home in Kristinehamn, with their mother, father and brother. In the town cafe, Heléne hung out with Pori’s smart boys.
– They were very talented, says Inger.
One became a bishop, another a priest, and a third an economist. Helge became a pastor in Knutby, and Helén’s husband.
– Helge was chatting with another girl, so the engagement was broken for a while. Then we feel a little relieved. But then he managed to persuade Heléne again.
Helene Fossmo married Helge Fossmo in 1994.
Photo: PRIVATE
At Kristinehamn Pentecostal Church, they also met Åsa Waldau, who was a youth leader there one week a month. But she ruled in a different way, they thought.
In Kristinehamn, Heléne and Helge had two children, then they moved to Knutby and the third arrived.
Inger and Ingvar doubted their movement, because Knutby was already being spoken of negatively in the Pentecostal movement.
And their fears came true. They were not welcome there. Each visit was supervised by other members of the congregation.
– And when you called, there was never time to talk.
Ingvar and Inger Johansson walk with the dog Kastor.
Photo: CORNELIA NORDSTRÖM
In February 1997 Ingvar Johansson’s brother died and it was decided that he would take over the family farm. The proximity to Helene and the family in Knutby appealed.
– We came here in November 1999, says Ingvar.
– We were so happy when we moved here. Now we could meet our daughter and grandchildren more often, Inger remembers.
Less than three weeks later, the unthinkable happened.
– We hadn’t even left the pack, which is why we were so overwhelmed with grief.
Heléne Fossmo, 27, lay dead in the pastor’s bathtub, dressed in a nightgown after hitting her head with the tap. In his blood he also had a lethal dose of Helge’s pain reliever, Dextropoxyfen.
– It is often said that you overcome the pain, but it is not like that. The loss is huge, Inger says.
It was not Helge Fossmo who informed the in-laws, but the police. Helge didn’t call until several hours later, when he learned that they had already received the death notice.
– If they had told us earlier, we could have sat in the car immediately and gone to Uppsala.
On December 29, eleven days after her death, Heléne was buried in Knutby, although her parents wanted her closer.
– We went as far as we could, but Helge had the right to bury. And he wanted her on the ground fast, he was in a hurry.
They were at the grave in Knutby until last Saturday and did well in the spring before Easter.
– You’re so exhausted when you’ve been there. It’s a lot of work, says Inger.
Only 40 days after Helen’s death, they received the following message of inconceivable shock.
– Three thirty at night, the priest and two policemen were on the lawn, says Ingvar and hides his face in his hands.
The tears flow.
“His daughter is dead,” police said.
Daughter Sofie had died of Takotsubo, triggered by her sister’s grief, according to the hospital.
– Heartbroken, says Mother Inger.
They were together their whole lives, the girls.
“He enjoyed hurting us,” Inger says of Helge Fossmo.
Photo: CORNELIA NORDSTRÖM
A few months later, Helge arrived at the estate with the falsified autopsy report, which he also admitted in court. Helge Fossmo’s explanation was that the dose of the drug could indicate suicide and that they did not want to show it, as it could raise suspicions that something was wrong in the congregation.
Like an old nurse, Inger searched the newspapers for medications, but none were mentioned. Helge had removed that information, which emerged a few years later. Helene’s death was described as an accident.
Just over three years later, after Easter 2003, Helge’s hate letter arrived, which was preceded by a nasty phone call.
– He enjoyed hurting us, says Inger.
– In the letter we received, he vomited bile to put it bluntly, Ingvar continues.
– It was horrible things. We were worth nothing and we were bad Christians.
On January 10, 2004, Helge Fossmo’s second wife, Alexandra Fossmo, was murdered.
Knutby’s pastor was sentenced to life in prison for inciting the murder and inciting the murder of a neighbor. Nanny Sara Svensson was sentenced to forensic psychiatric care for the murder.
Sara Svensson says in “Knutby: With Blind Faith” that she thought Alexandra no longer reacted to the first shot, and whether she was already dead or dying from the first shot.
Photo: SHAZI OZDEMIR / HBO NORDIC
In HBO’s new documentary series, “Knutby: On Blind Faith,” the theory is put forward that Alexandra Fossmo was already dead or dying when Sara Svensson shot. Inger and Ingvar Johansson are also on that path.
– I don’t know if she was alive or not. It may not have been alive when I got there, I don’t know, says Sara Svensson in a new interview on the documentary.
Inger and Ingvar Johansson have some contact with Sara Svensson today.
But they had the last contact with Helge before the police arrested him in late January 2004, more than 17 years ago.
And now he will soon be released because the life sentence was changed two years ago.
– It doesn’t feel good, it’s uncomfortable. You don’t feel safe, says Inger.
Inger Johansson
Photo: CORNELIA NORDSTROM EXP
Ingvar Johansson.
Photo: CORNELIA NORDSTROM EXP
If you had a chance to say something to Helge and Åsa today, what would it be?
– Ugh, no, I don’t want to tell you anything. In that case, they will be the ones who will contact us.
They are still waiting for the truth about what happened to their daughter that day for 21 years.
And the pain persists, even though the years go by.
