Murder inquiry after 26 years: police seek witness in Pia Byström case in Hagfors
Pia Byström, 28, disappeared from her home in Hagfors in November 2000. Police are now investigating the case as murder and are seeking a witness who has not yet come forward.
Police cold case group: "Something has happened to her"
In the night of Tuesday, 14 November 2000, shortly after 11 p.m., 28-year-old Pia Byström left her villa in Hagfors. Her husband thought she was going to her sister. Her sister thought she had stayed at home. Neither of them saw her again.
According to Aftonbladet, an extensive search operation was immediately launched. Volunteers conducted searches in the area, Lake Uvån was drained of water and divers searched in several other lakes. Pia's passport, wallet, telephone and keys were found in the home.
For a long time, the disappearance was investigated as a missing person case. About two years ago, police's Cold Cases group in Bergslagen took up the matter again — and reached a different conclusion.
– The picture has changed quite radically. Now we are investigating murder. Having gone through the case, we have established that she could not have disappeared of her own free will; something has happened to her, says investigation leader Leif Lexon.
Lexon does not wish to specify which details led investigators to change direction, citing the secrecy of preliminary investigations. But he is clear about the conclusion.
– Everything points to the fact that someone has killed her, but we do not know where the remains are, he says.
Witness has not yet come forward
Police have now identified a witness who they believe may have seen something in connection with Pia's disappearance in November 2000. The person has not yet contacted police.
– It is through secondary information that we learned there is a witness who has not come forward to us. We hope that he or she will do so, says Leif Lexon.
Lexon recently appeared on SVT Värmland to appeal for the witness. Since then, a number of tips have come in that police will examine more closely — but the sought witness has still not come forward.
– I can only guess that he or she saw something in the neighbourhood where Pia lived, says Lexon about what the witness may have observed.
"Relatives should get closure"
Police hope that new witness information will move the investigation forward and make it possible to search in the right area in order to finally recover Pia Byström.
– Somewhere there is definitely a body and it is a priority to find it. Above all so that the relatives have a grave to visit and so that they get closure, says Leif Lexon.
He adds that police are also striving to link a perpetrator to the crime — nearly 26 years after Pia Byström disappeared without a trace.
Source: Aftonbladet