In a Swedish court verdict, a Norwegian man has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after authorities discovered the body of his deceased partner in a freezer, while he continued to fraudulently collect her pension.
The 57-year-old man had deceived his circle of friends and family, persistently claiming that his 60-year-old partner remained alive and well, despite her tragic passing due to cancer in 2018, according to a report from an English-language Norwegian news source.
The man’s legal representative explained that the deceased had expressed a desire to be buried on their farm rather than in a public cemetery. “She didn’t want to be buried at a public cemetery but at the farm, actually. So he put her in the freezer to later bury her outside and then it fell by the wayside,” the man’s lawyer told local paper, Nya Wermlands-Tidningen.
Growing concerned about their missing family member, the woman’s relatives reported her absence to the authorities. The man had provided various explanations for her prolonged absence, including false claims that she no longer wished to communicate with her family. In March, acting on a tip, the police discovered her body. Subsequently, the man admitted to concealing her death and her remains.
Initially, he asserted that he had preserved her body in the freezer with the intention of waiting for spring to carry out a proper burial near their farm in Varmland. There were also reports suggesting that he had dismembered his partner to fit her into the freezer, which he also used to store food.
The prosecutor contended that the man’s repeated opening and closing of the freezer, in addition to its dual use, constituted an infringement on the sanctity of the deceased’s grave, representing an aggravating factor in the case.
During the trial, it was revealed that the suspect had fraudulently obtained just under $117,000 through his intricate scheme. He had also manipulated vehicle ownership and registrations, altering them in the name of the deceased.
Despite his claims of being able to communicate with his deceased partner through telepathy, court-appointed psychiatrists found no evidence of mental illness. This conclusion was reaffirmed by subsequent evaluations.
In the end, the court found the man guilty of multiple charges, including gross breach of civil liberties, gross fraud, mutilation of a corpse, and falsification of documents. Although the prosecution initially sought a four-year prison term, the court imposed a reduced sentence and ordered the man to repay the ill-gotten gains obtained through his fraudulent activities.
