Nu var det 1990

Nu var det 1990

A journalist by the name of Ulf contacted us in 1990 regarding Olle. I do not remember too much about him, but I do recall that he wanted to know how we managed to keep our mental sanity in the horrendous pressure in which we dwelt. My wife Kerstin concluded the conversation with the journalist and it is written down and placed in our “last will box” in the yellow bureau with the title “1990 – Kerstin.”

I am not so sure that there is anything at all to add to what has been said when it comes to the relationship and attitude in our family. I will, however, add something that might be of importance to characterize how things were between us.

Kerstin and I have basically agreed on everything regarding the investigation. But we had and still have one difference of opinion; As opposed to me, Kerstin still has hopes that the police can do something. As for myself, I have come to the conclusion that we and the police do not share the same goal in the investigation regarding Olle’s disappearance. To my mind, there is neither a motive nor a possibility for a co-operation between us and the police.

However, from the start Kerstin and I shared the view that the police was the Police! Honest, efficient and competent. Strangely enough, after one day only I had reason to wonder if something was wrong. The reason for this was that the agreements we made with the police were not respected, but above all I was puzzled by their attitude towards us.

Why were they so unfriendly? Why were we not allowed to be involved in their work? Why would they not discuss matters with us? Why weren’t we allowed to ask questions and share our opinions with them? I somehow got a hunch that there was something fishy with the investigation concerning our son Olle; something that we were not supposed to be part of, that was kept away from us.

As time passed, I discovered that most of the promises that the police made and what they had said to us was a complete fraud. Investigations that were supposed to take place never did. Incoming information was not checked, places where objects had been found were never searched….When we asked why the agreements were not kept, the answers were evasive; there was lack of resources, lack of staff, other conclusions had been drawn, other priorities had been made, etc, etc and so forth….

In order for us not to go completely to pieces, and to keep the case interesting to the public and to the media, I wrote a couple of letters which were published in the local newspapers. I presented factual, but possibly provocative questions, but no interest was shown and no answers were given.

After a week I wrote to the Parliamentary Ombudsman asking if the investigation made by  the Sundsvall Police could be considered satisfactory. The letter to the Ombudsman had a negative effect in this already so negative investigation work. The Ombudsman gave the Sundsvall Police a Carte Blanche; they had handled the case in the best possible manner. After this, the work of the police dropped, if possible, one more level. In spite of Kerstin’s protests I carried through my wish to send letters to the newspapers as well as to the Ombudsman. According to her experience from her work, a letter to the Parliamentary Ombudsman would only have negative effects for the plaintiff.

As a consequence of the letter to the Parliamentary Ombudsman we gained access to the official register of the Police; the list of registered incoming ‘hints’. The register caused new questions, which were answered with the same nonchalance and rudeness as earlier. Our attempts with the help of a lawyer to gain access to the entire documentation from the investigation – we did want to find out what was behind the titles – were fruitless.

By that time, we had realized that the police was not interested in carrying out the investigation regarding what had happened to Olle. At a fairly early stage, I very distinctly had expressed an opinion that the investigation was make-believe and thus I had looked for ways to get around the blocking of the Police.

I was considering doing something drastic and dramatic in order to rouse the interest of the newspapers and of the public, hopefully also that of the superior authorities.  Our initiatives, one after the other, just faded away.

And at the Sundsvall Police force one candidate for retired life kept succeeding the other. As soon as one investigator left for retirement and a new showed up, it was implied that “we have some new stuff now”! We were just to sit still and wait ….

Since my retirement from the Forestry Board on July 1, 1990 I have practically incessantly occupied myself with the research material. I have methodically and hardheadedly gone through the material and I have tried to contact the people who might have something of interest in this case.

I have naturally come in conflict with the police and their “investigation”. Kerstin is scared that I am disturbing the police, that I am ruining possible investigation hints and ideas. To my mind, this fear has no grounds. If the police from the start had had the ambition to solve this case, they had long ago ‘threshed the straw’ that was at hand.

Kerstin is as much questioning the police and is as unhappy with them and their investigation as I am. But she still carries a hope. The police are an authority in society. I do my job and I expect the police to do theirs.

In this respect Kerstin and I have different opinions. My opinion regarding the police is that they are thoroughly dishonest; a heavily criminal institution.  

                     Ruben

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