Epilogue

Perhaps one day, in a voluminous tome, in pages moved to compassion,
I shall tell your story, dismayed by what it contains, and by the lessons
that spring forth. So far, I have been unable to do so, for whenever I
attempted it, copious tears fell on the paper and my fingers trembled,
and not from old age.
Comte de Lautréamont, Les Chants de Maldoror

GÖTEBORG, Monday January 10, 1983. Yesterday around 6:00 pm, a man's body in the early stages of decomposition was found by a local resident in the forest near the locality of Jonsered, Partille Municipality. Police have not been yet established the man's identity, but a preliminary examination has concluded he died of bleeding from severe injuries, apparently arising from animal bites, sustained on the neck, which appears to have been broken shortly after death. The body did not present typical defensive wounds, but it presented a broken ankle, an injury deemed to have occurred during or shortly before the fatal attack, and as a result of which the victim may have been unable to defend himself. Though death appears to have resulted from an animal attack, due to certain unusual aspects of the injuries, and to evidence of the presence of other individuals in the vicinity of the body close to the time of death, police have not ruled out foul play.

***

GÖTEBORG, Thursday January 20, 1983. On Wednesday afternoon, at a clearing in the forest near Tultered, Partille Municipality, a group of hikers found what police have confirmed are the burnt corpses of two children who appear to have been tightly embracing each other at the time of their deaths. Due to the state of the bodies police have been so far unable to determine the children's identities, but after examining the bone structures of the remains forensic experts have concluded that one of the corpses is that of a prepubescent child approximately between the ages of ten and twelve, and the other is thought likely to be that of a male in early adolescence, approximately between the ages of twelve and fourteen.

According to police spokesman Albert Arnoldsson, the fact that only the children's corpses and their clothing appear to have caught fire strongly suggests they were deliberately set on fire by a third party and the case is being treated as a homicide investigation. According to preliminary forensic results, the deceased perished at the location they were found at and the bodies had not been disturbed when they were found.

The state of the bodies makes fingerprinting impossible, but to aid in their identification forensic experts are undertaking a reconstruction of the children's faces based on the skulls. The victims appear to have been wearing exceptionally light clothing at the time of their deaths for the local weather, and police have specifically confirmed they were barefoot, though the significance of this is unclear. Police have confirmed that a piece of jewelry was found on the younger child, but are withholding further details pending a full investigation. Police have refused to speculate on any possible links between this gruesome finding and that of an adult male's body on January 9 close to nearby Jonsered, identified by its fingerprints as that of Esteban Galindo Torres...

***

GÖTEBORG, Saturday January 22, 1983. Inquiries continue in the case of the two still unidentified children's bodies found near Tultered on Wednesday, but as of today police have established no motive and have not identified any suspects. Forensic experts have not established the exact means by which these murders were committed; the thoroughness with which the bodies were burnt without any readily apparent trace of the means used is deemed to suggest specialized knowledge or training by the perpetrator. Specialists from...

According to unconfirmed rumors, which a police spokesman declined to comment, these gruesome findings are thought to be connected with a series of crimes committed in Stockholm over a year ago. In addition, according to a source speaking on condition of anonymity, they are thought to be linked to a gruesome murder committed near Karlstad last year...

According to police sources, the death of Esteban Galindo, recently found dead in a nearby area, is thought to be connected with this case, but he has been ruled out as a perpetrator on account of being deceased at the estimated time of the children's deaths. Mr. Galindo, a naturalized Swede with no criminal record, was a suspect in several unsolved cases...

Police have confirmed that the younger child, thought to be female, was wearing a lady's gold ring, set with an aquamarine, at the time of her death; the provenance of this item has not been established, but due to its value and size it is deemed unlikely to have originally belonged to the wearer, and police ask that anyone with information contact them at...