The Story of Tore Hedin: The Swedish Serial Killer Cop Who Investigated His Own Crimes (7 photos)

Serial killers are remarkably rare in Nordic countries—perhaps owing to the Scandinavian mindset or even genetics. Yet even in the prosperous North, dark exceptions occur. One of Sweden's most notorious killers was Tore Hedin, a man who led a double life as both a ruthless murderer and a serving police officer.





Early Life: The Making of a Killer

Tore Hedin was born on January 7, 1927, in the small village of Stora Harrie in southern Sweden. Raised in a normal family, he was a well-behaved child who did well in elementary school, bringing pride to his parents. But as he reached his teenage years, his behavior took a sharp and disturbing turn.

Hedin began skipping school, running with a bad crowd, and drinking heavily. Alcohol turned him aggressive and uncontrollable. It was during a drunken spree that he committed his first crime. In 1943, at just 16 years old, he broke into a brewery and stole a bag of oats. To cover his tracks, the intoxicated teen set fire to the entire building.



Tore Hedin

From Arsonist to Police Officer

The police quickly caught the teenage thief and arsonist. Under questioning, Hedin claimed he took the oats to feed his father's starving horse. As for the fire, he couldn't offer a coherent explanation, claiming he had blacked out. Sweden's lenient justice system is legendary, and even in the mid-20th century, it was no different. Hedin was tried, his parents were ordered to pay damages, and then... he was simply let go.





Remarkably, when Hedin decided to join the police force at age 18, his application was accepted. Soon enough, the former thief and arsonist was proudly parading around in a brand-new police uniform. But anyone who thought he had turned over a new leaf was gravely mistaken. Hedin remained a volatile, violent alcoholic.

His First Murder and Playing Detective

On November 28, 1951, after losing a card game, Hedin stabbed his friend to death and robbed him. Following his usual pattern, he torched the house to cover his tracks. The murder sent shockwaves through the quiet Swedish town, where even minor petty theft was cause for concern.

Top detectives were assigned to the case, and Hedin was dispatched to assist them. With full access to the crime scene, physical evidence, and case files, he cleverly led his colleagues astray, deliberately stalling and sabotaging the investigation from the inside.



Tore Hedin

Months of painstaking police work yielded nothing. Desperate for a lead, authorities even brought in a nationally famous psychic from Malmö. Unsurprisingly, this proved useless. Standing right next to the killer dressed in a police uniform, the psychic babbled about mysterious villains emerging from the woods, oblivious to the fact that the murderer was standing right beside him.

With no fear of getting caught, Hedin carried on with his life and was even planning to marry 24-year-old Ulla Östberg. But shortly before the wedding, he revealed his true nature. In a fit of jealousy, he attacked his fiancée, beat her, and threatened to shoot her. Naturally, the engagement was broken off immediately, and Hedin was fired from the police force.



Swedish police officer

A Night of Terror

Being dumped and fired completely broke Hedin's fragile psyche. He relentlessly hounded Ulla to take him back, resorting to emotional manipulation, suicide threats, and outright intimidation. But she refused to back down. On August 21, 1952, after heavily drinking, Hedin grabbed an axe, got into his car, and drove off.



Hedin first drove to his parents' house, where he unleashed a bloody massacre, hacking his 57-year-old mother and 74-year-old father to death with the axe. He then set the house ablaze to cover up the double murder before heading to the local retirement home where his ex-fiancée lived and worked.

In the dead of night, he slipped inside undetected and made his way to the room where Ulla Östberg and her 55-year-old coworker were sleeping, killing both women with his axe. He then barricaded the building's exits from the outside with park furniture and set the structure on fire. The wooden building went up like a tinderbox, trapping and killing five more people in the blaze.

The Killer's Farewell Note

After committing these atrocious crimes, the former policeman sped away into the night. Within an hour, authorities had identified him, launching the largest manhunt in modern Swedish history. However, the search was brief: his car was found abandoned near a secluded lake a few miles from the scene.

The car doors were left wide open. On the back seat lay Hedin's blood-soaked clothes alongside a suicide note. In it, he blamed his "treacherous fiancée" for his actions and declared his intent to take his own life. He claimed he had slaughtered his parents only to spare them the shame and pain of his atrocities.



Police initially doubted the note, suspecting it was yet another ploy to throw them off his trail. But police divers soon recovered Hedin's body from the bottom of the lake. So ended the life of Tore Hedin—a psychopath, pyromaniac, and disgraced former cop who slaughtered nine people in a single night, bringing his total body count to ten.

What shocks you most about this story: how long he managed to evade suspicion, or that he was hired by the police despite his criminal record? Let us know in the comments!