Engaged Swedish couple Heidi Birgitta Paakkonen and Sven Urban Höglin were in their early twenties when they disappeared on a visit to New Zealand back in 1989. They were on an adventure, backpacking through the bush that April, and they were reported missing that May.

Join us at the quiet end for The Swedish Tourist Murders. Heidi and Urban were due home on May 7, but no one had heard from them in over a month. Interpol was notified of the couple’s failure to return. Looking into the matter, they discovered that the couple had not boarded their flight home. It was out of character for them not to contact their families, so they were worried that the couple could have been victims of foul play. These concerns grew after they learned that a convicted killer was on the loose in the area where they were last seen.

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Sources

David Tamihere’s backpacker murder convictions will be heard by Court of Appeal again, Sam Hurley, New Zealand Herald, 4/20/2020, retrieved 12/6/2024.

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Revealed: The identity of secret Witness C whose false testimony helped send David Tamihere to jail for 20 years for the 1990 Swedish backpacker murders, Television New Zealand, tvnz.com.nz, 4/26/2018, retrieved 12/2/2024.

Swedish tourists case: David Tamihere loses long fight, is again found to have murdered Swedes, New Zealand Herald, Ric Stevens, 7/10/2024.

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