Lindh killer suspect pics released (original) (raw)

September 14, 2003 — 10.00am

Police released pictures of a possible suspect and combed for DNA from the knife used to kill Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, as evidence mounted that her slaying could swing some Swedes to vote yes in a crucial referendum to adopt the euro.

Opposition to the common currency has been strong in the Scandinavian country of nine million in the run-up to the referendum.

But after the stabbing death of Lindh, an ardent euro supporter, the "yes" side has surged and polls suggest a close finish.

"I'm convinced of the possibility we will have a small majority for the 'yes' side," Finance Minister Bosse Ringholm said as he met with other European finance ministers in Stresa, Italy.

"It is ... my sense over the last few days and weeks that there's a chance for a 'yes'."

Police said they were making progress in their effort to find the man who stabbed Lindh at an upmarket department store on Wednesday.

But no suspect was in custody three days after the attack that has shocked a country still haunted by the 1986 murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme.

Unlike the Palme probe, in which no weapon was recovered, police have the craftman's knife used to kill Lindh and hoped DNA analysis would help them find the suspect, described by witnesses as a 30-year-old stocky, acne-scarred Swede with shoulder-length hair.

Investigators also released pictures from a surveillance camera at Nordiska Kompaniet showing a man police said fit the description.

He was clad in a blue baseball cap and gray hooded sweater, a Nike logo clearly visible, with his sleeves rolled up.

"It could be the perpetrator, it could be a good witness," Jennekvist told reporters in Stockholm.

Police decided to release pictures from the tapes after two tabloids obtained them and published them.

Jennekvist said police were not sure of the man's identity, but had received several tips from people who saw them in the newspapers.

He carefully noted that police were not yet calling the man a suspect.

Forensics experts confirmed that the craftsman's knife found at the scene of Lindh's stabbing was used to kill her, but no fingerprints could be pulled from it.

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