LILLY Lindeström was a prostitute living in the Atlas neighbourhood in Stockholm, Sweden in the 1930s.
The 32-year-old entertained clients in her small, dingy apartment and spent the day of May 4, 1932 working.
That evening, Lilly dropped into her neighbour Minnie’s apartment in search of condoms before returning to her home. She never reappeared.
The Atlas Vampire Murder
The Atlas Vampire is the nickname given to the unknown assailant who committed the unsolved “Vampire Murder” (also known as the Vampire Murder Case) in Stockholm, Sweden in 1932.
On May 7, 1932, a 32-year-old prostitute, Lilly Lindeström, was found murdered in her small apartment in the Atlas area of Stockholm near Sankt Eriksplan.
She had been dead for 2-3 days before police broke into her apartment, she had suffered blunt force trauma to her head. Lilly was found completely naked and faced down on her bed. According to reports sexual activity had taken place with a condom found to still be protruding from her anus.
When the Stockholm police, alerted by a concerned Minnie, entered her apartment, they found a shocking scene – as detailed in the police report…
Lilly’s body was face down on her bed. She was naked and her clothes were neatly folded on a chair next to the body. It was clear to the police that Lilly had been dead for 2 or 3 days, and furthermore Lilly had engaged in sexual activity right before being murdered, as police found a used condom still in Lilly’s anus.
The cause of death had been repeated blows from a blunt object to Lilly’s head. Disturbingly, later investigations revealed that most, if not all of Lilly’s blood had been drained. Saliva was also found on Lilly’s neck and body, and police soon began to fear that the blood-stained gravy ladle found in Lilly’s room had been used to drink her blood. Thus the “Atlas Vampire” got his name.
Evidence of a vampire!
The detectives noted that a gravy ladle was found at the scene and on further inspection of the body, they realised her body had been drained of some, if not all, of her blood. Police suspected the implement was used by the perpetrator to drink Lilly’s blood. Various clients fell under suspicion but after a lengthy investigation, none were charged with her murder.
The murder taking place years before DNA evidence, investigators were unable to do much despite all the bodily fluids at the scene. Lilly’s regular clients were questioned and the neighbourhood was searched, but no suspects arose and nobody was ever charged with the murder.
The murder remains unsolved.