June 23, 1996. Boston, Massachusetts. The dismembered upper body of 20-year old Karina Holmer is found inside a plastic trash bag in a dumpster. She was strangled to death before being sliced directly in half and the lower portion of her body is never recovered. Karina hails from Sweden and has spent the past three months working as an au pair for a married couple and she was last seen partying at a nightclub nearly 36 hours before she was found. Even though the investigation looks at a number of potential suspects, there is no evidence to implicate anyone. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a brutal unsolved crime which has often been described as Boston’s version of the Black Dahlia murder. Special thanks to listener Anil Adyanthaya for narrating the opening of this episode.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Boston Police Department Unsolved Homicide Unit at (617) 343-4470 or the CrimeStoppers tip line at 1-800-494-TIPS (8477).

Additional Reading:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/22/metro/who-killed-karina-holmer-twenty-five-years-later-swedish-nannys-grisly-murder-remains-unsolved/

https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/03/30/from-the-archive-body-identified-as-swedish-nanny-karina-holmer/

https://www.masslive.com/boston/2021/06/karina-holmer-cold-case-boston-police-seek-new-leads-in-brutal-1996-murder-of-20-year-old-swedish-au-pair.html

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“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on Vokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True  Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.