MURDERED: Karina Holmer in Boston

Summary

Crime Junkie Podcast Episode Summary: "MURDERED: Karina Holmer in Boston"

Release Date: December 19, 2024

In this gripping episode of Crime Junkie, hosts Ashley Flowers and Britt Prawat unravel the haunting and unresolved case of Karina Holmer, a young Swedish au pair whose life was tragically cut short in Boston in 1996. Through meticulous research and engaging discussion, Ashley and Britt explore the circumstances surrounding Karina's disappearance, the subsequent discovery of her remains, and the baffling investigation that left the case cold.

---

Introduction to the Case

Britt Prawat sets the stage for the episode by introducing listeners to the Karina Holmer case, emphasizing its relative obscurity despite being one of Boston's more infamous unsolved crimes.

Britt Prawat [01:57]: "Boston is a city known for many things, but as crime junkies know that back in 1996 it was the newly found home to an au pair from Sweden that was looking to explore her dreams in the United States. She was supposed to have her whole life ahead of her, but instead never got the chance."

---

Karina Holmer: A Promising Start in a New Country

Ashley Flowers delves into Karina’s background, highlighting her ambitious move from Sweden to the U.S. after winning the lottery. She secured a position as an au pair for Frank Rapp and Susan Nichter in Dover, Massachusetts, aiming to build a new life.

Ashley Flowers [02:49]: "Karina Homer was 19 in the year 1995. This girl is young, she's beautiful, she's energetic, and she decides that she wants to take this money and start a new life. Try living life in America."

Despite her promising start, inconsistencies emerged regarding how Karina secured her au pair position. Unlike her peers, she wasn’t registered through official au pair organizations, raising early questions about her employment legitimacy.

---

Life in Boston: Normalcy and Early Signs of Trouble

Karina appeared to be settling into her role, balancing work responsibilities with social activities. She often spent weekends at her employer’s loft, an arrangement that seemed unusual but not immediately suspicious.

Ashley Flowers [07:20]: "She has friends there, actually lots of other au pair friends who are even from Sweden. So she doesn't feel like too much of an outsider."

Karina dated a Boston police officer and another local man, indicating her integration into the community. However, her contentment was short-lived as she began to express dissatisfaction with her work conditions.

---

The Mysterious Letter: A Cry for Help

In the summer of 1996, Karina sent letters back home signaling her intent to cut her trip short. While one letter cited exhaustion from house chores, a more alarming letter to a friend hinted at a "terrible" event without divulging details.

Ashley Flowers [08:38]: "She tells her friend that she's cutting her trip short, but because something terrible happened, and she tells her friend, she can't tell her what it is, but she'll tell her when she sees her when she gets home."

This enigmatic message underscores the gravity of what Karina was experiencing, yet remains a pivotal mystery in understanding her fate.

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The Fateful Night: Last Sightings and Disappearance

On Friday, June 21, 1996, Karina and her friends gathered at a downtown loft, later heading to Zanzibar, a popular Boston bar. That night, Karina became highly intoxicated and left the bar between 2 and 3 AM. Multiple eyewitness accounts provide conflicting reports about her departure.

Ashley Flowers [10:24]: "One person says that she had actually fallen asleep, and then the bouncer kicked her out alone. Another account says that she went outside with an older man. And then a third account says that she just exited the bar by herself, doing okay."

Despite attempts to return to the now-closed bar, Karina was seen engaging with various individuals, including a homeless man and a man with a large white dog wearing matching Superman shirts. These sightings paint a perplexing picture of her final hours.

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Discovery of Her Remains

Approximately 30 hours after her last known sighting, Karina's torso was discovered in a black garbage bag by a homeless man digging through dumpsters early Sunday morning. The body had been meticulously cleaned, and the dissection indicated strangulation with the torso severed at the waist.

Ashley Flowers [15:25]: "She was strangled and severed at the waist right below the ribs. So really the only thing that the person had to cut through was her spine."

The absence of a complete crime scene and lack of additional body parts complicated the investigation, leaving crucial questions unanswered.

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Investigation and Suspects

The Boston Police Department faced significant challenges in investigating Karina's murder, primarily due to the lack of physical evidence and the reliability of eyewitness testimonies. Several suspects emerged over the years, though none were conclusively linked to the crime.

1. Juan Polo: Initially considered due to his association with Karina, Polo was quickly ruled out after a speeding ticket provided him with a credible alibi.

2. Herb Whitten: A distinctive suspect, Herb was known for walking his large white dog in matching Superman attire. Despite initial suspicion, he was eliminated based on his alibi corroborated by a speeding ticket on the night of the murder. However, Herb's subsequent suicide raised eyebrows and fueled speculation about his potential involvement.

   Ashley Flowers [21:38]: "Because also, you all are probably a serial killer if you're walking around in Boston at 3am with a matching shirt with your dog."

3. John Zwiz: An enigmatic figure associated with a local grunge band, Zwiz became a suspect due to coincidental references in his music. However, no substantial evidence linked him to Karina's disappearance.

4. Eugene McCollum: Known for other gruesome crimes, McCollum was speculated to be connected to Karina's case due to the nature of the dismemberment. Nonetheless, authorities dismissed this link after his conviction for unrelated murders.

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Cold Case Status and Lingering Mysteries

Despite extensive investigations, the homicide of Karina Holmer remains unsolved. The case is marred by Boston's notorious reputation for police corruption in the 1990s, casting doubt on the integrity of the investigation. Additionally, the discovery of other unrelated murders in proximity to the location where Karina's torso was found adds layers of complexity and speculation.

Ashley Flowers [27:12]: "If this happened today, I mean, they would have footage probably outside of the bar. They would have all the text messages between her and her friends, not only the day of, but leading up to the event."

The absence of modern forensic tools and the reliance on unreliable eyewitness accounts left investigators with few leads, ultimately consigning the case to the annals of Boston's cold crimes.

---

Final Reflections

Ashley and Britt conclude the episode by pondering the potential for renewed investigation with today's technology and forensic advancements. They express empathy for Karina's family, emphasizing the enduring pain caused by the unresolved nature of the case.

Britt Prawat [35:11]: "If this happened today, I mean, they would have footage probably outside of the bar. They would have all the text messages between her and her friends."

The hosts also highlight the importance of persistent advocacy in solving cold cases, suggesting that a fresh perspective might one day bring justice to Karina Holmer's memory.

---

Conclusion

The Crime Junkie episode on Karina Holmer serves as a chilling reminder of the many unresolved mysteries that linger within urban landscapes. Through detailed storytelling and critical analysis, Ashley Flowers and Britt Prawat shed light on a case fraught with unanswered questions and lingering shadows, honoring Karina's memory while urging continued interest and investigation.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Britt Prawat [01:57]: "Boston is a city known for many things, but as crime junkies know that back in 1996 it was the newly found home to an au pair from Sweden that was looking to explore her dreams in the United States."

• Ashley Flowers [02:49]: "Karina Homer was 19 in the year 1995. This girl is young, she's beautiful, she's energetic, and she decides that she wants to take this money and start a new life."

• Ashley Flowers [08:58]: "Don't wait to tell somebody. You will 100% die before you get to tell somebody. Just tell anyone."

• Ashley Flowers [15:25]: "She was strangled and severed at the waist right below the ribs."

• Ashley Flowers [21:38]: "Because also, you all are probably a serial killer if you're walking around in Boston at 3am with a matching shirt with your dog."

• Britt Prawat [35:11]: "If this happened today, I mean, they would have footage probably outside of the bar."

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key elements of Karina Holmer's tragic story as presented in the Crime Junkie podcast, providing listeners with an insightful overview of the case's complexities and enduring mysteries.

Transcript

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[Ashley Flowers]

Thanks Capital One Bank Guy.

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[Britt Prawat]

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[Britt Prawat]

Hi crime Junkies. Britt here and today we're hitting our last stop on the East Coast, Boston, Massachusetts. Boston is a city known for many things, but as crime junkies know that back in 1996 it was the newly found home to an au pair from Sweden that was looking to explore her dreams in the United States. She was supposed to have her whole life ahead of her, but instead never got the chance. We all still had so many questions back in 2018 when we first told you the story, and I wish we had more answers today, but we're resharing this case As a reminder to all you crime junkies, if you have a secret, for the love of God, tell someone, anyone. Because you never know what might happen next.

[Ashley Flowers]

Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Crime Junkie. I am your host, Ashley, as always, joined by Britt.

[Britt Prawat]

Hi, everyone.

[Ashley Flowers]

And this week, I'm super excited. I have a story that I had never even heard about before I started researching. I'm super excited to tell you junkies about it, but first, me and Britt want to tell you a little bit about one of our favorite nonprofits. This episode of Crime Junkie is brought to you by Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana.

[Britt Prawat]

So you're saying that Crime Stoppers just.

[Ashley Flowers]

Takes the tips and helps make arrests? No, they don't actually do any of the arresting. All Crime Stoppers does is they're responsible for taking the tip, keeping the tipster anonymous, and then giving that information to police, and police do all the arresting.

[Britt Prawat]

So you're saying Crime Stoppers wants just the tip?

[Ashley Flowers]

I don't even know how to follow that up. But yes, Crime Stoppers is only responsible.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

For taking the tips.

[Ashley Flowers]

And their number one goal is making sure that the tipsters remain anonymous. As of early 2018, Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana is responsible for clearing over 7,000 cases because of their tips. I encourage you to get involved with your local Crime Stoppers. And if you want more information on.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana, go to.

[Ashley Flowers]

Crimetips.Org so, Brit, I am super excited because I think I might have found a case that you have never heard about.

[Britt Prawat]

That does not happen very often.

[Ashley Flowers]

It never happens. Tell me, have you heard about the murder of Karina Homer?

[Britt Prawat]

Karina Homer? Oh, it doesn't sound familiar. I'm super excited.

[Ashley Flowers]

Brett, you kind of. You sound a little bit rough today.

[Britt Prawat]

I am sick. So excuse me if I sound kind of congested and scratchy throated, because that is exactly what I am. So sorry, guys.

[Ashley Flowers]

Well, let me give you a little bit of junky medicine because I'm going to tell you this brand new story. All right, so Karina Homer was 19 in the year 1995. And this girl's actually from Sweden. She won the lottery there, which gave her about $1,500. This girl is young, she's beautiful, she's energetic, and she decides that she wants to take this money and start a new life. Try living life in America. She gets a job in the US as an au pair for a couple in Dover, Massachusetts. This is like the first part where this story gets a little bit questionable. So part of the reason I had never heard about it and you had never heard about it is there's not a lot on this case, Even though I read that it's one of the most famous Boston cases. There is little to no information on this. So when I'm looking up how she got this job, I found some really fishy articles, basically from the US Government saying, you know, we run these agencies that bring au pairs over. They're registered through us, they come in the United States through us. They're working on it on a visa, suffer au pairs. But she wasn't registered with any of these organizations, none of the normal ones that all of her other au pair friends were. So I have no idea how she would have even found out about this job or got connected with this job. The only thing I can maybe assume is that she had friends over here that knew of a family. But she really went about this an odd way. And I don't know if that was just happenstance or if there was some reason she wasn't going through, like, the proper channels. Well, she works for a family of Frank Rapp and Susan Nichter. Now. They're married and they have kids, but they both have really prominent careers, which is why they have different names. Frank is a commercial photographer and Susan is a prominent painter. So, like, very upper middle class, definitely very ritzy. She would work the week taking care of the kids and doing housework, helping around. And on the weekends she would have those off. And her employer, Frank, actually had a loft downtown where he did all of his commercial photography. It said that she spent a lot of time in that loft. On the weekend, she would stay the night there. I don't know if that was just to get out of the house. So she wasn't always, like, with the kids that you're babysitting, I feel like you would just need a break.

[Britt Prawat]

Right.

[Ashley Flowers]

But I don't know if she had more of a friendship with her employer or if things crossed a line ever. It also seems kind of weird to me. Like, I understand you want to get away, but to be spending nearly every weekend. I don't know if he was with her or if. If the agreement was basically, he works there on the weekdays and then she goes there on the weekends just to get away from the family. Again, very little information, but we do know that she would go there frequently. The story of hers really starts the summer of 1996. So she had been in America for a few months, and she sends a letter home, a couple of letters home, actually Telling her family that she's going to be cutting her trip short. She wants to come back to her small town in Sweden. She tells her family the reason is she is really tired of house chores, that she's doing a lot more housework than she originally thought she was going to be doing. She's just kind of over it. It's not what she dreamed it would be, and she's just going to be coming home. Well, there's one letter sent to her friend that tells a little bit different story. She tells her friend that she's cutting her trip short, but because something terrible happened, and she tells her friend, she can't tell her what it is, but she'll tell her when she sees her when she gets home.

[Britt Prawat]

No.

[Ashley Flowers]

Right. So there's crime junkie lesson number two in life. If you ever have a big secret and something terrible happens, don't wait to tell somebody. You will 100% die before you get to tell somebody. Just tell anyone. Write it in a letter and, like, delay. Mail it.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Mail it to yourself.

[Ashley Flowers]

I don't know, but don't wait.

[Britt Prawat]

I thought you said I was going to enjoy this story and it was gonna make me feel better. I feel worse.

[Ashley Flowers]

I know, I know. I, like, as soon as I read that, I was like, oh, no, baby girl. She sends that letter home, and her friend doesn't think anything initially. She's like, oh, you know, she's coming home. I'm just excited to see her. Obviously, it's nothing that bad. She's gonna tell me when she gets home. She's not hurt. Her family hasn't heard anything bad. So her friend doesn't alert any kind of, you know, she doesn't set off any kind of alarms or alert her family. Karina seems to be living a pretty normal life in Boston. You know, aside from this letter, everyone thought she was pretty happy. She has friends there, actually lots of other au pair friends who are even from Sweden. So she doesn't feel like too much of an outsider. She has a group that she hangs out with on the weekends. She's even dating. She for a short time, dated a Boston police officer, and then she also dated another man from South Boston in that short time she was there. And from what I can tell, neither relationship was extremely serious, Just kind of fleeting. But just to show you that she was comfortable, she was outgoing. And the story really starts for her on Friday, June 21, 1996. Her and her friends meet up at a downtown loft. And again, this is another question I have that can't really be answered. But all they keep mentioning is this downtown loft that they meet up at. I don't know if this is her employer's loft. If it's one of those.

[Britt Prawat]

Yeah, I was going to ask that.

[Ashley Flowers]

Right. If it's one of her friends lofts. I just know that they all meet up and the plan is for them to get together and then they go down to the bar together. They all go to Zanzibar, which is in downtown Boston, and it was like the hip bar for young people. A lot of foreign people would go there, is what I was reading. She was obviously only 20 at the time, but she had a fake ID. She went out that night wearing a, I've heard, black or gray shirt with very tight, shiny silver pants. So that plays into into account later when we're talking about eyewitnesses seeing her. She wasn't, you know, just wearing all black. I feel like people would remember this girl in super shiny silver pants, but it was 1996, so, I mean, anyone.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

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[Britt Prawat]

The 90s, though.

[Ashley Flowers]

Yeah, true, true. So here's what we know for sure happened that night. She goes in with her friends, she's having a great time. They're like staying there, shutting the bar down, and she gets really intoxicated. And we know for sure that sometime between the hours of 2 and 3 in the morning, she exits the bar. What we don't know is exactly how she exited the bar or who she exited with, because there starts to be some different accounts. One person says that she had actually fallen asleep, and then the bouncer kicked her out alone. Another account says that she went outside with an older man. And then a third account says that she just exited the bar by herself, doing okay. She wasn't like passed out. But all accounts say she was very intoxicated. At some point we go back to. We do know that she tried to get back in the bar to find her friends, but the bouncer won't let her back in because the bar is officially closed. They've stopped serving. So people who are in there are slowly making their way out, but they're not gonna let any new people into the bar. There are a couple more eyewitnesses that see her after she's denied entry. And a lot of these are confirmed by multiple people. So one thing they know for sure that she did is she was seen talking and dancing with a homeless man for a little while.

[Britt Prawat]

Naturally.

[Ashley Flowers]

Naturally. Then the next sighting that they think is pretty confident in is they see her Talking to a man with a really large white dog. And they're both the dog and the man are wearing matching Superman shirts.

[Britt Prawat]

I would also stop and talk to this man for the record.

[Ashley Flowers]

Yeah. And someone overhears him saying that he's, you know, from the, from the north area. So they give this account of this man from the north with his large white dog in matching Superman shirts. And they get that from a couple people because obviously someone like that's going to stick out. There's another possible sighting of her talking to four men in a silver car. And the witness says that they were trying to convince her to go to some kind of after party, but it's unknown if she actually got in the car. There's a fourth witness who has a possible sighting of her in a car, but I don't know how seriously to take this one. I only saw it in one place. And additionally, I think what's really distinct about her is the clothing she was wearing and being out in front of that bar. I don't know if you would recognize her in a car at 3:00 in the morning.

[Britt Prawat]

Right.

[Ashley Flowers]

Another person says she's seen walking alone on a street that's adjacent from the street the bar is on. And between 3:30 and 4:00 in the morning, someone spots her in front of this 24 hour store that's about one mile from the club. Now we wouldn't normally put a ton of stock in that. Again, it was just one person. But what we find out later is this 24 hour store is actually really close to where her body was found. So it's possible that she actually did get there, whether she walked or whether she maybe was in the car and someone drove her. But we have this, this one off sighting. @ this point, all of the sightings stop and for 30 hours no one sees her. And to be clear, she at this point is not reported missing. This is all stuff we've pieced together after the fact. She is on her weekend break, so her employers haven't, you know, reported her missing. They don't expect to see her on the weekend. And it was Friday night that she went missing. Sunday afternoon there's a news broadcast that a body of an unidentified blonde woman had been found with a fake ID or they assume a fake id. And that's when her employers get notified and actually call the police and say, hey, this might be our au pair. Now the way they found this body is insane. So Sunday morning, the very early hours, there is a homeless man who's Digging through garbage cans, trying to find cans to turn in loose food, whatever. And he finds this black garbage bag. And he opens the bag and inside is the full torso of a woman.

[Britt Prawat]

Whoa.

[Ashley Flowers]

Just the torso. He obviously immediately calls the cops. The cops find that she had been totally cleaned, even all of her makeup removed. There's no account that I can find. It says that specifically they were keeping it under wraps whether or not she was clothed or nude. There was one blog entry where it talks about her naked torso, but I have a feeling that's just somebody doing their own interpretation. Because from every I could say the police were intentionally keeping that quiet. The body had been strangled and severed at the waist right below the ribs. So really the only thing that the person had to cut through was her spine. And I don't know if this is a show of somebody who has medical knowledge or if it's the person's just mildly smart, you know what I mean? It doesn't take a lot to figure.

[Britt Prawat]

Out or like path of least resistance, for lack of better terms.

[Ashley Flowers]

Exactly. One police report that I read said that she may have been alive for up to 24 hours after she was last seen. And they're assuming she was last seen about 3am on Friday. So I don't know. Again, I only saw one side of that. I don't know if that means the body hadn't set into rigor mortis. I don't know if that means it was still warm. I don't know if they could just tell by blood flow. That being said, there wasn't a ton of blood. This was a secondary scene and to this day, they have no idea where she was actually murdered. So her torso was just found in this bag. They searched the rest of the dumpster and they never found her waist or legs.

[Britt Prawat]

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[Ashley Flowers]

So once the host family called in, police obviously start investigating. I don't really know what to think of the host family calling in if they Again, it was Sunday that this was broadcast so she wasn't missing. I don't believe from everything I found that they put a picture of her on the news. So I think it's a little bit strange that they're like, oh, a blonde girl in a dumpster. Must be our Swedish au pair that.

[Britt Prawat]

We generally don't hear from on the weekends.

[Ashley Flowers]

Right, right. But again, I don't know all the details. It might not be that fishy, but a little bit strange. Well, police obviously investigate them first. The family immediately shuts down and lawyers up. Now I don't think that necessarily means someone is guilty. Like I am all about lawyering up if anything happens ever, even if you have nothing to do with it. This is also Boston in the 90s, but they were very uncooperative. Other nannies had some very unflattering things to say about Frank, that he was just kind of sleazy. They wouldn't confirm or deny whether or not Frank and Karina had any kind of relationship. As they're investigating the family, something super fishy happens right behind their condominium, like within 200ft at 9:20pm on Monday evening. This is just a coup. This is a day after her body was found. There is a dumpster fire like up in flames. The whole thing is just burning right behind her employer's home. So police are immediately going and checking it out. Red flags are going up everywhere. They're thinking, okay, is this the second half of her body? Is there something of her, hers that people are getting rid of? They completely empty out the dumpster, try to examine anything that they can still visually see or test from everything they find. They weren't able to conclusively say that it had actually had anything to do with Karina. But it's something that keeps getting brought up in every single article and every single blog post or Reddit or web sleuths that I read on this. Everyone refers back to that dumpster fire and just said it's really suspicious. But since they couldn't link anything to them, they continue to look at other suspects. And they start with that homeless man that she was dancing and talking to. They find that his name is Juan Polo. And they quickly rule him out. He's just a local guy. He had plenty of alibis. People saw him all the time. He wouldn't even have anywhere to take a body and dismember it, even if he wanted to. So they decided their next best bet is to track down that man and his dog.

[Britt Prawat]

Superman dog. Yes.

[Ashley Flowers]

Because also, you all are probably a serial killer if you're walking around in Boston at 3am with a matching shirt with your dog. I mean, I am all about dogs, but it's a little bit strange, no?

[Britt Prawat]

I mean, okay, here's the thing we're looking at. I'm looking at it in the light of, like, 2017, where my dogs match each other and occasionally coordinate with me and my husband. So I'm like, my filter is okay here.

[Ashley Flowers]

My problem. My problem is not with the matching Superman shirts.

[Britt Prawat]

My problem is the 3am and the matching shirts.

[Ashley Flowers]

So they actually find this guy because he stands out like a sore thumb. His name is Herb Whitten, and he actually lives in Andover, Massachusetts, which is 32 minutes north of Boston.

[Britt Prawat]

So very far away to just be hanging out, walking your dog.

[Ashley Flowers]

Right? And whoever overheard them actually overheard them correctly. He was a man who was from, like, somewhere north, and frequently he would say would, like, go walk his dog downtown. But it seems super weird to drive 30 minutes at 3am to walk your dog and, like, talk to a bunch of really drunk people, because that's the only people who are walking the streets.

[Britt Prawat]

At 3am Definitely doesn't sound like fun.

[Ashley Flowers]

Well, police end up ruling him out because they say that he got a speeding ticket the same night that she was Last seen. So they say this rules him out because he was obviously headed back to Andover. He was in his car. He couldn't have been murdering her. But what I question is, if the police also say that she could have been alive for up to 24 hours after she was last seen, that doesn't mean that he, like, had to be killing her right at that time that he was getting a speeding ticket. Did they search his car? I mean, I've never gotten a seat.

[Britt Prawat]

She could be in the trunk. What kind of car was it? I have questions.

[Ashley Flowers]

I have so many questions, but it's 1996 and there are no answers. So, yeah, so they said the police, I'm hoping they know more than me. But they completely ruled him out because of this speeding ticket. Another suspect that pops up is John Zwiz. I'm not really sure why he came up, but people love talking about him. He lived really close to where her body was found. He's just an odd duck that I think had had a couple of run ins with the law. Nothing super serious. He's in this very dark grunge band. And shortly after her murder, he released a song. And people often quote the lyrics when they're talking about him. Part of the song goes, I've got an old man's car, I've got a jazz guitar. I've got a tab at Zanzibar Tonight that's where I'll be. And a lot of people refer to this because it came out shortly after she was murdered. And they think it's just a nod to the fact that maybe he was there that night and he had something to do with it. But outside of these lyrics, there's been no other kind of confession, and police couldn't link him to it in any way. There's brief talk of a man named Eugene McCollum who in 2000, killed and decapitated a prostitute and a man from East Boston. A lot of people like to link him to the case just because of his decapitation. Obviously, he's. He's okay with murdering people. He's okay with severing bodies. But police, again, say that he was a suspect for a long time. But after he was caught for these other murders, went to court, was tried and convicted, they said that they're not bringing any other charges and they don't consider him a suspect in the case anymore. And unfortunately, the police didn't feel the need to share with the public why. And that's literally the only information we have on him.

[Britt Prawat]

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[Ashley Flowers]

There is really random stuff connected to this case as well, which again I totally believe is unrelated. But just what are the odds? So in the same building as where the dumpster where her body was found, there's kind of a famous case. This man named Rafi Kokadikin, he was accused of killing his friend in the desert. Years later him and his friend went on a camping trip and they got lost and really dehydrated and he said that he had killed his friend as like a murder, but after they tested the body they found that he really wasn't that dehydrated. So there's all this speculation around that he's actually in prison now for that crime. Totally. I mean, not the same crime at all but again, just super weird that he was there at the time and then murders his friend later. I mean, it's just one of those things that, again, people bring up bizarre coincidence. Yeah, bizarre coincidence. Right. Well, the case kind of stalls out at this point. They've kind of run out of suspects. There's nowhere to go. They still don't even have a crime scene. And about one year after her murder, Herb Wittman, our dog loving friend, commits suicide. And there's no record I can find online about any kind of suicide note or reason he left or whether or not he had a history with depression. But a lot of people are saying, okay, admission of guilt, right? It's total admission of guilt. He couldn't live with what he did, and he just had to do that. But police still say no go. They wouldn't look into it any further. They said he was just a disturbed man, he was never a suspect. And the case goes back to being cold. They try and bring in the FBI, and the FBI do their thing and try and create a profile of someone who would do a crime like this. But the problem is, it's 1996. They have nothing to work with except for eyewitness testimony, which we know is super unreliable. They have no security footage. They have no phone records, no, really.

[Britt Prawat]

Computer records, social media, no mutual friends, no crossover nothing.

[Ashley Flowers]

If this happened today, I mean, they would have footage probably outside of the bar. They would have all the text messages between her and her friends, not only the day of, but leading up to the event.

[Britt Prawat]

Pictures of her in the background, in pictures from other people at the club. I mean, we've all seen that. You.

[Ashley Flowers]

Right, right. But they're really not able to track down anything.

[Britt Prawat]

Okay, okay, wait. I know this is a while back in the story, but didn't she date a cop or something?

[Ashley Flowers]

Right. Again, briefly, it gets mentioned, like, in a couple of news stories where the reporter's like. And the police say that they looked into the officer she was dating and he's totally cleared, but they don't.

[Britt Prawat]

Of course they did.

[Ashley Flowers]

Right. But they don't give any kind of alibi or anything like that, which, again, they haven't done with a ton of people. They gave Herb Whitman's alibi, which makes me think he was a very serious suspect.

[Britt Prawat]

Right.

[Ashley Flowers]

But what I. What I try and remember, this is Boston in 1996. They were notoriously corrupt then.

[Britt Prawat]

Hot mess.

[Ashley Flowers]

Hot mess, Right. So nothing was below them. They had no problem, like, if they thought someone did it, just confirming their suspicions and building evidence around that they had no problem protecting their own. So while this guy was literally immediately ruled out to. There's not a whole lot of faith that I have in that the case is really dead at this point. I mean, I. I've laid out all the suspects for you. There's nobody at this point who has come forward with any new information. They still to this day have no idea where the crime scene was. But the strangest thing. So her employer, remember that was Frank and Susan. Susan's a painter and I found her website.

[Britt Prawat]

No.

[Ashley Flowers]

Yes.

[Britt Prawat]

She painted her kinda.

[Ashley Flowers]

So no. Maybe. No. I don't know. So the website is Susan Nichter S U-S-A-N-N-I C-H-T-E-R.com and she has like a gallery of all of her paintings and she has a couple that are just super disturbing. There is one in the never been seen exhibit where it's called Carried Across. And it's this blue painting of what looks like a man holding the body of a naked woman kind of upside down. And she looks unconscious or dead. He looks just totally shocked and surprised. And then in the shadows there looks to be like another person, I assume a woman. But it could be a man who's like caressing the man's head, like telling him it's gonna be okay.

[Britt Prawat]

I just pulled it up and I see the picture and it's super spooky. Also two before it, there's a picture with a white dog wearing sunglasses, which I feel like a superman dog would also wear.

But.

No, it's a really creepy picture.

[Ashley Flowers]

There's another one under current Events and it's the second picture, it's called messenger, which is also really strange. So yeah, it's. It's a girl who actually looks a lot like. So the other one was all in blue. This one is in full color and it's a girl who looks a lot like Karina. She has blonde hair, she's in a blue dress, and it looks like she's pushing away a man with wings. And I have never seen a picture of Frank Rapp. I couldn't find one. I have no idea if this is what he looks like, but it's a man with like very small spectacle glasses and an orange hat who appears to be running towards her. And she's pushing him away and he's got something in his hands. But can you tell what that is, Brittany?

[Britt Prawat]

It almost looks like maybe a map or like a fairy tale book. I can't quite tell, honestly. What are your thoughts?

[Ashley Flowers]

On it, other than it just looks like a girl who looks like Karina pushing away a man. Cause he's coming at her unwantedly. Again, all of this is crazy speculation. There's a lot of her paintings. If you guys want to go through the site, we'll post a link to her website on ours that are really dark and disturbing. And you could take this one of two ways. Either she's painting about what she knows and something happened, and it's this deep, dark secret that she's finding a way to express. But also, whether or not they had anything to do with it, it happened to her. You know what I mean? It was her family.

[Britt Prawat]

It's still someone close to her, close to her family, close to her kids.

[Ashley Flowers]

Right. It was something that was like an experience within her life that I'm sure played heavily into her own experience. And so that might just be something that she continues to replay and try and work out and reason in her own head. But still super creepy.

[Britt Prawat]

Yeah. Yeah. It's gonna be hard to forget some of those pictures, honestly.

[Ashley Flowers]

Yeah. So Frank and Susan have just gone on. Obviously, they're living their life. She's still painting. He's a photographer. Mr. Whitman's dead. But everyone's just kind of gone on and forgotten about Karina. And it's a totally cold case. I don't know if anyone's gonna ever go back and reinvestigate. I think there's probably a lot that could be done. Knowing what we know now about how corrupt police were back then. I wonder if a fresh take or fresh look at the case wouldn't bring about something a little bit new or. Or if they wouldn't want to because maybe there's something that they were covering up, you know, I don't know. But unfortunately, you know, Karina's family's still in Sweden. They still have no answers. And I can't imagine being in another country and having something this horrific happen to your daughter or your sister or your friend. And I'm sure that letter that she sent home just absolutely haunts them. And no one ever figured out what was so terrible that happened to her.

[Britt Prawat]

Well, and you also, at least to me, I also have to question the idea of maybe it's not getting a second or closer look because she wasn't a citizen or a US national, you know, like, what would our country be implicated in internationally true. In the event that, like, it was potentially someone higher up in Boston, like a police officer in Boston. He's a. Technically a person of the state you know?

[Ashley Flowers]

Yeah. And I like, have to think that most of the time when cold cases are solved, a lot of it has to do with the family pushing and not letting go and being relentless. And that's so hard for her family to do. Not only being far away, but not really understanding our customs or understanding how it works. And I'm sure they're, you know, not wanting to make enemies, but also not wanting them to give up. So I don't even know if there's, you know, there very well could be some DNA in the case that we just don't know about. So I wonder if they've ever gone back and look and tried to retest. But I have a feeling there wouldn't be knowing that she was completely cleaned before her torso was dumped.

[Britt Prawat]

Yeah. Wow, that was a really good story. I feel like I'm the little kid in the Princess Bride while you're sick.

[Ashley Flowers]

And I'm telling you.

[Britt Prawat]

Yeah, I mean, it didn't make me feel better at all. And I have so many questions, but.

You did a really good job.

[Ashley Flowers]

So thank you guys for listening to another episode of Crime Junkie. If you want to interact with us on social media, you can do that Twitter, Rimejunk Junkie pod or instagram@crimejunkie podcast.

[Britt Prawat]

And be sure to check out our.

[Ashley Flowers]

Website, crimejunkiepodcast.com we'll see you guys next week.

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[Britt Prawat]

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