Thomas Quick

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For the American minstrel troupe manager, see Tom Quick.

Thomas Quick (born Sture Ragnar Bergwall, on the 26th of April 1950 in Korsnäs, Falun, Sweden) one of Scandinavias most notorious serial killers with over 30 confessions, although only eight convictions. He is a child molester and committed his first known murder at the age of 14. He is also know as Sätermannen. Quick has now changed his name back to Sture Bergwall



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[edit] Early years

Thomas Quick grew up with his six siblings, one of them his twinsister, in Korsnäs outside of Falun, Sweden. As a child he got infected with TBC and was hospilatized for some time. According to Quick he was molested as a child by his father and his very strict mother. At the age of 14 Quick started to show homo- and bisexual tendencies and started to approach younger boys. This was reported to the Child Welfare Committee. According to his autobiography, Kvarblivelse, he was abused by his father as a child. However, his brother, Sten-Ove Bergwall, denies this in his book Min bror Thomas Quick: en berättelse om det ofattbara (My brother Thomas Quick: A story of the incomprehensible).

He showed artistic leanings, mostly for acting and was described as imaginative but also manipulative. After his High School years Quick became more and more religious and decided to become a priest though this collided with his sexual disposition. Instead ha started to work at Falun Hospital.


[edit] The Sentences

His first sentence came in 1970 after he in 1969 as an employee at the hospital tried to molest 4 young boys at the childrens clinic. The District Court dismissed the charges of attempted manslaughter and sentenced him to Closed Psychiatric Care.

In 1974 he became a suspect in the murder of one of his male lovers in Uppsala but since he still was receiving psychiatric care he was never charged. 1990-1991 Quick was sentenced to Closed Psychiatric Care for armed robbery. During the therapy he started to confess some 20 murders in Sweden and Norway during 1964 and 1990. Some of the confessions led to the solving of an 18 year old murder considered to be unsolvable as well as a murder in Växjö in 1964, at the time no longer punishable, but with the information given by Quick it was solved since he had information never published about the crime.

Quick has been sentenced for 8 murders at six different trials:

  • Charles Zelmanovits, Piteå 1976, Sentence in 1994 - no forensic evidence but a confession
  • Johan Asplund, Sundsvall, 1980, Sentence 2001 - No body, no forensics but confession
  • The Stegehius couple, Appojaure, 1984, Sentence 1996 - No forensics, but Quick have given information that the public is unaware of. Though Quick took part of some information before the trial.
  • Yenon Levi, Tourist, Rörshyttan, 1988, Sentence 1997 - No forensic evidence, but Quick have given information that the public is unaware of. Though Quick took part of some information before the trial.
  • Therese Johannesen, Drammen, Norway, 1988, Sentence 1998 - No forensic evidence
  • Trine Jensen, Olso, 1981, Sentence 2000 - No forensic evidence
  • Gry Storvik, Oslo, 1985 - No forensic evidenxe, confession, seamen found in victim not belonging to Quick.


[edit] Quick´s confessions

In the years following 1990 when Quick was sentenced to Closed Psychiatric Care he started to confess several unsolved murders. His first murder, according to him would have taken place in Växjö in 1964, when Quick was only 14 years old. The victim, Thomas Blomgren was described by Quick as beeing the same age but not as strong and grand as himself. The second claimed victim was Alvar Larsson, clamied to have been murdered at Sirkön in the lake Åsnen outside the town om Urshult. According to Quick´s sister he never left Falun at the time of this murder.

The credibility of the investigations concerning Thomas Quick has been widely debated in Swedish media since the start in 1993. Sometimes he´s reffered to as a Serial Killer and sometimes a Compulsive liar. There has been doubts of his trustworthiness al along since some of the confessions have been proven to made up. Sometimes the victims have turned up, alive and well.

Quick also claims to have butchered and eaten one victim even though the corpse was untouched when found. One thing about the crimes is that no witness has ever seen Quick even thoguh some 10 000 people have been interviewed.

Critics of the confessions and the trials claim that Quick never murdered anyone, but that he is a compulsive liar. Among the critics are the parents of a child he confessed to having murdered in the late 1970s. In response to these accusations, Quick himself wrote an article for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter in 2001, where he said that he refused to co-operate further with the authorities concerning all open murder investigations.

In November 2006, Thomas Quick's trials were reported to the Swedish Chancellor of Justice by a retired lawyer, Pelle Svensson, on the behalf of two of the murder victim's relatives, who wish to have the trials declared invalid and, presumably, have Quick retried.


[edit] The psychology of Thomas Quick

Most of the material concerning Quick has been classified, but the conclusions and diagnosis have been published. According to the diagnosis Quick suffers from a Schizophrenialike symptom, the forensic psyhiatric evaluation that was cunducted in 1970 it was revealed that Quick suffered from a Highly sexual perversion named Pedofilia Cum Sadismus.

According to Quick he has a different personality by the name of "Ellington" who takes control over the killing. When "Ellington" takes control Quick does not remeber anything but it slowly comes back to him.

At a later evaluation in 1991, Quick was diagnosed with Personality disorder and Borderline symptoms, severe lack of impulse control and a sexual perverted behaviour with a sadomasochistic feature.

[edit] References