Kim Marie Johansson
Kim Marie Johansson,[1] (born Kristoffer Johanssen) is a Swedish convicted murderer who killed and dismembered Vatchareeya Bangsuan, Johansson's then-girlfriend. [2][3][4][5] On 22 January 2014, she was sentenced to 14 years in prison, although the sentence was reduced to 10 years on appeal later that year.[6] Johansson was still living as a man at the time.
Disappearance of Vatchareeya Bangsuan
[edit]In 2013, 20-year-old Vatchareeya Bangsuan went missing in Sweden on Tuesday, May 7.[7] Two weeks later, body parts were found scattered in the forest.[7][8][5]
Vatchareeya Bangsuan, from Boden, was studying to be a civil engineer at Luleå University of Technology, was about to get a driver's license, and was about to get a new karate belt the day after she disappeared. Kim Marie Johansson, Bangsuan's boyfriend of the time, participated in her search and pretended to be very worried.[2]
Traces of blood were later found in the home and car of Johansson. It was learned that Johansson had also killed and dismembered a pet dog. Justice proved that Kim Marie (at the time, Kristoffer) Johansson had stabbed Bangsuan in the heart and lungs with a knife-like object. Johansson presumably then cut up her body and hid parts in several different places.[9][2][7]
On 20 May, Missing People found body parts in a desolate house in Mjösjöberget.[7] Body parts were found in an abandoned house in Mjösjöberget and surrounding areas, others in the woods of Gammelängsberget, but Bangsuan's hands were never found.[10]
It was also learned that Johansson had killed and cut up a pet dog, its dismembered body found scattered in the woods of Gammelängsberget. The town was shocked and residents protested at numerous public demonstrations.[10] The case is considered the most serious in Norrbotten's criminal history and had enormous media coverage in Sweden and Norway.[11][12] On 23 May 2013, Kim Marie (then Kristoffer) was arrested. On 22 January 2014, the court imposed a sentence to prison for murder on the 22-year-old Johansson who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, although on appeal later that year the conviction was downgraded to manslaughter and the sentence was reduced to 10 years.[13]
Johansson was imprisoned in Norrtäljeanstalten, where prison management considering the prisoner to be extremely violent.[14] Johansson was had 34 formal warnings for refusing to work and unauthorized possession of tablets. Authorities said Johansson displayed a strong interest in weapons, war, and explosives and had diminished emotional functioning, with an inflexible thought pattern, vulnerability to stress, and difficulty in social interaction.[5]
Gender reassignment
[edit]In 2018, 27-year-old Johansson declared that she now identified as a woman, changing her name to Kim Marie Johansson.[5] Johansson said that she had felt she was a girl since she was five years old, but that it took her several years to realize why she was the way she was and felt the way she felt.[14] She said she would feel better in a women's prison as she was not comfortable around men and was scared of them. Johansson applied to serve the remainder of her sentence in Hinseberg women's prison, a request which was first rejected and then granted by the Swedish Prison and Probation Service and she was transferred.[15] This meant that Johansson moved from a Class 1 maximum security institution to a Class 2 lower security institution with women.[2]
At that time she was reported to the police for threatening to kill a prison guard.[15] As a prisoner, Johansson opened an Instagram account under the name Magdala Johansson and uploaded photos of artwork of, for example, a drawing of dismembered hands and of the rifle with text announcing plans to "kill the TERF" (from Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist). The latter was an apparent reference to journalist Kajsa Ekis Ekman, who had written an article in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, that criticized the transfer of Johansson to a women's prison. Ekman has expressed fears that she will be murdered on one of her furloughs.[2]
In 2020, Johansson was prosecuted for threatening Cissi Wallin.[16]
Cinema
[edit]A documentary about her case, In the Head of a Murderer - Kim Marie Johansson, was shown on TV3 Dokumentär.[17][5][14]
References
[edit]- ^ "Parteringsdrapsdømt flyttet til kvinnefengsel etter kjønnsskifte". www.vg.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). 12 November 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ a b c d e "DEBATT: En man som styckar kvinnor ska inte sitta i kvinnofängelse". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ "Sweden: Sweden: Male Prisoner Wins Transfer to Women's Prison". www.churchmilitant.com. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Shaw, Diana (14 November 2019). "Transgender-Identifying Inmate Who Killed, Dismembered Ex-Girlfriend Wins Transfer to Women's Prison". Women Are Human. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ a b c d e "Kim Johansson styckade sin exflickvän – korrigerar kön i fängelset". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Etxebarria, Lucía (27 June 2020). "'Kill the TERF', per Lucía Etxebarria". elperiodico (in Catalan). Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Allt om fallet Vatchareeya Bangsuan - P4 Norrbotten". Sveriges Radio.
- ^ "for missing woman murder suspect". 27 May 2013.
- ^ "Han får 14 år för mord på Vatchareeya, 20". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Mamman: Jag älskar Vatchareeya, min dotter". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ "Kim Johanssons liv innan hon styckade ex-flickvännen Vatchareeya". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Arpi, Ivar (26 September 2018). "Skydda kvinnor från styckmördare | Ivar Arpi | SvD Ledare". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Etxebarria, Lucía (27 June 2020). "'Kill the TERF', per Lucía Etxebarria". elperiodico (in Catalan). Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ a b c "Känt mordfall analyseras i ny dokumentär". nsd.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Kim Johanssons hotfulla raseri på kvinnofängelset". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ "Vatchareeyas baneman åtalas för hot mot Cissi Wallin - Bloggbevakning". Bloggbevakning (in Swedish). 30 October 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Arpi, Ivar (26 September 2018). "Skydda kvinnor från styckmördare, SvD Ledare" (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 20 September 2021.