The Breakthrough follows a double homicide that took 16 years to resolve — very like a real-life incident that occurred in Sweden in 2004.
Based mostly on the 2021 novel of the identical title, the Netflix sequence recounts the chilling story of a long-unsolved case involving the deadly stabbings of a younger boy and a middle-aged girl. Sixteen years later, law enforcement officials teamed up with a genealogist who use superior expertise to establish the killer. Though it’s a fictional drama sequence, it’s impressed by real-life occasions that had been explored within the novel.
In November 2022, scriptwriter Oskar Söderlund informed Netflix that upon studying The Breakthrough, he was “struck by the truth that there was such sturdy human destinies behind this huge homicide investigation.”
“Law enforcement officials who refuse to surrender, family who needed solutions and final however not least the genealogist who lastly got here up with the answer,” he mentioned. “It’s a horrible trauma that has affected the individuals and town of Linköping and I wish to respectfully inform in regards to the makes an attempt to maneuver on from such trauma.”
So, what’s the true story behind The Breakthrough? Here is the whole lot to learn about the true double murders that struck Sweden in 2004 — and why it took 16 years to search out the killer.
Is The Breakthrough a real story?
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The Breakthrough begins with a younger boy on his solution to college when he’s stabbed by an unidentified man. A middle-aged girl intervenes, and because of this, he stabs her, too.
A bystander studies the crime to the police, however regardless of the clues she brings, the case stays unsolved. All through the four-episode sequence, officers and genealogists work over the course of 16 years to uncover the reality behind the brutal assault and establish the killer. Ultimately, it is the DNA of a journalist attempting to jot down in regards to the expertise’s function within the case that leads investigators to a person named David Nilsson.
Though the Netflix present is taken into account a fictional drama sequence, it’s based mostly on the nonfiction ebook written by journalist Anna Bodin and genealogist Peter Sjölund in 2021. In a November 2022 assertion to Netflix, the authors mentioned they had been excited {that a} story based mostly on their “intensive work” can be informed by FLX and Netflix.
“That is the primary legal case in Europe that has been solved with genetic family tree, and it’s a case that has touched each of us, town of Linköping and Sweden deeply,” the assertion continued.
What occurred within the real-life case of The Breakthrough?
Courtesy of Netflix©
Very similar to the sequence, a double murder occurred in 2004 when an 8-year-old boy and 56-year-old girl had been fatally stabbed by an unknown attacker, per The Local Sweden.
In accordance with the outlet, the boy had been on his solution to college, whereas the lady was headed to work. Police had been referred to as to the scene early within the morning, the place they first found the lady had been stabbed within the abdomen. She was transported to a neighborhood hospital and died throughout surgical procedure. In the meantime, the boy was discovered on the scene mendacity close by with a lower throat and was pronounced useless upon arriving on the hospital.
Witnesses described the killer as being in his twenties, wearing a beige knee-length jacket and blue or black woolen hat, and informed police that he “didn’t run however strolled away from the homicide scene,” per The Native Sweden.
As illustrated in The Breakthrough, the homicide weapon was believed to be a butterfly knife.
In accordance with The Guardian, the weapon was discovered on the scene alongside the suspect’s DNA and a bloody cap. However regardless of the clues, the case sat unsolved for years as investigators struggled to establish the killer.
How was the homicide in The Breakthrough solved?
Courtesy of Netflix©
In accordance with The Guardian, new laws was handed in January 2019 that enabled police to seek for DNA matches on industrial family tree web sites. This growth led legislation enforcement to collaborate with genealogists to reopen and proceed investigating the chilly case 16 years after the tragic occasion.
The genealogists interviewed and examined the DNA of 1000’s of individuals. After creating household timber, the outcomes led investigators to a pair of brothers — as they did within the Netflix sequence — earlier than they in the end discovered their match, per a September 2020 report from The Nomad Today.
In June 2020, police recognized a killer and launched an announcement that mentioned they “obtained a match nearly instantly,” per The Guardian.
They added that “his DNA was taken and matched 100%,” as proven within the Netflix sequence.
Who was the real-life killer from The Breakthrough?
Courtesy of Netflix©
After matching his DNA on a preferred family tree web site, Daniel Nyqvist was recognized because the killer. In accordance with The Guardian, Nyqvist — who was 21 on the time of the assault — admitted to police that he had obsessive ideas about killing and selected the victims randomly.
Medical consultants concluded he had suffered from a psychiatric dysfunction, which grew to become his lawyer’s protection for rejecting the cost of premeditated homicide, per the outlet.
Moreover, The Guardian reported that the killer mentioned through the police interrogation that he by no means anticipated he would go unscathed for thus a few years.
“I keep in mind that I didn’t brush my tooth as a result of I used to be simply going to die or get caught that day,” he mentioned. “However I needed to do it. I did it totally on computerized.”
Nyqvist had been unemployed and dwelling at his dad or mum’s residence through the murders and continued to stay a quiet life close to Linköping following the assault, per The Guardian.
Who had been the real-life victims from The Breakthrough?
Courtesy of Netflix©
The younger boy killed by Nyqvist was recognized as Mohamad Ammouri. In accordance with The Native Sweden, it was a standard morning for Ammouri, who was on his solution to college when he was killed.
“Mohamad overslept and bought up at about quarter previous seven. He was nervous about being late for varsity,” Ammouri’s brother Ali informed the outlet. “My mum ready a easy breakfast which he ate earlier than he took his schoolbag and ran off.”
Quickly after he headed to highschool, Ammouri’s sister Iman adopted him, solely to be met by disturbance within the streets and the picture of a physique mendacity within the street — the identical method the scene unfolded within the Netflix sequence.
Nevertheless, police prevented anyone from getting shut sufficient to establish the physique. Ammouri’s college then referred to as his household to ask why he hadn’t arrived, per the outlet, which led them to search out out the tragic information about their son.
“Simply after 9 we discovered that our son had been killed,” Ammouri’s father informed The Native Sweden. “He was radiantly blissful and beloved to joke with individuals. Why would anybody wish to kill him? We now have no enemies in the entire of Sweden.”
The 56-year-old girl was recognized as Anna-Lena Svensson, who labored for an academic firm and was on her solution to work when she was killed, per the outlet. She and her husband had a 28-year-old daughter.
In accordance with The Native Sweden, the victims didn’t know one another, and police didn’t consider there was any connection between them and the killer.
The place is The Breakthrough killer Daniel Nyqvist now?
Sixteen years after the assault, Nyqvist confessed to the crime and was convicted of homicide in October 2020, per The Local Sweden. In accordance with the outlet, he was sentenced to psychiatric care after being discovered to have “dedicated the acts beneath the affect of a extreme psychological dysfunction.”
Nyqvist was additionally required to pay damages to the younger boy’s household, whereas the lady’s family didn’t request something, in accordance with Swedish outlet SVT NYheter. Following his conviction, Nyqvist’s attorneys mentioned he wouldn’t request an attraction to the decision, per a translated report from Swedish outlet Corren.
In accordance with Nyheter24, as of October 2024, Nyqvist — who goes by a special title now — stays in forensic psychiatric care at Regional Clinic in Vadstena, Sweden, per a request from the Administrative Court docket in Linköping.
Court docket data reviewed by the outlet reveal that his healthcare has been working easily, with no psychiatric signs noticed previously six months. The paperwork additionally famous that he lately started taking remedy as a precaution and feels that his sleep has improved.
