MA MA - Karina Holmer, 20, Boston, 21 June 1996

Has there been any book(s) written on this case anyone know?
 
Does anyone know if there are desciptions of the two men in the gray mitsubishi she was with? I can not find anything searching the web...only one article even mentions it.
Also, the Boston Police had a page with info on the case and now I can't find that anywhere. If anyone knows the link could you please post it for me.
 
I lived in Boston during this crime and the immediate investigation. I had heard and always accepted an explanation that doesn't show up at all in these articles.... Of course, one hears all sorts of things, but I'd not questioned this particular story. With no claims as to its veracity, I tell it here.

Karina had been captured on camera behind the bar she left that night, talking to a man who was walking a large white dog. Later, that man was identified and investigated by police.... He was a "family man" from north of the city, as I recall. (NOT her employer, though.) Some time after that, he committed suicide. The presumption at the time was that he did it and so, sort of, case closed, as far as authorities were concerned.

Again: I have no reference or proof. This is simply what I heard at the time.

Oh, one more thing: I went to the bar site and to the dump site. No way could anyone NOT be filmed on security cameras in those spots. Also, the Fenway dumpster is visible from the highly-traveled turnpike through the city, as I recall. Pretty hard not to be seen there at any time of day or night. Brazen....

On edit: I see that a person who "suicided" IS mentioned in the links above. Perhaps that person (described there as being from the neighborhood [back bay]) and details about the employer have been conflated in the story I heard. Nothing about a dog though.... Anyone else seen or heard this?
 
On edit: I see that a person who "suicided" IS mentioned in the links above. Perhaps that person (described there as being from the neighborhood [back bay]) and details about the employer have been conflated in the story I heard. Nothing about a dog though.... Anyone else seen or heard this?

"She also had a conversation with Herb Whitten, a 49-year-old man from Andover who would drive to the city on weekends with his Great Pyrenees, man and dog both wearing Superman T-shirts as a device to pick up women."

There's the dog and the mention of him being from the North Shore. His speeding ticket seems to alibi him though.
 
I lived in Boston during this crime and the immediate investigation. I had heard and always accepted an explanation that doesn't show up at all in these articles.... Of course, one hears all sorts of things, but I'd not questioned this particular story. With no claims as to its veracity, I tell it here.

Karina had been captured on camera behind the bar she left that night, talking to a man who was walking a large white dog. Later, that man was identified and investigated by police.... He was a "family man" from north of the city, as I recall. (NOT her employer, though.) Some time after that, he committed suicide. The presumption at the time was that he did it and so, sort of, case closed, as far as authorities were concerned.


I'm from the area, too, and remember it well. I had a different experience with theories though. My family was connected to the Dover police at the time, and I was always told the person the police felt strongest about was, in fact, the employer. I never heard why, but whenever it was mentioned, this was the story given.
 
What a mystery. Today seems to be the day I stumble across interesting cases I have not heard of before.

Is it possible Karina did make it to the loft only to be met by the owner, her employer? Would she have walked the whole way or grabbed a cab? That may be why she doesn't show up on some security cameras. He, the employer, would have certainly had a lot of time and privacy. Surely LE investigated the apt. checked the bathtub with luminol for blodd, etc......right?

A few articles state the employers refused to talk to the media. Does anyone know if they were cooperative with the police or did they lawyer up quickly and shut down?
 
http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/06-96/06-26-96/a03sr073.htm
Also yesterday, Dover police said they were investigating a fire that occurred Monday night in a trash bin about 200 feet from the condominium where Mr. Rapp and his family live and Ms. Holmer worked.
Dover Police Chief Joseph Griffin said the container was heavily damaged in the fire that was reported at about 9:20 p.m. He said police were examining some of the contents and would decide whether to contact Boston police.


Hmmmm - wonder what was in that container?
 
http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/06-96/06-26-96/a03sr073.htm
Also yesterday, Dover police said they were investigating a fire that occurred Monday night in a trash bin about 200 feet from the condominium where Mr. Rapp and his family live and Ms. Holmer worked.
Dover Police Chief Joseph Griffin said the container was heavily damaged in the fire that was reported at about 9:20 p.m. He said police were examining some of the contents and would decide whether to contact Boston police.

Hmmmm - wonder what was in that container?

Yes, that was one issue, and his alibi was considered hinky, too. There was a lot of suspicion, but no proof.
 
I live very close to Dover and have always wondered about the employer Frank Rapp and his wife Susan Nichter. Susan's an artist and I recently found her website http://www.susannichter.com/ you've got to check out her art - it has very obvious references to Karina's murder. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Laurel
 
I live very close to Dover and have always wondered about the employer Frank Rapp and his wife Susan Nichter. Susan's an artist and I recently found her website http://www.susannichter.com/ you've got to check out her art - it has very obvious references to Karina's murder. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Laurel

Wow! Some of her work is rather dark and disturbing. There were a few pieces that seemed to jump out at me.

Messenger
Carried Across
Whisper (I found this one quite scary)
Getting what you want

I agree that there are references to Karina's murder. I don't know much about this case but have read an article that suggests that Christian Gerhartstreider could have been involved in the murder?

Have you read that and what do you think?

Maz
 
So many of Susan's paintings depict legs which are "severed from the body".


Swedish teen found slain in Boston trash
19-year-old au pair found severed at the waistline
By Carolyn Thompson, Associated Press writer
BOSTON – A 19-year-old Swedish girl working as an au pair for a family in a wealthy suburb was found slain in a Boston trash bin, her body severed at the waist.
Karina Holmer had apparently spent her weekends in the city and was last seen alive talking with friends at the trendy Zanzibar nightclub early Saturday, police said. Early Sunday, a man scavenging for cans discovered her remains in a black plastic trash bag behind a building not far from the club.

Only the top half of her body was found. The killer may have been trying to cover up a sex crime, police sources speaking on condition of anonymity said. Police would not say if the body was clothed.
Ms. Holmer had landed a job as a nanny in March with the family of Frank Rapp in Dover, a community of about 4,000. The family refused to speak with reporters.
Government and private agencies dealing with au pairs said they had no record of her.
Neighbors said they often saw Ms. Holmer playing with the two little children she had been hired to watch.
"She was friendly," said Atabak Roushanaei. She would wave and say hello but "she was very quiet. I never saw her socializing with the neighbors." He said she looked as if she were 16 or 17 years old.
Ms. Holmer's father, in telephone interviews from the small town of Skillingaryd, about 150 miles southwest of Stockholm, described his daughter simply as a nice and beautiful girl, said The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. They did not identify him.
"Of course we know that such things can happen over there, but it's nothing that you expect," Ms. Holmer's sister, Johanna, told WHDH-TV.
Ms. Holmer had a telephone number in Boston, but it was answered by a recording for an artists' studio. There was no immediate response to messages left on the machine yesterday.
Police yesterday searched the building where the studio is located, police spokesman Jim Browning said. He said Ms. Holmer sometimes stayed in the building, where Mr. Rapp, a commercial photographer, also had an office.
Also yesterday, Dover police said they were investigating a fire that occurred Monday night in a trash bin about 200 feet from the condominium where Mr. Rapp and his family live and Ms. Holmer worked.
Dover Police Chief Joseph Griffin said the container was heavily damaged in the fire that was reported at about 9:20 p.m. He said police were examining some of the contents and would decide whether to contact Boston police.
Boston police refused to comment on the investigation.
"I wouldn't comment on anything," said Boston police spokesman Jerry Browning.
Generally, young foreigners seeking work as nannies are brought over on special visas and trained in child care and safety by a licensed agency.
"A lot come from small towns in Europe where it's safe to walk around," said David Fougere, vice president of one of the largest firms, Educational Foundation of Cambridge. "We show them they need to be very safe."
However, Ms. Holmer was not associated with his firm or the six other licensed au pair services in this country.
And the U.S. Information Agency, which oversees the U.S. au pair program, had no record of her receiving the special 13-month visa given to such young women, said agency spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin.
The Swedish consulate in Boston said it had never been contacted by Ms. Holmer.
Mr. Fougere said his agency made counselors available for its clients because of Ms. Holmer's slaying. "There is a lot of concern out there among our au pairs," he said.
 
Just found another interesting article; Wanted man
John Zewizz makes waves with Sleep Chamber
BY TED DROZDOWSKI http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/music/cellars/documents/02257161.htm
Looks like Zewizz's giving the cops good reason to question him again about Karina's murder; in this article he brags "I have human thighbones that we use in ritual magic". How does one go about procuring a human thighbone?
 
I live very close to Dover and have always wondered about the employer Frank Rapp and his wife Susan Nichter. Susan's an artist and I recently found her website http://www.susannichter.com/ you've got to check out her art - it has very obvious references to Karina's murder. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Laurel

Some of those are very disturbing, if that is indeed the wife. I don´t like the one called Popstar, just freaked me out. Carried Across also.
 
I was curious about it too so I sent off an email to the BPD asking about it's official status. Will post their reply if and when I receive it.

Maz

Did you ever hear back from BPD?
 
Wow! Some of her work is rather dark and disturbing. There were a few pieces that seemed to jump out at me.

Messenger
Carried Across
Whisper (I found this one quite scary)
Getting what you want



Did you check out "Proteus"? Extremely disturbing.
 

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