Nearly three decades after Karina Holmer’s upper body turned up in a dumpster a short walk from Fenway Park, Boston police are again publicly pleading for help in the 20-year-old Swedish au pair’s killing. Detectives say they are hoping that people who remember the city’s summer nightlife in 1996 will finally come forward with something new. The case remains unsolved nearly 30 years later and still hangs over the neighborhoods where it unfolded.
As reported by Boston Herald, the department has stepped up outreach around Holmer’s cold case file and is asking anyone with information, even hazy bar-night memories, to speak up. Holmer’s name appears on the Boston Police Department’s public list of 1996 unsolved homicides, which directs potential tipsters to CrimeStoppers at 1-800-494-TIPS or the BPD Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470; anonymous tips can be made by phone, text or through the department’s website, according to Boston Police.
Where She Was Last Seen
The Boston Globe reported that Holmer was last seen leaving Zanzibar, a nightclub in the Theatre District near Boylston Place and Tremont Street, in the early morning hours of June 22, 1996. Less than 24 hours later, a man scavenging for cans found the upper half of a woman’s torso stuffed in a trash bag behind 1091 Boylston Street. The lower half of Holmer’s body was never recovered, the Globe reported.
What Investigators Have Said
Paul McLaughlin, bureau chief of the department’s detective services and cold case squad, told Boston Herald that investigators believe Holmer was likely strangled with a rope or cord and then cut in half with some type of saw. “We urge anyone with information, no matter how little it is, to call,” he told the paper.
Holmer’s killing remains on the Boston Police Department’s roll of 1996 unsolved homicides, a signal that detectives are still combing through old files for any lead that might have been missed. Anyone with information is asked to contact the BPD Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-494-TIPS. Tips can also be sent by texting TIP to CRIME (27463) or submitted online through the department’s CrimeStoppers page. Investigators say even a tiny detail could reopen a dormant line of inquiry and are urging anyone with memories from that summer to come forward.
