When Swedish police arrived in the quiet village of Knutby on 10 January 2004, they had no idea what to expect. They’ll been called out because two members of the town’s tight-knit Pentecostal congregation – calling it a sect would be reasonable – had been attacked. Alexandra Fossmo and her neighbour Daniel Linde had been shot in their homes. Alexandra died; Daniel survived.
This six-part documentary starts there, but the story rapidly spreads out in all directions. We first see the documentary makers asking Alexandra’s husband and pastor of the congregation, Helge Fossmo, to take a seat so they can interview him. Those expecting a straightforward chat with a grieving husband will be in for more than one surprise.
Linde was the first victim found, with Alexandra discovered later, and already the police were picking up on some unusual vibes in the religious community. Then things took a serious turn for the weird. A former member of the sect named Sara Svensson came forward and gave herself up, saying clearly and firmly that she had acted alone in the shootings… which again, was the kind of thing that makes police ask questions.
Oh, and Svensson said she attacked Alexandra and Daniel on orders from God, who was communicating with her via text message.
Journalists Anton Berg and Martin Johnson are our guides through this case, and there’s a lot to get through. The “text messages told me to kill” angle is shocking enough, but the more they dig into what happened on that night, the more twisted and complicated the story becomes. Interviews with the main characters help to flesh things out, while Berg and Johnson keep us up to date on the twists and turns. There’s also a string of re-enactments – made, in a quirky but illuminating choice by director Henrik Georgsson, using a miniature version of the town.
Svensson was the Fossmos former nanny; it turned out she’d been let go a few months earlier, and had been cast out of the sect after attacking Alexandra with a hammer. The investigation soon revealed she’d also been Helge’s mistress before she was excommunicated, and that their relationship had been blessed – you might even say ordered – by the sect’s leader, Åsa Waldau.
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Across the course of the series it becomes clear that Waldau – referred to as the Bride of Christ and believed by the town’s residents to be Jesus’ wife – was the one running the town. But while nothing went on without her knowledge or assent, she was largely overlooked by the official police investigation.
With so much going on, it’s almost understandable the police had to draw the line somewhere. It turned out the text messages from God telling Svensson to attack Alexandra and Daniel had been forwarded from a phone belonging to Helge. Helge was also having an affair with Daniel’s wife. As a pastor in the church, he couldn’t get a divorce. Now the police had his motive, the unstable nanny was the means, case closed.
But as Pray, Obey, Kill goes on, cracks appear in this airtight case. With Svensson’s confession and the evidence linking Helge to her, the police’s work was basically done. A court agreed: Helge was given a life sentence, and Svensson was sent to a psychiatric hospital. She was soon allowed out on day trips, and she returned to society in 2011.
As part of the court hearing, a crime recreation video was shown to the court where Svensson went through exactly how she committed the crimes. In their investigation, Berg and Johnson uncovered both the edited version shown to the court and the original six-hour version. It doesn’t match up with the actual details of the crime, and in an interview with the journalists Svensson herself stands by the details of her (faulty) re-enactment. Which poses a lot more questions than it answers.
The sect itself is hardly blameless in all this. There are numerous interviews throughout the series where former residents of Knutby openly recount the kinds of abuse, manipulation and sexual exploitation you’d expect from a hardcore cult. There’s also the death of Helge’s first wife Heléne. Originally ruled an accident, after the death of Alexandra the case was reopened, with things now looking a lot more suspicious.
Of all the main characters involved, only one declined to co-operate with the documentary makers. Sect leader Åsa Waldau was convicted in 2020 on eight counts of assault of former congregants and given a suspended sentence.
Whether that was anywhere near enough of a punishment for her is one of the many questions this chilling documentary raises.
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