Latest news with #InvestigationDiscovery
Metro
a day ago
- Metro
How to watch true crime series A Body in the Snow after Karen Read verdict
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video After a verdict was finally delivered in Karen Read's ongoing murder trial, here's where you can watch the documentary surrounding the case that has gripped the world. On Wednesday, cheers erupted from outside the courtroom after a jury found the 45-year-old not guilty for the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, following a second trial. In January 2022, she was accused of hitting her partner, 46, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside a home in Canton, Massachusetts – and was eventually charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene. The financial analyst protested her innocence and, after a jury failed to come to a verdict in the first hearings in 2024, a second trial began in April of this year. Although she was acquitted of second-degree murder and the two lesser charges, she was convicted of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, and sentenced to one year probation. Between both cases, Investigation Discovery released a five-part documentary looking into O'Keefe's death and the allegations against Read in March, titled A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read. The synopsis simply reads: 'On a cold January morning in a sleepy suburb outside of the city, a local police officer named John O'Keefe was found dead on a fellow officer's front lawn.' It is currently available to stream in the UK on Discovery+, while all episodes are also on Hulu, ID and HBO Max in the US. The program received rave reviews online, with Collider praising: 'A Body in the Snow is one of the most meticulous and thought-provoking true-crime series to come out recently.' A viewer on IMDb agreed, branding the footage 'captivating'. 'This docuseries is one of the most gripping true crime watches I've had in ages,' another praised. 'Slick, thoughtful, and clearly well-researched, it goes beyond just retelling events-it almost plays like an exposé.' Netflix also announced an untitled upcoming three-part series, exploring 'what happened in the days leading up to O'Keefe's death'. 'The team feels immensely privileged to be bringing this important series to a Netflix global audience,' directors Danielle Johnson and Rob Miller said. 'It is a case that has garnered a huge amount of public attention and has far-reaching implications. 'We are also mindful that this is a hugely sensitive case and we are determined to treat all those involved with the respect and consideration they deserve.' Bosses are yet to share news of the release date. Canton locals were left shocked when O'Keefe was found unresponsive in the snow outside his former colleague's home in early 2022, following a late-night house party. Read was later accused of hitting him with her car – her lawyers alleged that he had been beaten and bitten by a dog, before being left outside to die. They argued that the professor had been framed for his death and was the victim of a police cover-up. Her first trial was declared a mistrial last July, after the jury remained deadlocked following five days of deliberations More Trending After a second trial and four days of deliberating, a new jury reached a verdict and acquitted her of second-degree murder. 'I just want to say two things,' she told the crowd gathered outside the courtroom. 'I could not be standing here without these amazing supporters who have supported me and my team. View More » 'The second thing I want to say is that no one has fought harder for justice of John O'Keefe than I have.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Netflix drops all 8 episodes of dark TV series 'compared to Ozark' MORE: Disturbing documentary about 'most evil reality show ever' now streaming on BBC MORE: UK viewers can now watch 'masterpiece' Amazon Prime drama for free
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Karen Read trial verdict watch: Where to watch the Karen Read trial today
It's a trial that has mesmerized not just the state of Massachusetts, but the entire nation. The Karen Read trial has been the subject of discussions all around the United States, not mention being the center of a documentary on the Investigation Discovery Channel called, "A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read." The jury deliberated the case for a full day on Monday, and again on Tuesday, but have not yet reached a verdict. Do you want to watch what happens? Here's how. To stream the case, people can watch the trial on CourtTV, on Crime Junkie Jury on YouTube or NBC10 Boston's YouTube page. People can also watch the trial on NBC Boston and CBS News Boston. The 12-person panel had not yet reached a verdict after deliberating for more than 15 hours on Tuesday, June 17. There's no specific time that a verdict is expected in this trial, according to reports, which noted that legal analysts predict a verdict could come within an hour of the jury reaching a decision. Jury deliberations lasted five days in the first trial before a mistrial was declared. Read, a Canton, MA resident, is facing a second trial on charges of manslaughter while under the influence, fleeing the scene of a deadly accident and second-degree murder in relation to her former boyfriend, and Boston Police Department Officer John O'Keefe. Prosecutors accuse Read of backing into O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV and leaving him to die in the snow after a night out drinking in 2022. Read's defense claims police officers in the house beat O'Keefe, threw his body out in the snow and purposely bungled the investigation as part of a cover-up. O'Keefe's body was found in Canton outside the house of another law enforcement officer. Advocates of Read's innocence have protested the trial, because of the alleged cover-up. Read's first trial ended with a hung jury last summer. CourtTV has been covering the case against Read and the investigation surrounding Read's alleged crime since early 2022. USA Today Network reporter Rin Velasco contributed to this report. USA Today reporters Christopher Cann and N'dea Yancey-Bragg also contributed to this article. This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Karen Read trial live: Where to watch the Karen Read trial
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
The witnesses that defined the retrial of Karen Read for the death of her police officer boyfriend
Karen Read's retrial for the death of John O'Keefe is nearing its finale, likely closing a yearslong chapter in the lives of the defendant, the victim's family and the many witnesses called to testify — some of them in two high-profile and divisive murder trials. In the retrial — the first ended with a deadlocked jury — Massachusetts prosecutors and Read's defense called a combined 49 witnesses. Some were laypeople, others were law enforcement and many were experts who analyzed mountains of digital and physical forensic evidence. Collectively, their testimony sought to answer one essential question: What happened outside the home at 34 Fairview Road in Canton, Massachusetts, around 12:30 a.m. on January 29, 2022? Prosecutors allege Read drunkenly struck her boyfriend with her Lexus SUV and left him to die in the snow. But Read's defense contends there was no collision. They have cast her as the victim of a cover-up, alluding to a conspiracy by those who they say killed O'Keefe and framed the defendant, while painting the police investigation as biased and flawed. Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death. Here, CNN highlights about a dozen witnesses called over the last eight weeks, whose testimony illuminated key pieces of the theories presented by prosecutors and Read's defense: On the evening of January 28, 2022, Read and O'Keefe went to a local bar to meet up with friends before the group decided to move the party to a home at 34 Fairview Road. Read has said she dropped off O'Keefe, but other witnesses said he never arrived. Prosecutors allege this is the moment Read put her Lexus SUV in reverse and pressed on the gas, striking O'Keefe and scattering pieces of her vehicle's taillight across the scene. Read did not take the stand to testify. But throughout the trial, prosecutors played numerous clips from Read's media interviews, offering jurors a chance to hear from the defendant herself. Prosecutors tried to use these clips against Read to bolster the testimony of their own witnesses, refute the defense's arguments or highlight inconsistencies in Read's account. In one clip from her October 2024 interview for NBC's 'Dateline,' she asked: 'Could I have tagged him in the knee and incapacitated him?' Read said. 'He didn't look mortally wounded as far as I could see — but could I have done something that knocked him out and, in his drunkenness, and in the cold, (he) didn't come to again?' In another clip, taken from an Investigation Discovery series, Read strongly denied her vehicle made contact with O'Keefe. (Investigation Discovery and CNN share a parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.) Jennifer McCabe, called by the commonwealth, was present for each key moment surrounding O'Keefe's death, including the gathering at the bar; the after-party at her sister's home at 34 Fairview; and finally, the discovery of his body. McCabe expected Read and O'Keefe at 34 Fairview, and she spoke to O'Keefe to help him with directions, she testified. At the house, McCabe saw what she believed was Read's SUV out front, but the couple never came inside. McCabe testified she was awoken the next morning by a phone call from Read, who she described as frantic and hysterical. McCabe detailed the search for O'Keefe, first at his home and then at 34 Fairview, where they found him in the snow. Stunned, McCabe called 911. McCabe recalled Read telling a first responder, 'I hit him, I hit him, I hit him' — testimony echoed by other witnesses who were on the scene. On cross-examination, defense attorney Alan Jackson highlighted McCabe's family ties to law enforcement, including her brother-in-law, Brian Albert, who owned 34 Fairview. He also questioned her about interviews she'd given investigators and interactions with her family and other witnesses, accusing McCabe of coordinating her account and colluding with others. McCabe denied those allegations. The second witness called by the commonwealth, Kerry Roberts — another friend of O'Keefe's — testified she, too, was woken up by Read the morning of January 29. She joined the search for O'Keefe by first driving to meet the two women at McCabe's home. Central to the commonwealth's case was Roberts' testimony about the defendant's taillight: Roberts saw the damage that morning when she pulled into McCabe's driveway and parked behind Read's vehicle. McCabe and Read were in Read's SUV, and Roberts was in hers, she testified, but she heard their conversation while on the phone with them: In previous testimony, Roberts said the conversation about the taillight happened upon their arrival at O'Keefe's home. But on cross-examination, Jackson played home surveillance footage showing the arrival, and Roberts conceded the footage did not show the interaction she described, saying she had been incorrect about the timing. Called to the stand for the defense, Brian Loughran, a snowplow driver, testified he did not see a body in the yard at 34 Fairview early in the morning on January 29, 2022, despite passing by multiple times. Loughran first drove the snowplow past the home between 2:40 and 2:45 a.m. Though it was dark and snowing hard, Loughran testified he could clearly see to the front door of the home. Asked what he saw on the lawn by the flagpole, Loughran responded: 'Did you see a 6-foot-1, 216-pound man lying on that lawn?' defense attorney David Yannetti asked. 'No,' Loughran said. Jonathan Diamandis testified about sexist and crude text messages he received from the lead investigator: his longtime friend, former Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor. Diamandis was called as a defense witness, but it was the commonwealth who had him read the texts into evidence. He declined to do so for the most offensive messages, including one calling Read 'a whack job c*nt.' Proctor apologized for the messages in the first trial, but the defense has continued to use them to paint the investigation as biased. Neither side called him to testify in the retrial. The messages ultimately led to Proctor's dishonorable discharge from the state police. Prosecutors underscored Proctor's texts did not indicate he committed misconduct. Asked whether Proctor ever suggested he framed the defendant or planted evidence, Diamandis said, 'Absolutely not.' Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik testified about the investigation and Read's emergence as the suspect in O'Keefe's death. But Proctor, his former direct report, loomed large over his testimony. Through Bukhenik, prosecutors tried to minimize Proctor's influence in the investigation. While the defense held Proctor up as the lead investigator, Bukhenik said each homicide case is a 'team effort.' During cross-examination, Jackson tried to restore the sense of Proctor's control over the case, showing Bukhenik investigative documents that carried Proctor's name or signature. Still, Bukhenik refused to call Proctor the 'lead investigator,' referring to him as the 'case officer.' Bukhenik was emphatic the investigation itself was handled with integrity and honor. But when pressed by Jackson, he said Proctor's texts lacked both. The defense also used Bukhenik to present flirtatious text messages Read exchanged with another man, Brian Higgins, prior to O'Keefe's death. Higgins was among the revelers who got together the night of January 28, and the defense tried to suggest he should have been considered as a suspect. An attorney for Higgins denied any wrongdoing by his client. Nicholas Guarino described communications between Read and O'Keefe. In one instance, he showed the jury text messages between Read and O'Keefe from January 28, 2022, showing the couple had been at odds. Guarino later testified for the commonwealth that Read called O'Keefe more than 50 times and left eight voicemails between the time she said she dropped him off at 34 Fairview and when she started searching for him the next morning. All went unanswered. 'You're a f**king pervert,' she said in one voicemail left at 1:10 a.m., per Guarino's testimony. Seven minutes later, she left another: At 5:23 a.m., she left her seventh voicemail: 'John, where are you?' Paul Gallagher, who retired as a lieutenant from the Canton Police Department, testified for prosecutors about the initial recovery of evidence from the scene where O'Keefe's body was found. There were about four inches of snow on the ground, so Gallagher debated how to remove it, he said. He feared a shovel would harm any evidence, including a broken cocktail glass found in the snow. Gallagher saw pink spots in the snow he said he determined to be 'frozen or coagulated blood.' To preserve it, he got red plastic cups and placed the bloody snow inside, noting these decisions were made in a blizzard, under 'terrible' conditions. On cross-examination, Jackson raised questions about the adequacy of the evidence collection. Gallagher acknowledged plastic cups are not normally used for evidence recovery. Additionally, Gallagher testified he did not write a report about his actions on the scene. Nicholas Barros, a sergeant for Dighton Police, was called by the defense to refute the commonwealth's narrative about Read's taillight being broken when it allegedly collided with O'Keefe. The defense has tried to raise the specter of the taillight being tampered with after police seized the vehicle and suggested its pieces were planted at the scene. Barros responded on January 29, 2022, to Read's parents' home in Dighton, Massachusetts, at Proctor's request to help seize the vehicle, he said. Read went there after it was confirmed O'Keefe had died. In a report, Barros noted there was damage to a taillight. But he suggested on the stand it was relatively minor. Shown a photograph of the taillight after it was seized, Barros said it did not reflect what he saw that day. 'That taillight is completely smashed out,' he said. Under cross-examination, Barros said his report from that day merely noted 'damage,' but did not describe it. Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, the Massachusetts medical examiner who performed O'Keefe's autopsy, outlined his injuries and his cause of death. The blunt impact injuries were the 'primary cause' of death, Scordi-Bello said. O'Keefe had a significant laceration on the back of his head, as well as skull fractures and bleeding on the top of his brain. Scordi-Bello also noted O'Keefe's body temperature at the hospital was 80.1 degrees Fahrenheit — far below the normal temperature of 98.6. The medical examiner could not reach a conclusion on the manner of O'Keefe's death — whether it was accidental or a homicide, for instance — acknowledging to defense attorney Robert Alessi there was not enough 'compelling' evidence to decide. Neurosurgeon Dr. Aizik Wolf described O'Keefe's injuries — specifically a laceration on the back of his head — as 'classic blunt trauma' consistent with the victim falling backward and striking his head against the ground. Wolf testified this type of injury was relatively common in places with cold climates, referencing his time working at a trauma center in Minneapolis: 'Very frequently, patients that are drunk fall down on ice, sidewalks, and could develop lacerations in their head.' A pivotal witness for the defense, Dr. Marie Russell is a retired emergency room physician, a forensic pathologist and a former Massachusetts police officer who testified injuries on O'Keefe's arm were 'the result of a dog attack.' The defense has theorized O'Keefe was mauled by a German shepherd owned by the family who lived at 34 Fairview. The dog was rehomed sometime after the victim died. Referencing a photograph of O'Keefe's injuries, Russell testified the wounds appeared to be going in the same direction. On cross-examination, Russell conceded she had never before testified as an expert witness on dog bites. Through Russell, Brennan pointed out holes in the arm of O'Keefe's sweatshirt were swabbed for DNA — but that no dog DNA was found, only pig DNA. There was no explanation for the pig DNA's origins. Ian Whiffin, a digital forensics expert, illustrated the victim's final movements after analyzing data taken from O'Keefe's cell phone. The data showed Read and O'Keefe came to a stop outside 34 Fairview at 12:24 a.m., Whiffin said. From that time on, he said, the data indicated O'Keefe's phone remained near the flagpole until his body was found the next morning. O'Keefe's phone screen locked for the last time at 12:32:09 a.m. Whiffin also testified to the phone's temperature: Throughout the evening, the phone had an average temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. But the temperature began steadily dropping around 12:22 a.m., Whiffin said, falling to 50 degrees at 1:36 a.m. The next recorded temperature was after 6 a.m. — about the time O'Keefe's body was found — when it dropped to its lowest recorded temperature of 37 degrees. Judson Welcher, an accident reconstructionist and biomechanical engineer, testified for the prosecution the evidence is consistent with O'Keefe being struck by a vehicle identical to Read's on January 29, 2022, around 12:32 a.m. Black box data from Read's SUV included two 'trigger' events recorded on her drive from the bar to 34 Fairview, Welcher said. By comparing this information with location data from O'Keefe's cell phone, Welcher's firm found Read's SUV reversed between 12:32:04 a.m. and 12:32:12 a.m. — the time the commonwealth alleges O'Keefe was struck. The data showed, at that time, Read's vehicle first moved forward before being put in reverse and moving backward, Welcher said. The data also showed the SUV reached a speed of about 24 mph at 74% of the full throttle while in reverse. Welcher also testified about the damaged taillight, describing tests he conducted with a Lexus SUV identical to Read's. In contrast to Russell, Welcher testified the lacerations on O'Keefe's arm were 'consistent with the geometry and orientation' of Read's taillight. Asked whether O'Keefe's injuries — both to his arm and his head — were consistent with him being struck by a Lexus identical to Read's, Welcher said they were. On cross-examination, Alessi seized on Welcher's admission he did not have enough information to state exactly how O'Keefe was struck. Alessi pressed him to explain why he did not conduct a more robust crash test. Pedestrian impacts 'are so very sensitive,' Welcher said, and if the results of the tests came out differently, he'd have to defend it in court. The defense called accident reconstructionist Daniel Wolfe to refute Welcher's findings. Wolfe described tests his firm, ARCCA, undertook to figure out if O'Keefe's injuries were consistent with the damage to Read's Lexus — specifically, the broken taillight. Footage taken from those tests showed an example taillight and vehicle striking a dummy arm at different speeds to recreate the alleged collision between the SUV and O'Keefe. But at each speed — 10 mph, 17 mph, 15 mph, 29 mph and 24 mph — the damage to the test taillights was less than what was seen on Read's taillight, Wolfe said. None of the tests indicated the broken taillight would cause the holes found in O'Keefe's sweatshirt. The firm considered other possibilities for what might cause the damage, including a drinking glass found alongside O'Keefe's body, as well as his head and his 'center of mass.' In each instance, Wolfe said, the damage was inconsistent with that of Read's vehicle. Brennan tried to discredit the test results on cross-examination: he noted the dummy arm weighed nine pounds, while O'Keefe's weighed 11.86 pounds. Brennan also emphasized the dummy was secured by a harness, which prevented it from being thrown to the ground and illustrated the trajectory the victim's body would have taken once hit. CNN's Ali Zaslav contributed to this report.
Scottish Sun
09-06-2025
- Scottish Sun
My Satan-obsessed cannibal dad chopped up my stepmum & cooked her in salt – I'll never get over her chilling last words
Jamie-Lee Arrow had a dark and twisted childhood at the hands of father who bought her Satanic bibles and voodoo dolls DARKEST PROPHECY My Satan-obsessed cannibal dad chopped up my stepmum & cooked her in salt – I'll never get over her chilling last words SITTING down for a tense dinner as her dad skulked out of sight, Jamie-Lee Arrow had a sickening feeling in her gut. It was a mood shared by her stepmother, Helle Christensen, who uttered a chilling prophecy as they began to eat. Advertisement 8 Jamie-Lee Arrow has struggled to come to terms with her father's monstrous crimes Credit: Instagram/@jamieleearrow 8 The Satan-obsessed killer is now behind bars Credit: Investigation Discovery 8 Cannibal Isakin Jonsson, 32, murdered girlfriend Helle Christensen, 40, and ate parts of her body She said: 'Enjoy your meal because this is the last time I will cook for you... because Isakin is going to kill me." A day later, on the evening of November 12, 2010, Isakin Jonsson, 32, picked up a knife and climbed on to the bed where his girlfriend was resting. Advertisement He slit her throat, decapitated her, and cut pieces of flesh from her arms and legs, which he cooked in salt and homegrown cannabis leaves. The depraved crime sent shockwaves through the sleepy town of Skara, Sweden, but for Jonsson's daughter, Jamie-Lee Arrow, who was nine at the time, this came as no surprise. In the build-up to Helle's haunting prophecy, the 40-year-old - who had five children with previous partners - had been fighting with Isakin for over 24 hours while Jamie-Lee and two of her children were staying. Jamie-Lee tells The Sun: 'They were throwing plates, pushing each other, throwing knives, and me and her two other children were just sitting on the sofa, crying like babies. 'So at that time, during those 24 hours, I was certain that either I would get killed or she would.' Advertisement After the vicious murder, Jonsson came forward to the police and confessed. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to forensic psychiatric care in March 2011. Looking back on Jamie-Lee's earliest memories of her dad, she reflects it was little surprise that things ended in unimaginable violence. She said: 'Walking into my dad's flat was like walking into a horror movie. Moment killer returns to room where he brutally murdered friend to steal his TV 'Pictures from Friday the 13th and Freddy Krueger. Everything was just dark and misery.' Jamie-Lee's parents separated when she was a toddler, in the early 2000s, leading her to spend her childhood split between two worlds, her mum's and her dad's. Advertisement She tells us: 'I was experiencing light and dark, and even though everything was normal at my mum's, I didn't feel normal because I was carrying dark secrets about what was going on at my dad's.' Those 'dark secrets' came from Jonsson's morbid fascination with the occult, an obsession that he often tried to force on to his young daughter. She said: 'He often talked about the devil, demons and evil spirits, and when I was little he liked to introduce me to the other side. 'We would lay in the dark on the bed and he would go, 'Do you see the faces on the wall, can you see them?' 'Then he would say it so much I would actually start seeing them.' Advertisement 8 Jamie-Lee was just nine years old at the time of the murder 8 She confronted her father in a recent documentary Credit: Investigation Discovery He gave Jamie-Lee a Satanic bible at the age of 11, but his warped worldview corrupted even the most basic of parental responsibilities. When Jamie-Lee was around eight, she told her dad about her problems with bullies at school. Instead of offering some warm words and a cup of hot chocolate, he gave her a hand-made voodoo doll and a pin. Advertisement 'Beautiful' second mum It was around this time that Jamie-Lee met her dad's new girlfriend, Helle, who he met at a psychiatric hospital after he was admitted following a drug overdose. On meeting Helle, Jamie-Lee said: 'I immediately fell in love with her, I thought she was so beautiful. 'She was a very unique person and wasn't afraid of my dad. I was used to girls being very careful around my dad. 'They didn't dare to do or say much, but she was joking on his behalf and she was so funny.' Jamie-Lee and Helle became very close over the years as their relationship turned into that of a mother and daughter. Advertisement Jamie-Lee said: 'She even told me, you are like my daughter, I love you like a daughter. 'And I really loved her like my mum.' 8 Jonsson and Helle had a troubled, turbulent relationship 8 Jamie-Lee has turned her trauma into a positive force for good Credit: Instagram/@jamieleearrow But it didn't take long for Jamie-Lee to notice the cracks in Jonsson and Helle's newfound relationship. Advertisement She said: 'They could have very few moments where they seemed very loving, where they were laughing and having a good time. 'And all I wanted was for them to be happy together and to always be together. 'I had a book where I had written that my biggest wish in life is that they'd stay together for the rest of my life. 'But then most of the time they were fighting and they were not good for each other." Cruellest news Those fights culminated in the violent 24-hour argument shortly before Helle's brutal murder, and her chilling final words to the girl she loved like a daughter. Advertisement It was her mum who told her about what happened the night after. She sat her down on the bed and said she had something horrible to tell her. Jamie-Lee recalls: 'I was like 'No, no don't tell me, I don't want to know' and I was just trying to run out the bedroom just to not hear it. 'Then she said, 'Helle's dead' and my first reaction was, 'Was it Dad?' 8 Jamie-Lee has gained thousands of Instagram fans inspired by her defiant response to her traumatic upbringing Credit: Instagram/@jamieleearrow 'And then we just sat crying and screaming, it was awful. Advertisement 'I felt like I had lost both his girlfriend and I had lost him and I felt something inside of me broke.' The ordeal had a traumatic effect on the nine-year-old, with Jamie-Lee going on to struggle with depression and addiction. 'I got into drinking at a very early age," she said. 'I finally had found something that soothed my anxiety and my hatred for myself, I could finally escape reality and it was amazing and I didn't want it to stop. 'It went from drinking to smoking weed to all different kinds of drugs, anything I could get my hands on I would take. Advertisement 'I knew I could fall asleep and not wake up again, but I didn't care.' Horror visits Despite dreams of becoming a doctor prior to the murder, Jamie-Lee's school attendance tanked as she sank further into addiction, dropping out completely at just 15. During these dark days, Jamie-Lee still visited her father in hospital, who brainwashed her into thinking that he was the only one who cared about her. But he had not changed, as the then 17-year-old was about to find out. 'I was in a really, really bad state and I was seconds away from killing myself and I said to my dad, 'I don't know what to do, I'm going to kill myself if something doesn't change'," said Jamie-Lee. Advertisement 'He said, 'The only way out is to do this', and he told me about a ritual that had came to him when he was lying in his bed, he said it was a blessing to him. 'We sat down, in front of each other, and he told me to hold his hands and he wanted me to say after him. Jamie-Lee still cannot bear to utter the words her father told her to say that day, but explains he tried to sell her soul to the devil. She said: 'I felt, like, 'What the hell am I doing?' It felt so wrong. 'I just got such a bad feeling in my body, and I was in such a bad state that I felt like I was going insane. Advertisement 'Like I had lost it, I had lost touch with reality.' Walking into my dad's flat was like walking into a horror movie. Pictures from Friday the 13th and Freddy Krueger. Everything was just dark and misery On another visit, Jonsson walked his horrified daughter through the murder, in shocking detail. 'He told me with such passion, and that scared me, it was so disturbing," she said. But the final straw was when Jamie-Lee decided to confront her dad about something she wanted an apology for. When he responded violently, she decided to provoke him, to see if he was capable of doing the same thing to her as he did his former girlfriend. Advertisement Who are the UK's worst serial killers? THE UK's most prolific serial killer was actually a doctor. Here's a rundown of the worst offenders in the UK. British GP Harold Shipman is one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history. He was found guilty of murdering 15 patients in 2000, but the Shipman Inquiry examined his crimes and identified 218 victims, 80 per cent of whom were elderly women. After his death Jonathan Balls was accused of poisoning at least 22 people between 1824 and 1845. Mary Ann Cotton is suspected of murdering up to 21 people, including husbands, lovers and children. She is Britain's most prolific female serial killer. Her crimes were committed between 1852 and 1872, and she was hanged in March 1873. Amelia Sach and Annie Walters became known as the Finchley Baby Farmers after killing at least 20 babies between 1900 and 1902. The pair became the first women to be hanged at Holloway Prison on February 3, 1903. William Burke and William Hare killed 16 people and sold their bodies. Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe was found guilty in 1981 of murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven others between 1975 and 1980. Dennis Nilsen was caged for life in 1983 after murdering up to 15 men when he picked them up from the streets. He was found guilty of six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to life in jail. Fred West was found guilty of killing 12 but it's believed he was responsible for many more deaths. She said: 'He looked at me with black eyes, like he had no love for me at all. 'He said, 'If you don't stop now, you'll see what I can do'.' That was the last time Jamie-Lee saw her dad until she confronted him as part of Investigation Discovery's recent true-crime series Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks. When asked why she wanted to see her dad again, she said: 'For years I had been wondering about my dad, what he's doing, what he looks like, where he is mentally. 'It just couldn't leave my mind so I knew that I did want to see him one last time just to ask the questions I was carrying and to get closure. Advertisement 'I got to say goodbye to him and I got confirmation that he could never, ever in a million years be a part of my life.' Now 23, Jamie-Lee is happily engaged to her boyfriend of five years and the mother of two beautiful children, a three-year-old boy and a nine-month-old daughter, and is now able to move forward with her new life. Her Instagram has attracted over 30,000 followers in the last month, attracting an audience that is fascinated by her defiant response to her tragic upbringing. She now works as a public speaker and author, teaching people how to turn their trauma into something positive. Her advice? Advertisement 'Just because your childhood sucked doesn't mean your entire life has to," she said. 'We have the power over our own lives and we can create something beautiful even if we came from something ugly.'
The Irish Sun
09-06-2025
- The Irish Sun
My Satan-obsessed cannibal dad chopped up my stepmum & cooked her in salt – I'll never get over her chilling last words
SITTING down for a tense dinner as her dad skulked out of sight, Jamie-Lee Arrow had a sickening feeling in her gut. It was a mood shared by her stepmother, Helle Christensen, who uttered a chilling prophecy as they began to eat. Advertisement 8 Jamie-Lee Arrow has struggled to come to terms with her father's monstrous crimes Credit: Instagram/@jamieleearrow 8 The Satan-obsessed killer is now behind bars Credit: Investigation Discovery 8 Cannibal Isakin Jonsson, 32, murdered girlfriend Helle Christensen, 40, and ate parts of her body She said: 'Enjoy your meal because this is the last time I will cook for you... because Isakin is going to kill me." A day later, on the evening of November 12, 2010, Isakin Jonsson, 32, picked up a knife and climbed on to the bed where his girlfriend was resting. Advertisement He slit her throat, decapitated her, and The depraved crime sent shockwaves through the sleepy town of Skara, Sweden, but for Jonsson's daughter, Jamie-Lee Arrow, who was nine at the time, this came as no surprise. In the build-up to Helle's haunting prophecy, the 40-year-old - who had five children with previous partners - had been fighting with Isakin for over 24 hours while Jamie-Lee and two of her children were staying. Jamie-Lee tells The Sun: 'They were throwing plates, pushing each other, throwing knives, and me and her two other children were just sitting on the sofa, crying like babies. 'So at that time, during those 24 hours, I was certain that either I would get killed or she would.' Advertisement After the vicious murder, Jonsson came forward to the police and confessed. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to forensic psychiatric care in March 2011. Looking back on Jamie-Lee's earliest memories of her dad, she reflects it was little surprise that things ended in unimaginable violence. She said: 'Walking into my dad's flat was like walking into a horror movie. Moment killer returns to room where he brutally murdered friend to steal his TV 'Pictures from Friday the 13th and Freddy Krueger. Everything was just dark and misery.' Jamie-Lee's parents separated when she was a toddler, in the early 2000s, leading her to spend her childhood split between two worlds, her mum's and her dad's. Advertisement She tells us: 'I was experiencing light and dark, and even though everything was normal at my mum's, I didn't feel normal because I was carrying dark secrets about what was going on at my dad's.' Those 'dark secrets' came from Jonsson's morbid fascination with the occult, an obsession that he often tried to force on to his young daughter. She said: 'He often talked about the devil, demons and evil spirits, and when I was little he liked to introduce me to the other side. 'We would lay in the dark on the bed and he would go, 'Do you see the faces on the wall, can you see them?' 'Then he would say it so much I would actually start seeing them.' Advertisement 8 Jamie-Lee was just nine years old at the time of the murder 8 She confronted her father in a recent documentary Credit: Investigation Discovery He gave Jamie-Lee a Satanic bible at the age of 11, but his warped worldview corrupted even the most basic of parental responsibilities. When Jamie-Lee was around eight, she told her dad about her problems with bullies at school. Instead of offering some warm words and a cup of hot chocolate, he gave her a hand-made voodoo doll and a pin. Advertisement 'Beautiful' second mum It was around this time that Jamie-Lee met her dad's new girlfriend, Helle, who he met at a psychiatric hospital after he was admitted following a drug overdose. On meeting Helle, Jamie-Lee said: 'I immediately fell in love with her, I thought she was so beautiful. 'She was a very unique person and wasn't afraid of my dad. I was used to girls being very careful around my dad. 'They didn't dare to do or say much, but she was joking on his behalf and she was so funny.' Jamie-Lee and Helle became very close over the years as their relationship turned into that of a mother and daughter. Advertisement Jamie-Lee said: 'She even told me, you are like my daughter, I love you like a daughter. 'And I really loved her like my mum.' 8 Jonsson and Helle had a troubled, turbulent relationship 8 Jamie-Lee has turned her trauma into a positive force for good Credit: Instagram/@jamieleearrow But it didn't take long for Jamie-Lee to notice the cracks in Jonsson and Helle's newfound relationship. Advertisement She said: 'They could have very few moments where they seemed very loving, where they were laughing and having a good time. 'And all I wanted was for them to be happy together and to always be together. 'I had a book where I had written that my biggest wish in life is that they'd stay together for the rest of my life. 'But then most of the time they were fighting and they were not good for each other." Cruellest news Those fights culminated in the violent 24-hour argument shortly before Helle's brutal murder, and her chilling final words to the girl she loved like a daughter. Advertisement It was her mum who told her about what happened the night after. She sat her down on the bed and said she had something horrible to tell her. Jamie-Lee recalls: 'I was like 'No, no don't tell me, I don't want to know' and I was just trying to run out the bedroom just to not hear it. 'Then she said, 'Helle's dead' and my first reaction was, 'Was it Dad?' 8 Jamie-Lee has gained thousands of Instagram fans inspired by her defiant response to her traumatic upbringing Credit: Instagram/@jamieleearrow 'And then we just sat crying and screaming, it was awful. Advertisement 'I felt like I had lost both his girlfriend and I had lost him and I felt something inside of me broke.' The ordeal had a traumatic effect on the nine-year-old, with Jamie-Lee going on to struggle with depression and addiction. 'I got into drinking at a very early age," she said. 'I finally had found something that soothed my anxiety and my hatred for myself, I could finally escape reality and it was amazing and I didn't want it to stop. 'It went from drinking to smoking weed to all different kinds of drugs, anything I could get my hands on I would take. Advertisement 'I knew I could fall asleep and not wake up again, but I didn't care.' Horror visits Despite dreams of becoming a doctor prior to the murder, Jamie-Lee's school attendance tanked as she sank further into addiction, dropping out completely at just 15. During these dark days, Jamie-Lee still visited her father in hospital, who brainwashed her into thinking that he was the only one who cared about her. But he had not changed, as the then 17-year-old was about to find out. 'I was in a really, really bad state and I was seconds away from killing myself and I said to my dad, 'I don't know what to do, I'm going to kill myself if something doesn't change'," said Jamie-Lee. Advertisement 'He said, 'The only way out is to do this', and he told me about a ritual that had came to him when he was lying in his bed, he said it was a blessing to him. 'We sat down, in front of each other, and he told me to hold his hands and he wanted me to say after him. Jamie-Lee still cannot bear to utter the words her father told her to say that day, but explains he tried to sell her soul to the devil. She said: 'I felt, like, 'What the hell am I doing?' It felt so wrong. 'I just got such a bad feeling in my body, and I was in such a bad state that I felt like I was going insane. Advertisement 'Like I had lost it, I had lost touch with reality.' Walking into my dad's flat was like walking into a horror movie. Pictures from Friday the 13th and Freddy Krueger. Everything was just dark and misery On another visit, Jonsson walked his horrified daughter through the murder, in shocking detail. 'He told me with such passion, and that scared me, it was so disturbing," she said. But the final straw was when Jamie-Lee decided to confront her dad about something she wanted an apology for. When he responded violently, she decided to provoke him, to see if he was capable of doing the same thing to her as he did his former girlfriend. Advertisement Who are the UK's worst serial killers? THE UK's most prolific serial killer was actually a doctor. Here's a rundown of the worst offenders in the UK. After his death Jonathan Balls was accused of poisoning at least 22 people between 1824 and 1845. Amelia Sach and Annie Walters became known as the Finchley Baby Farmers after killing at least 20 babies between 1900 and 1902. The pair became the first women to be hanged at Holloway Prison on February 3, 1903. William Burke and William Hare killed 16 people and sold their bodies. She said: 'He looked at me with black eyes, like he had no love for me at all. 'He said, 'If you don't stop now, you'll see what I can do'.' That was the last time Jamie-Lee saw her dad until she confronted him as part of Investigation Discovery's recent true-crime series Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks. When asked why she wanted to see her dad again, she said: 'For years I had been wondering about my dad, what he's doing, what he looks like, where he is mentally. 'It just couldn't leave my mind so I knew that I did want to see him one last time just to ask the questions I was carrying and to get closure. Advertisement 'I got to say goodbye to him and I got confirmation that he could never, ever in a million years be a part of my life.' Now 23, Jamie-Lee is happily engaged to her boyfriend of five years and the mother of two beautiful children, a three-year-old boy and a nine-month-old daughter, and is now able to move forward with her new life. Her Instagram has attracted over 30,000 followers in the last month, attracting an audience that is fascinated by her defiant response to her tragic upbringing. She now works as a public speaker and author, teaching people how to turn their trauma into something positive. Her advice? Advertisement 'Just because your childhood sucked doesn't mean your entire life has to," she said. 'We have the power over our own lives and we can create something beautiful even if we came from something ugly.'
