Karina Holmer was a 20-year-old from Skillingaryd, Sweden, who arrived in Boston in spring 1996 to work as an au pair. On the night of June 21 she went to the Zanzibar nightclub in the Theater District to celebrate the summer solstice. Witness reports vary: some saw her dancing with a homeless man, others said she got into a car. She was last seen in the early hours of June 22.

On June 23 a homeless man searching a dumpster behind an apartment building on Boylston Street found the upper half of a woman’s torso in a black trash bag; the body was identified as Holmer. An autopsy determined she had been strangled with a rope or cord and surgically bisected at the waist. The lower half has never been found.

Police interviewed more than 300 people and investigated several persons of interest. Herb Whitten, who frequented the area, was questioned but had an alibi and was later ruled out; he died by suicide the following year. Employers Frank Rapp and Susan Nichter were scrutinized after Rapp obtained a permit to use a trash transfer station the day after Holmer disappeared, but no charges followed. No arrests have been announced and the case remains unsolved.

If anyone knew Karina, saw her that night, or has information about disposal sites or suspicious activity around June 22–23, please come forward.