Maj-Lis Berg, 79, went missing in the Spring of 2013. She was last seen on 26th of April when she was leaving her home in Hulta, Borås, a Swedish suburb that is approximately 25 minutes by foot from Borås Centrum, the town centre. She was seen by neighbours on three occasions on the day of her disappearance, and she also met with her son, Mats, 58, before he left their shared home to go to work. Maj-Lis suffered with Dementia and Alzheimer’s but was still very mobile and she was often seen out and about in the area she lived in. She was last seen leaving her house wearing a black coat, black trousers, brown gloves and a grey hat, and was not seen again after 14:00.
Police and almost a hundred volunteers began searching immediately, on the ground and by helicopter. She apparently was last sighted on Trandaredsgatan, a road that spans the entire south-eastern side of the Hulta area. Searchers met at Kransmossen, which is approximately 15 minutes on foot from where she was last seen, and the search was expanded to cover the forest areas stretching from Hässleholmen to Sjöbo. These areas can be very rugged in places, with dense forest, swamps and boulders strewn throughout the trees that make travelling off the beaten track very difficult. The river Viskan, which runs through the town, was also checked, but nothing was found. Eventually, the military became involved in the search, to no avail.
Her family requested that Bråt Skjutfält be searched, as it was a location that she enjoyed visiting, perhaps because of old memories she still held despite her Dementia. It’s a shooting event area, apparently used for military exercises, located on the west side of the town. It is a very large area with mountains and swamps that is difficult to traverse. It was also hit by days of heavy rain during the search. On the Sunday that they searched Bråt Skjutfält, some clothing and some hair was discovered, but I can’t find any articles to confirm whether these belonged to the missing woman.
It’s now almost seven years since Maj-Lis vanished and she has never been found. No clues, no footprints, nothing. Some people speculate that she became confused and wandered off somewhere, becoming hopelessly lost in the process and eventually dying of exposure. Meanwhile, others speculate that her son grew tired of caring for her and murdered her, or that she was accidentally run over on a secluded road, her killer then hiding the body somewhere far out in the woods where no one would stumble upon her.
Looking at the map of the areas surrounding Hulta, it’s not hard to conceive that she might have walked into the woods but unable to find her way back. Borås isn’t very large, spanning an area of 29.61 km², and it is enclosed on all sides by forest, an easy place to get lost. The area of Bråt Skjutfält, which was pointed out by her family as a good place to look for her, is an interesting location. On the map, you can see that the river Viskan runs alongside it and flows down into a small lake before it continues on. The river itself is incredibly long. I’m not sure in which direction it flows or whether the current would be strong or deep enough to carry a body far. What I find interesting is that Maj-Lis might have disappeared from a shooting area. Is it possible that she was accidentally shot by someone, who then disposed of her body to cover it up?
Maj-Lis was obviously able enough to go out and about by herself. She would have had to board a bus to reach Bråt Skjutfält, because it would have taken her almost an hour and a half to walk there, which implies that she still had the mental faculties to access transport and to find her way home. The notion that she ‘got confused and wandered off’ doesn’t seem totally plausible to me. I think it undermines the woman’s intelligence and relieves any potential third party of blame. I don’t want to state for certain that her disappearance is because someone did something bad to her, but it seems suspicious to me that a woman whose family have repeatedly stated was physically fit and able:
“Det tar mig en timme att gå runt det här området. Men det kunde hon göra utan att blinka, hon var inte rörelsehindrad eller handikappad, förklarar Lasse Jandermyr.”
“It takes me an hour to walk around this area. But she could do that without blinking, she was not disabled, explains Lasse Jandermyr.”
…And who was also mentally capable of taking trips out alone, would suddenly become disoriented and walk off into the forest, never to be seen again.
The idea that her son might have murdered her is a possibility. He has been the family member who has publicised her disappearance the most, however, and her unnamed daughter hasn’t appeared in any articles or news clips. I’m not sure which family member directed the searchers to the shooting area, but if it was Mats Berg, it wouldn’t make sense for him to point them there unless it was to send them in the wrong direction. I personally don’t believe he is implicated in the disappearance at all, especially not if he has the alibi that he was at work the entire time.
Either way, something has happened to Maj-Lis Berg and her family deserve to know. If you have any information regarding the disappearance, you can contact Missing People Sverige or dial 11414 to report to the police.
https://www.missingpeople.se/sv/
If I’ve got any of the details incorrect, let me know!
Sources
https://www.expressen.se/gt/de-mystiska-fallen-som-gackar-missing-people/
https://forsvunnapersoner.blogspot.com/2019/05/maj-lis-berg.html
https://www.expressen.se/gt/80-arig-kvinna-anmald-forsvunnen-i-boras/
https://www.flashback.org/t2131390
https://www.expressen.se/gt/sokandet-efter-maj-lis-har-pagatt-i-en-manad/
https://www.expressen.se/tv/nyheter/gt/mats-mamma-forsvann-for-fem-ar-sedan–har-annu-inte-hittats/
The Missing People 