Is Per Skogkvist from The Breakthrough based on a real person? Explained

The Breakthrough, the latest murder mystery on Netflix, has viewers wondering if the character of Per Skogkvist is based on a real person. The four-part series is based on a book written by Peter Sjölund and Anna Bodin and features Mattias Nordkvist as Per Skogkvist. Sjölund's phenomenal work was key to solving the long-unsolved double murders of Mohammed Ammouri and Anna-Lena Svensson that came to be known as Sweden's second-largest murder case.

The character of Skogkvist is based on a real-life person and genealogist Peter Sjölund. Per Skogkvist helps bring the lead detective, Jan Staaf, to close the case after 16 years of no new suspects. The Breakthrough was released on Netflix on January 7, 2025, and is currently streaming for viewers in Sweden. The official synopsis for the series reads:

"When a double homicide goes unsolved for 16 years, a detective teams up with a genealogist to catch the killer before it becomes a cold case."

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Who is Per Skogkvist in The Breakthrough?

On October 19, 2004, 8-year-old Mohammed Ammouri and 56-year-old Anna-Lena Svensson were brutally murdered near Åsgatan in the quaint town of Linköping. While Mohammed Ammouri was attacked while he was on his way to school, Anna-Lena Svensson was attacked as she tried to intervene in the matter. Both were stabbed by the killer who left behind the murder weapon and the cap with DNA evidence on it.

Despite extensive investigations, the double murder case in Sweden remained unsolved for 16 long years with no leads. The development in the case took place as the restrictions on using commercial genealogy databases for criminal investigations were lifted by the Swedish authorities in 2019. This opened up a new avenue to solve the double murder case and Per Skogkvist served as the final piece to the puzzle.

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Is Per Skogkvist based on a real person?

The character of Per Skogkvist is based on the Swedish genealogist and author, Peter Sjölund. Sjölund is popular for his expertise in DNA analysis to trace family histories. The producers of The Breakthrough made use of their creative liberty to bring changes in the backstory of the fictional character of Skogkvist.

Peter Sjölund was the individual who had approached the investigators upon learning about the application of investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) to revisit the Linköping case. He assisted the lead investigator, Jan Staaf, in analyzing the DNA evidence from the crime scene.

Quite like Per's character in the series, Peter analyzed the DNA sample to narrow down his match to three family lines before he was led back to the 1800s. He found the Nyqvist brothers and Daniel Nyqvist was found to be the perpetrator with a 100% match in the DNA profiles.

Per Skogkvist's character in The Breakthrough is shown to be as meticulous as Peter's as he was shown to solve the case similar to the real-life incidents.

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Who is Peter Sjölund? Details explored

Peter Sjölund worked in the domain of Chemistry and had his own organization that would educate people in the Nordic region about genetic genealogy. He is a successful author of the books Genealogy with DNA, The Swedes and Their Fathers, and From DNA Tests to Family Trees which were published between 2016 and 2019.

He detailed his workflow in The Breakthrough which he published in 2021 collaborating with journalist Anna Bodin. This was followed by his recent publication, We Are All Walloons: About True & Untrue Family Histories in Sweden, in 2023.

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Catch all the details of the mystery in Linköping, Sweden as The Breakthrough streams on Netflix.