KTH assists the police with DNA analysis of dog hair
A new DNA technique could prove decisive in the trial for the murder of the rapper Gaboro. The police have enlisted KTH professor Peter Savolainen to analyse dog hair found on a pair of abandoned shoes.
“As a doctoral student, I carried out the very first analysis of DNA from dog hair and conducted analyses in several criminal cases. So, I’m known within the police for being able to carry out such analyses,” Savolainen says.
The rapper Gaboro was shot dead in a parking garage on 19 December 2024, in Norrköping, Sweden. In May 2026, a 22-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder, despite his denial. The verdict was appealed, and during the proceedings at the Court of Appeal, the police presented new forensic evidence that more clearly links the man to the crime scene. The perpetrator filmed his shoes at the time of the murder, and the police later found the shoes discarded in the countryside. The National Forensic Centre in Linköping was unable to extract any human DNA from them, but dog hair was found, according to SVT Nyheter .
This is where Savolainen’s team came into the picture, with a method that had not previously been used in the forensic analysis of dog hair.
“At first, I thought that, given the techniques that I and others had previously used, it wouldn’t be worthwhile trying to analyse the samples; it wouldn’t provide a sufficiently accurate identification of the individual dogs. But on further reflection, I realised that if we used the latest DNA analysis methods, we might be able to obtain useful results,” Savolainen says.
Developing a viable analysis required a bit of experimentation on the part of the researchers, but it worked out in the end. The hairs found on the shoes could be linked to the dogs found at the suspected perpetrator’s home and became further evidence in the trial.
Savolainen conducts research into the origins, evolution and genetic health of dogs. Forensic analysis of dog hair is not an everyday occurrence and, according to Savolainen, the biggest difference is that you must be extra careful and rule out any mistakes when another person’s freedom is in your hands. Despite the weight of this responsibility, the KTH researchers are keen to continue assisting in the future.
“I’m always willing to help the police when needed. But it’s not very often that dog hair needs to be analysed in criminal cases,” Savolainen says.
Jon Lindhe (jlindhe@kth.se)