Isakin Drabbad

Isakin Drabbad (born Jimmy Daniel Isaksson; born 1978), also known as the Skara Cannibal , is a convicted Swedish murderer. In November 2010, in Skara, he murdered his girlfriend Helle Christensen and ate parts of her body. He was subsequently committed to a mental health institution.

During his time at the institution, Drabbad has sparked several controversies that made headlines both in Sweden and internationally. In December 2011, he became engaged to Michelle Gustafsson, known in the media as the "Vampire Woman", who is also a murderer and an inmate at the same psychiatric hospital. Together, they mockingly blogged about their crimes from the hospital's computer, which led to a motion in the Swedish parliament to prohibit internet use for patients in Swedish psychiatric institutions.

In 2017, Drabbad made headlines again after selling voodoo dolls and other art containing blood and bodily fluids online from inside the hospital. He also posted several clips of himself on YouTube, filmed on the hospital grounds and during his furloughs. That same year, he garnered significant attention when it was reported that he had been involved with caregivers at Karsudden Regional Hospital in Katrineholm. Drabbad was denied furlough to marry one of the women, who subsequently resigned and was placed under a restraining order due to being considered a security risk. Drabbad continues to receive care in forensic psychiatric care, but since 2020, he has been registered at an address in Katrineholm.

Background Isakin Jonsson was born Jimmy Daniel Isaksson in 1978 in Köping, Sweden. He moved to Västerås at the age of two. He was in and out of institutions throughout his upbringing and has been convicted of drug offenses and theft several times in various locations in southern and central Sweden. When Jonsson committed the murder in 2010, he had a nine-year-old daughter. The daughter, Jamie-Lee, later wrote the book Skarakannibalens dotter ("The Skara Cannibal's Daughter") about her upbringing.

Christensen's sister told the media that Jonsson had a violent temper and that she often had to pick up her sister after they argued. Christensen reportedly said that he never hurt her, even though she showed up with bruises and, on one occasion, broke her leg in three places. During the preliminary police investigation following the murder, the police discovered Christensen's diary, which painted a different picture of Jonsson. Written shortly before the murder, it described how scared Christensen was and that she did not dare to tell her loved ones. She wrote that Jonsson was a different person, noting "he talks about punishments, about all the evil". She also detailed his bad moods, personality changes, and aggressiveness, but added, "I can handle it because I love him".

Shortly before the murder, she contacted a woman at a local library near her home, asking for help finding a hostel where she could feel safe, but the librarian had to promise not to call the police. On the day of the murder, the couple got up at noon and dressed before going out shopping. Jonsson bought four beers and Jägermeister at Systembolaget, while Christensen purchased food at the local Ica store, Munken.

They were alone in the apartment until the murder, which occurred between 17:00 and 19:00. At one point, Christensen went to lie down on a mattress to rest or read. Jonsson then allegedly took a knife, cut the mattress, sat over Christensen's shoulders, and slit her throat. He then dampened the blood flow with a pillow. Christensen did not have time to resist, and death occurred rather immediately. He also mentioned that there was a bit of a fight on the day of the murder but could not explain what triggered his rage against his girlfriend. In the interrogation held the day after the murder, he tried to clarify, saying, "I can be perceived as unaffected, but when it happened yesterday I was in someone else's guise. Someone else acted in me."

When asked why he cut off his partner's head, dragged it into the kitchen, and placed it in the sink, Jonsson explained, "Why I have no idea. It felt like there were several people in the room. It's almost like a movie is playing." An analysis of the blood sample taken at the time of his arrest, carried out by the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine, showed that Jonsson had 1.35 per mille ethanol in his blood and 4.1 micrograms of tramadol per gram of blood. Tramadol is classified as a narcotic in Sweden. including hallucinations.

New girlfriend At Karsudden Regional Hospital, he met Michelle Gustafsson, known in the media as the Vampire Woman. Before the murder, she had written threatening posts on her blog about how she was going to cut the throats of people in the Stockholm Metro. She also posed for pictures like a vampire, with bloody lips, knives, and a chainsaw.

Jonsson and Gustafsson became a couple on 13 November 2011 after Jonsson asked in a chat on Windows Live Messenger "Will you be my girl?". They got engaged on 9 December.

Blogging, YouTube and art selling On 23 February 2012, Borås Tidning reported that Jonsson and Gustafsson mockingly blogged about their committed crimes from a hospital computer. The newspaper also highlighted how offensive the victim's little sister found this behaviour. A chief medical officer can only decide to restrict internet use for an individual inmate under very specific circumstances, and the decision may apply for a maximum of two months at a time. A motion to prevent this (2016/17:855) was submitted to the Swedish parliament by Sweden Democrats Kent Ekeroth and Per Ramhorn in October 2016. On the blog, Jonsson answered questions from readers and expressed his indifference to what society thinks of him and his crime: "Most people say at some point in their life that they would never take someone else's life, but have you done it it's not a big deal anymore."

In 2017, and Aftonbladet reported that Jonsson sold his own Voodoo dolls and macabre works of art directly from the hospital. The voodoo dolls were made from toilet paper, toothpicks, and sewing thread, with blood, hair, and semen from Jonsson himself used in the heads of the dolls. He also created masks that were displayed on various sites, along with several different works of art and paintings. Many of these pieces were made from his own blood and were signed in English with the phrase, "They call me Skara Cannibal."

Furloughs and name change In 2015, it was reported that Jonsson had a four-hour furlough in Katrineholm each week.

In June 2016, Jonsson was granted a three-day furlough, during which he helped a relative move and attended a wedding, but he was denied two additional days of furlough at the same time. However, in the administrative court, the chief doctor was supported by an expert who testified that Drabbad had been treated and had already received many "exempt benefits." This expert also believed that the risk of recidivism for serious crime was low and that the prosecutor placed "too much emphasis on historical matters". However, both courts ultimately rejected the furlough application.

In the spring of 2017, a decision was made for Drabbad to continue receiving care, and he was denied non-institutional psychiatric treatment.

In the summer of 2017, Drabbad applied for a supervised furlough to the in order to marry his new girlfriend. In the decision made by the in Linköping, it was stipulated that, apart from himself, hospital staff, two witnesses, and the girlfriend would be present. The girlfriend had worked as a carer at the Karsudden Regional Hospital, and the hospital management became aware of their relationship after receiving repeated reports that her connection with Drabbad was more intense and closer than what constituted a professional relationship.

After the hospital management began to suspect the relationship, the woman chose to resign and was subsequently classified as a "security risk." In mid-July 2017, she was called to a meeting with management, during which she claimed that her relationship with Drabbad was purely professional. However, a few days later, she decided to terminate her employment. Following her resignation, she and Drabbad maintained close telephone contact, and she expressed a desire to visit him. According to the judgment, another meeting was held with her, during which she acknowledged having a friendly relationship with Drabbad but did not confirm any romantic involvement. Nonetheless, she did state that she could potentially serve as a future furlough destination address for him.

The Södermanland County Council chose to impose visiting restrictions on the woman. Had she not voluntarily decided to end her employment, she would have been suspended from work during the ongoing investigation. According to the hospital management, she posed a security risk if allowed to meet Drabbad.

In its judgment, the administrative court deemed the restrictions justified due to "her knowledge of the hospital's routines and the risk that she participates in the introduction of unauthorized objects or in another way can conceivably assist the patient in the event of a release or escape." The fact that she possessed confidential information about other patients also influenced the county council's decision, which she subsequently chose to appeal.

In her appeal, she disclosed that her relationship with Drabbad was more than just friendship, stating that he was her boyfriend/fiancé and that she had not received any explanation for his refusal to allow her to visit him. The Administrative Court of Linköping opted to uphold the county council's position, and the visiting restrictions remained in place.

In addition, the court rejected Drabbad's request to go to Katrineholm to get married. In its decision, the administrative court noted that the chief medical officer had rejected the application, stating, among other things, the following: The application concerned an accompanied trip and was therefore not interpreted as a request to be examined by the administrative court. The Karsudden Regional Hospital did not object to Drabbad's desire to marry; however, the activity was not considered a care activity, and personnel resources were not allocated for that purpose. The woman Drabbad intended to marry, according to the administrative court's decision, "has recently received a decision to restrict access to Isakin Drabbad."

Release In 2020, Drabbad was transferred to outpatient care and given an apartment in Katrineholm in August the same year. In March 2024, he moved to another apartment.

Media Drabbad is featured in the episode "My Father the Cannibal" in the American TV series Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks (2025) on Investigation Discovery. In 2026, his daughter, Jamie Lee Arrow, discussed her experience of him as a father in an interview with LADBible, describing the psychological manipulation he put her through growing up.