“Swedish Woman Anna-Karin Bengtsson Goes Missing on Gran Canaria: Family Desperately Seeking Answers”

– It is a sensitive situation. It is very, very difficult. It is the uncertainty that is the worst. Not knowing, not getting an answer.

Swedish Anna-Karin Bengtsson (52) from Northern Scania is missing on Gran Canaria.

The last sign of life is dated April 9: A telephone conversation with the daughter.

– She would never have disappeared of her own free will. We in the family are absolutely sure of that. Maybe someone out there knows otherwise, but the family has no indication that she would do something like that.

Dagbladet talks to Joakim Axling (35), Anna-Karin’s little brother. He has just returned to Sweden after several days in Gran Canaria.

He expresses great gratitude to all volunteers who help in the search, as well as all shares and mentions in social media.

– I get tears in my eyes when I think of the tourists who sacrifice their holidays to help us search. We are so incredibly grateful.

The last days

Anna-Karin landed at Las Palmas airport on 31 March. She has been a lot in the family’s apartment in Playa del Inglés since New Year.

– She is working on a master’s thesis in special education. In addition, she writes textbooks. My sister finds inspiration and peace down there. She loves being on Gran Canaria.

Anna-Karin and her family bought the apartment in Playa del Inglés around a year and a half ago. She is well known in the area.

In front of Dagbladet, Joakim can confirm the 52-year-old’s last movements on the island, before she disappears without a trace:

4. april. Anna-Karin is a trip in San Agustin, about a ten minute drive from Playa del Inglés. She runs an errand at the Spanish bank Santander, where the family has the mortgage. The visit is confirmed by employees of the bank.

6. april klokka 17.30. She is observed in the Comunidad Evangélica de Habla Alemana church during a mass. The church is popular with tourists. A photo certificate confirms the visit:

– Someone in the congregation took a picture during the service, and there we can see Anna-Karin pictured from behind. We recognized her immediately. The priest also confirms having seen her.

8. april. Anna-Karin checks in at Abora Buenaventura by Lopesan. The hotel is located in Playa del Inglés, not far from the apartment.

According to Joakim, it is not unusual for the older sisters to claim a luxurious accommodation.

– She can do it sometimes. There are a lot of rumors about why she checked into the hotel, but there is no truth to them. It is certainly not unusual for Anna-Karin to spend a night in a slightly nicer hotel.

– We have seen surveillance videos, and she is there alone.

In the evening, the 52-year-old goes to evening mass in the church San Salvador El Salvador Temple. The visit is confirmed through a random video on YouTube.

– A Spaniard has filmed inside the church and uploaded the video on YouTube. It is around 8.25pm, and the service is almost over. We see Anna-Karin clearly.

She wears a pink skirt, white shirt and pink purse. She accepts a kind of business card from the priest outside the church, before she leaves the place.

Anna-Karin probably goes back to the hotel – a short walk away.

9. april. Surveillance cameras capture the 52-year-old at the hotel reception, where she pays for her stay and checks out.

Anna-Karin sits down in the hotel lobby and takes out a laptop.

– We think she is fixing the last thing on an assignment she has written, because we know she sent it in the same day. We don’t experience anything strange happening while she sits there.

At 12.20 she packs up her PC and disappears out the hotel doors. The 52-year-old wears a long, blue dress and a white cardigan.

At 16.00. Anna-Karin talks to her daughter on the phone.

– They simply had a normal conversation. That was the last contact any of us had with her, says Joakim.

Most likely, Anna-Karin went home to the apartment complex. Both the PC, chargers, passport and ID card were later found in the apartment.

At 18.00: The priest in the church claims to have seen Anna-Karin during an evening mass. However, this cannot be confirmed.

– We have photographic evidence of the other church visits, but we do not have that on the evening of 9 April. The priest was nevertheless very persuasive and is clearly confident, says Joakim.

– But she was there on 8 April, and she was there on 6 April. It can easily happen that he confuses the days. We simply do not know.

10. april the family discovers that the mobile phone has been switched off.

12. april Anna-Karin Bengtsson is reported missing.

– The outcome is decisive

Anna-Karin has an older iPhone model, and had not activated “Find my iPhone”.

The family’s only chance of finding out where the mobile was last used is by “pinging” it. This means that the device’s location is tracked using the IP address or the GPS coordinates.

– There has been a lot of back and forth. Spanish police must request that they want to track the device, and Swedish police must approve the request. They have now done that, so we are just waiting for a judge in Spain to approve it, so that the Spanish police can get started. We hustle every day, says Joakim.

The family has been told that it can take anywhere from four to six days.

– It is so important. And the outcome is decisive. If it turns out that she has been in, for example, Las Palmas, then we are looking in the wrong place.

Not a party person

Joakim describes the older sister as calm and considerate. Maybe also a little shy – but not shy.

– She is a bit shy, but also seeking contact. If someone takes the first step, she is certainly no stranger to a chat. She likes to talk to people.

He points out that the 52-year-old is not a party person and that she rarely drinks alcohol.

The way forward

At the time of writing, Anna-Karin has been missing for 20 days. She is wanted through Interpol and the Foreign Ministry.

Missing posters are displayed at ATMs across the island. Many tips have come in, but so far none that can lead to an explanation.

The future plan is to search with a helicopter or drone.

Kajsa Berggren, operations manager at the organization Frivilliga säntter vid kris och katastrophe (GOT Sweden), is back on the holiday island to search.

It is reassuring for the family at home in Sweden.

– Kajsa has been there for almost a week, and has made many contacts. It was a little easier for us to go home to Sweden when we know she is down there looking. We really appreciate that, says Joakim.

He continues:

– She has not disappeared voluntarily. Either there is something criminal behind it, or she has been the victim of an accident.