The Coffee King's Daughter: Sweden's First Modern Kidnapping

Chapter 1: A School Morning Gone Wrong

Gävle, Sweden – a brisk March morning in 1963. Outside the grand Engelundska palatset, 7-year-old Ann Marie Engwall stepped out, her schoolbag slung over her shoulder, ready for a normal day. The daughter of Jacob Engwall, director of the Gevalia coffee empire, Ann Marie was used to a life of quiet comfort.

But just minutes after leaving home, that comfort was shattered.

Two strangers — Monica and Lennart — watched from a Saab parked by the school. They were young, broke, and desperate. In a plan that would shake the entire country, they lured Ann Marie into the car and disappeared into Gävle’s quiet streets. Sweden had just witnessed its first modern child kidnapping.

At the Engwall residence, panic was immediate. A chilling phone call came through: a man's voice with a foreign accent, demanding 150,000 kronor for Ann Marie’s safe return. Then the line went dead.

Jacob Engwall, calm but alert, worked with police behind the scenes. He played the role of the cooperative father but was already preparing to trap the kidnappers. A ransom was packed — in a Gevalia envelope no less — and a handoff arranged.

But things weren’t going to plan.

Chapter 2: The Ransom Dance

That afternoon, Jacob waited anxiously on the pavement outside Kungsgården with a brown A4 envelope in hand. A taxi arrived. He placed the envelope on the car seat and stepped away, hoping eyes were watching.

Inside the envelope? Absolutely nothing of value — except fingerprints.

Twenty minutes later, the kidnappers arrived at a café near Valbo with Ann Marie in tow. While Monica distracted the child with pastries, Lennart nervously retrieved the fake ransom. Meanwhile, the girl quietly coloured, unaware of the national storm swirling around her.

At 3:45 p.m., a taxi pulled up outside the Engwalls’ home. In it, wrapped in her coat and blinking in confusion, was Ann Marie. Monica had told her to ring the bell herself.

Her parents opened the door. Ann Marie ran into their arms. She was safe.

The house, however, was under siege — not by the kidnappers, but by reporters.

Chapter 3: Too Broke to Kidnap

The story of Monica and Lennart shocked the nation. They weren’t hardened criminals or violent masterminds — just two penniless young adults, recently engaged, who thought kidnapping might be their ticket out of poverty.

Their plan, however, was riddled with amateur mistakes. They used their real car. Monica used her real name to book taxis. Fingerprints were everywhere. And Ann Marie could describe them both in detail.

Police tracked them easily. Lennart was arrested first. Monica was picked up days later in Malung, still trying to hitchhike back home.

At trial, they confessed. The judge — while condemning the crime — acknowledged how poorly thought-out the scheme had been. In a bizarre twist, the ransom they’d demanded might have been less than what Jacob Engwall paid in tax that quarter.

Lennart and Monica were sentenced to six years in prison. They never harmed Ann Marie — but their crime left a lasting impression on Sweden.