Swedish Director David Lind Lagerlof Still Missing, Presumed Dead

COLOGNE, Germany - Swedish director Daniel Lind Lagerlof is missing and presumed dead after he did not return from a scouting mission on Sweden’s west coast.The 42-year-old Lagerlof was scouting locations for The Fjallbacka Murders, the film and TV-series adaptation of Camilla Lackberg’s best-selling crime franchise, when he disappeared.

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He and two crew members went to the Tjurpannan nature reserve on Friday to scout locations along the cliffs of Sweden’s west coast. They trio split up but Lagerlof did not meet up with the group again as planned. The weather was poor, with high winds and heavy rains. Swedish police carried out a thorough search of the area using helicopters and dogs before giving up late Saturday. They said they have given up hope of finding Lagerlof alive. The assumption is the director slipped and fell into the sea.

A veteran director of films and television, Lagerlof was one of the leading helmers in the recent wave of Sweden’s crime thrillers. He directed episodes of the award-winning Wallander and Beck crime series and most recently worked with Gustaf Skarsgard on the series The Library Thief.

The Fjallbacka Murders, based on the novels by Swedish writer Camilla Lackberg, follow the adventures of a novelist and her policeman husband in a rural Swedish town with a shockingly high murder rate. Following the successful model of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, production house Tre Vanner is producing the Fjallbacka franchise both as a series of feature films and as a long-running television drama. TrustNordisk is selling The Fjallbacka Murders worldwide.

Lagerlof was one of several directors working on Fjallbacka. Tre Vanner said it was too early to tell what effect recent developments will have on the production.