Annika Maria Östberg Deasy (born January 6, 1954) is a Swedish citizen formerly incarcerated in California for an undetermined period (25 years to life sentence).

In 1976 she was convicted of providing liquor to a minor and received 12 months probation, one day in jail, and was ordered to pay a $65 fine.

[1][7][8] On April 30, 1981, Östberg and her boyfriend Bob Cox robbed and killed ex-restaurant owner Joe Torre.

According to Lake County district attorney Lester Fleming, evidence exists that Östberg may have shot Sgt Helbush as he walked back to his patrol car.

Östberg stated that while she pretended to search for her driver's licence, Cox shot Helbush in the back of the head.

Policeman Don Anderson discovered his colleague's stolen police car on a road in the Cobb Mountain area.

After a short pursuit, Cox crashed the stolen car on a sharp curve near intersection 175 at Dry Creek Road 38°45′33″N 122°38′30″W / 38.759178°N 122.641701°W / 38.759178; -122.641701.

[12][13] The Board of Prison Terms determined that Östberg was not ready for parole because she had acted in a cold-blooded manner and the motive was trivial.

Campaigns in Sweden urged for her sentence to be time-determined and that she be allowed to serve the remaining imprisonment in her home country.

In opposition to these claims, others note that Östberg plead guilty, that her sentence was fair and correct under California law, that her connection to Sweden is extremely limited, and that she has been treated no differently than any other inmate convicted of similar crimes.

[16] The Swedish media claimed that she was only present on the scene, and did not do anything, and was held as a scapegoat for her boyfriend, who committed suicide before his trial.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused in an interview in August 2005 with Swedish television to let her be transferred to Sweden to serve the remaining period in her native country.

It is believed that the financial crisis in the United States and the fact that prisoners are a burden on the economy was one reason for the transfer.

On November 16, 2009, a Swedish court decided that her life sentence should be time-limited so that she can be released in May 2011,[19] more than 30 years after her arrest.