Sigvard Thurneman

Thurneman, a young office clerk, was said to have formed his assumed name upon an anagram from the English word "manhunter", although this proved to be false.

[1] Apart from Thurneman, the Sala gang consisted of Bror Hedström, Åke Rangvald Lindberg, Roland Abrahamsson and Karl Herbert Jansson.

Thurneman was interested in mysticism, which had a great influence on the gang members, who called themselves Den magiska cirkeln ("The magical circle", abbreviated "DMC").

Thurneman had his fellow accomplices inhale incense from different herbs, claiming this to make them cold hearted and "willing instruments of murder" ("villiga mordredskap").

The Police thought the woman was deceased in a self-caused arson, and the crime was not uncovered until the confession of the gang, following upon its arrest.