Karakul Zumbayev

Karakul Zumbayev is a missing boy whose identity is inferred from the discovery of a second mummified child’s body in Stockholm. Described in the investigation as one of two brothers and a child prostitute missing from Syrets Metro Station, he is presumed dead when a body resembling his brother, Itkul Zumbayev, is found in Norra Hammarbyhamnen. The case turns on a family resemblance: a crooked jaw on the newly found boy matches a feature noted on Itkul, leading the pathologist to suspect that the boys were brothers and Jeanette Kihlberg to recognize the likely answer.

Identity and Disappearance

Karakul is introduced through the investigation of two missing brothers, Itkul and Karakul Zumbayev. Both are identified as child prostitutes who disappeared from Syrets Metro Station. At first, the inquiry establishes the brothers’ shared disappearance but leaves Karakul’s fate unresolved. The possibility that one brother remains missing while the other is the boy already found dead at the Thorildsplan discovery site gives the case a second, as yet unlocated victim.

The distinction between a missing child and a dead one becomes harder to sustain when Jeanette considers that the other brother may also have been killed and left somewhere in Stockholm. That is initially an investigative inference, not a confirmed identification: Karakul has no scene of his own, and the case has to establish his presence through the body and the details preserved on it.

The Norra Hammarbyhamnen Discovery

A call to Jeanette reports a mummified boy’s body in a black plastic bag in Norra Hammarbyhamnen. The child is estimated to have been between ten and twelve years old, and the body bears a striking resemblance to the boy found at the Thorildsplan discovery site. Jeanette thinks of Karakul as the call comes through, connecting the newly found child to the second missing brother before the identification has been formally resolved.

The body is not simply a second version of the first victim. One hand is missing—the right—and bite marks cover extensive areas, particularly the face. These differences make the new discovery distinct even as the resemblance to the Thorildsplan boy encourages the investigators to compare the two cases. The missing hand and the marks on the body are recorded as evidence; the available account does not establish who inflicted them or when.

Identification Through Resemblance

Pathologist Ivo Andrić points out that the boy found in Norra Hammarbyhamnen has a slightly crooked jaw. The boy from the Thorildsplan discovery site also had a crooked jaw, a detail that had drawn little attention when his body was examined. Because that first boy had no teeth, Ivo explains that the shape of his jaw can still help investigators estimate how his teeth may have looked, especially if there were abnormalities. A feature that seemed incidental therefore becomes a useful point of comparison between the two children.

Ivo presents the sibling connection as a guess rather than a definitive finding. Jeanette, however, recognizes the implication immediately: the two boys are Itkul and Karakul. The scene makes the identification hinge on an overlooked physical detail, joining the brothers through evidence that survives even when ordinary identification is difficult. Karakul’s body is thus strongly suggested by the investigation, while the pathologist’s cautious wording preserves the distinction between a compelling conclusion and formal certainty.

Narrative Significance

Karakul’s story is told almost entirely through absence, inference, and the discovery of his body. The investigation first registers him as a missing brother, then as the likely second victim, and finally as the probable identity of the child in the black plastic bag. Each step changes what the earlier disappearance means: the possibility that one boy remains unaccounted for gives way to the likelihood that both brothers were killed.

The case also shows how recognition depends on attention to small physical traces. The jaw’s crookedness, not a complete or uncomplicated identification, links the newly found boy to Itkul and gives Jeanette the answer she believes the evidence supports. Karakul is not given a narrated voice or an independently described life in these scenes; the investigative record defines him through his kinship, his disappearance, and the bodily evidence that makes his presumed fate legible.