The Bunker Doctor: Martin Trenneborg

Scandinavian Crimes (w/ Devante & Delila)

Year(s) of Incident: September 2015
Location: Sweden
The Bunker Doctor: Martin Trenneborg 
Victim(s):  1
Method: Missing Person

In 2015, a young woman vanished from central Stockholm. What followed was a chain of events so carefully planned and so unsettling that it would leave Sweden stunned. At the center of the case stood a quiet physician the media would later call “Bunkerläkaren,” The Bunker Doctor. But when the truth finally surfaced, it was nothing the investigators expected.

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Transcript

Welcome to Scandinavian Crimes. My name is Devante and say hello to my lovely co-host Delila.

Hi.

And on this podcast, we talk about famous Scandinavian criminals who made their mark throughout Scandinavian history.(...) So welcome back to the podcast, a happy new year. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season. I hope everyone enjoyed the time they spent with their families, their friends, and you know, just, I hope you had a really, really, really, really good time.

(...)

But now that we've kind of settled into the new year officially and everyone's kind of back at their destinations and everything that they need to be and do and all that jazz, we are back, we are back with our regularly scheduled programming.(...) So this is a very, very interesting case. And I know I say that every episode, but trust me, this is a very interesting case.

(...)

In 2015, a young woman vanished from central Stockholm. What followed was a chain of events so carefully planned and so unsettling that would leave Sweden stunned.

(...)

At the center of the case, at a quiet physician, the media would later call the bunker doctor.(...) But when the truth finally surfaced, it was nothing the investigators ever expected.

(...)

So for this one, I promise you, this is gonna be a very wild ride. So you already know what I'm about to say, especially for those of you who are returning for the new year.

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Grab your tea,

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grab your snacks. If you're tucked into that nice little corner on the train and the bus, make sure you put your headphones or your ear pods or whatever kind of listening device you have in your ears in real tight.

(...)

Because this is a story of the bunker doctor.

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It began like an ordinary autumn day in Stockholm, September, 2015.

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Isabelle, a woman in her early 30s, was meeting a man she'd recently come to know, a polite, well-spoken doctor named Martin Trenneborg.

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When he arrived at her apartment, he brought champagne, flowers, and chocolate-dipped strawberries, a romantic gesture for what was supposed to be an ordinary date.

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But the strawberries weren't what they seemed. Unknown to Isabelle, they were laced with a powerful sedative.(...) Within hours, she began to feel disoriented and drowsy. And then gradually, she drifted into unconsciousness.(...) Wearing a disguise with rubber masks, gloves, and dark clothing, he placed Isabelle into a wheelchair and took her down to his car.(...) Then, under the cover of the night, he began the 560-kilometer journey south from Stockholm to his secluded property outside Nislinga, Skorna.

(...)

For years, Martin had been planning this very moment.(...) Behind the walls of a machine hall, he had secretly built a soundproof windowless bunker complete with metal security doors, coded locks, a toilet, a shower, and even an enclosed outdoor exercise yard hidden behind high wood fences.

(...)

Inside, he had prepared a bedroom, surveillance system,

(...)

and a document, a sex contract that dictated how his captive should behave.

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In his mind,(...) Isabelle would not be his prisoner. She would be his girlfriend. When Isabelle didn't return home or respond to calls, friends and relatives grew very alarmed. A missing persons report was filed, and soon the case was being handled by Stockholm police.(...) No one could have imagined that she was hundreds of kilometers away, trapped inside a bunker deep in the southern countryside.

(...)

Inside that underground cell, Isabelle lived through six days of terror and uncertainty.

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Martin alternated between calm conversation and disturbing attempts to create intimacy,

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offering food, explaining that they could get to know each other.

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He told her he wanted them to start a relationship, that she was safe if she didn't try to escape.

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After days of confinement, Isabelle began to gain his trust,(...) pretending to cooperate.(...) Slowly she convinced him that if she took her back to Stockholm to retrieve her belongings, she would agree to return voluntarily.

(...)

When they arrived in Stockholm on September 18th, 2015, Martin discovered that during her disappearance, the police had changed the locks on Isabelle's apartment as part of the missing person protocol. To collect her belongings, they would need to visit the police station so she can verify her identity and request new keys.

(...)

Martin accompanied her to the police station thinking the visit was just a bureaucratic formality, a way to prove she was safe and no longer missing.

(...)

At first, everything seemed routine. When Isabelle identified herself, officers recognized her as a woman who had been reported missing. But as they spoke with her, they noticed something was really off. She didn't mention where she had been or what had happened during her absence. Her calm demeanor and rehearsed explanations felt unnatural.

(...)

One officer sensing something was wrong gently took her to the room and asked if everything was truly all right. That's when Isabelle took her chance.(...) She leaned in and whispered, "He kidnapped me. He's waiting outside. Please help me."(...) Moments later, the officers acted and Martin was arrested in the waiting area of the police station.(...) When Martin was arrested, he appeared calm and cooperative, even slightly confused about the situation. He didn't resist or protest violently. Instead, he quietly followed the officer's instructions as they detained him.(...) The officers escorted him outside where his car was searched. Inside, they found a replica handgun, a wheelchair, sedatives, and several disguises, including two eerily realistic rubber masks.

(...)

Duct tape, ropes, and other tools used in the abduction were also discovered in the car.(...) It was immediately clear that this was not a misunderstanding or spontaneous act, but the result of a long, deliberate plan. While Isabelle was taken to hospital care and given medical and psychological support, investigators began piecing together what had happened. At his property in Nisiliga, Skona, forensic team found a meticulous, constructed concrete bunker. It was soundproof and sealed off with metal doors.(...) Every detail showed that it had been built for one purpose, to keep someone confined.

(...)

When the interrogation began, Martin readily admitted that he had abducted Isabelle, but he insisted that he had never meant to harm her. Instead, he explained his actions in calm, almost clinical terms, claiming that he had been deeply lonely for years and that the abduction had been in his mind, an attempt to create a relationship under controlled conditions.

(...)

He described Isabelle not as a victim, but as someone he had hoped would become his partner once she understood him. "I wanted to find someone I could live with, someone who wouldn't leave," he told investigators.

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During the questioning, Martin admitted that he had drugged Isabelle and that he had transported her unconscious body to his property in Skona.(...) He acknowledged building the bunker, but referred to it as a safe place where they could be together.(...) When asked about the alleged sexual assault, he denied any wrongdoing, claiming that any physical contact had been voluntary and part of a process of mutual adaptation.

(...)

He also insisted that he had decided to release her voluntarily and had planned to start a new life with her afterward.

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Throughout the interrogation, he showed little emotion. He spoke precisely and analytically, displaying no visible remorse.(...) His attachment unsettled the investigators who described his manner as more reminiscent of a man presenting a clinical case than confessing to a crime. Because of his unusual behavior, the court later ordered a forensic psychiatric evaluation.

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Franklin Classmates described him as an intelligent, but socially isolated, someone who excelled academically, but struggled to understand emotion in social cues.(...) Over time, this detachment grew into obsession and control.

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The assessment concluded that Martin did not suffer from any severe mental illness or psychosis. He was legally sane and responsible for his crime. By the time the case reached the court, the story of the bunker doctor had become a national obsession.(...) Reporters crowded the corridors of Stockholm District Court and every new detail of the investigation seemed to raise further disbelief.

(...)

The trial began in early February 2016, several months after Martin's arrest.

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During the proceedings, the prosecutor outlined what he called a calculated, methodical, and deeply inhumane act.(...) He argued that Martin had planned the crime for years building the bunker, collecting sedatives and preparing disguises long before meeting Isabel.

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According to the prosecutor, this was not an impulsive act driven by loneliness, but a premeditated kidnapping orchestrated by a man obsessed with control.

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The prosecution demanded a sentence of 15 to 16 years in prison, emphasizing the psychological cruelty in the severe violation of Isabel's freedom and safety.

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The defense painted a different picture though. She described Martin as a socially isolated and mentally unstable man who had lost touch with reality.

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The defense admitted that Martin's actions were gravely wrong, but argued that they were a product of desperation and delusion, but not pure malice.

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After several days of testimony, including forensic evidence, police reports, and Isabel's own account, the court reached a verdict. On February 23rd, 2016, the Stockholm District Court found Martin guilty of aggravated kidnapping, but acquitted him of aggravated rape, citing insufficient evidence to prove the intercourse had occurred. In his written judgment, the court described the crime as a carefully prepared, psychologically abusive, and gravely infringing on the victim's liberty. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in order to pay 180,000 Swedish crowns in damages to Isabel. When the case reached the Court of Appeal in April, 2016, the judges agreed with the lower court's assessment, but reduced the sentence to eight years, citing Martin's declining mental health and the fact that he had voluntarily ended the abduction. Martin served his time quietly. He lost his medical license, his home, his career.

(...)

Beyond bars, he was described as calm and cooperative, rarely speaking about the crime.(...) He became eligible for parole in January, 2021, after serving two-thirds of his eight-year sentence.

(...)

Isabel, living under a protected identity, slowly began rebuilding her life. In 2017, she published a memoir titled, "In the Power of the Bunker, Doctor," where she recounted not only her captivity, but also her path to recovery.

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For the investigators who had worked on the case, it remained unlike anything they had ever encountered. The level of Martin's preparation revealed a man who had lived inside his fantasy for years.(...) As one officer later remarked, he treated the whole thing like a clinical experiment in human control.

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In the end, the "Bunker, Doctor" story is not just a tale of crime, but of survival.

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It's a story of a woman who refused to surrender her freedom(...) and of a man whose brilliance was devoured by his inability to form a genuine human bond.

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So I have so many things I wanna talk about regarding this case, but I just wanna clarify something.

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So when it comes to his verdict,

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this is just a rough,

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kind of like the closest you can get a translation of his verdict, which is aggravated kidnapping.

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And it's the most, like,(...) it's a very international legal term, but in Sweden, it kind of, it is called "Mennigurov," which is covering a person who is abducted or unlawfully detained,(...) would intend to harm, exploit, or exercise control over them. So it's like a little bit more severe(...) than just aggravated kidnapping.

(...)

And then the penalty can be between four years up to, like, life imprisonment.(...) So in his case, he basically almost got life imprisonment in Swedish terms, but then it got later,

(...)

what was it?

(...)

He got acquitted to eight years,

(...)

I think it was, yeah.

(...)

So I just wanted to clarify that a little quickie and we can continue on to the discussion.

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And I just,

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first of all,

(...)

everybody has always said that, oh, if a man gives you flowers or strawberries or whatever in the first date, that's a red flag. And I always thought that, but I think it's kind of sweet.

(...)

I think it's kind of nice,

(...)

but then you see stories like this,(...) and you're like, damn, that's scary.

(...)

And I'm kind of sad about that, that you can't just trust anybody or anything anymore.

(...)

And I just thought about how a lot of women who sees, like, receiving a flower or receiving a chocolate or whatever,(...) they kind of just automatically be like, oh, that's weird for a first date. It has to be more cashable, it has to be more this, it has to be more that.(...) And the dating culture is just like, so kind of hard right now because of situations like this.(...) And there's a lot of things going on here. He also mentioned a lot that he was alone. He was very,

(...)

he had a hard time finding a partner. And he also says that he's claiming that, oh, that this led for me to kind of be in this, like, he wanted to trap somebody who will not leave him.(...) And in that sense, kind of make,

(...)

like control her into being the partner.

(...)

And I just was like, this feels like a red pill thing,

(...)

kind of like incel mentality.

(...)

And there's like so many layers about this, where I'm like, the male loneliness is also progressive and stuff.

(...)

And I just wanted to say, what do you think about this, Devad Day? How this whole like dating culture,(...) red pill community,

(...)

also incel community specifically,

(...)

and how it kind of like, I'm not saying all men, but like how this has have inspired, especially around that year,(...) 2015, 16, 17,

(...)

how it kind of like became a trend.

(...)

Now it's not as trendy as anymore. But what do you think about Devad Day?

(...)

Mostly during that time, that kind of red pill mentality was just on the rise. It wasn't as popular as it was like 2020,(...) 2021.

That's when it's kind of started taking.

It was just starting to become a thing, like, you know, so it was on the rise.

(...)

But I think what's interesting about him is,(...) I'm by the way, when I say, when I'm about to say right now, it's not any form of clinical diagnosis, I am not qualified to do so. This is strictly my opinion based on the information that was presented to me.

(...)

He displays a couple interesting behaviors. Like, for example, like he does seem like someone who had low self-esteem and probably was susceptible to that red pill kind of mentality where he felt like, you know,

(...)

I have to be in control of this relationship and I want it on my terms and I want someone who won't leave me. But also he does display some tendencies of someone who is kind of like suffering with, like not like, when I say anti-social personality disorder, ASPD, I'm referring to like the clinical standard where it's like a pervasive kind of disregard and violation of like the rights of others. So basically that's exactly what he did where he, you know, abducted her, locked her up and tried to force her into a consensual-- Didn't think it was wrong either.(...) Yeah, he didn't think it was wrong. So it was like, and even then, even the way he went about it was kind of following the standards of, because I think there's a list, there's a criteria, you have to at least meet three of the following to even be considered on the list, which one of them he did meet off rip, he was being deceitful when he first met her because, you know, he went there pretending to be nice.

(...)

You know, he had disregard for safety, he did not care, he didn't have remorse, and he didn't really conform to lawful behavior. That's like four out of seven. And he can make an argument for five or six of them. So he displayed a lot of similarities of someone who would be classified as the typical, you know, anti-social personality disorder,

(...)

who also maybe he could have been suffering with low self-esteem.

So I just-- But also what I thought it was strange was like, he kidnapped her, put her in the bunker, but then he also wanted this consent thing, which was like, it was like,(...) you're still forcing a consent, it's not consensual

(...)

if you put her, like you're still controlling her to consent, which is not really her consent thing, if that makes sense. Like it's like--

You know, yeah, yeah, yeah, because the thing is-- In his mind, he felt like, oh, it was

consensual, it was like, it's nothing, this is fine. I just,

(...)

by signing this contract, I don't know, it was just like so many stuff here.

People don't realize like consent means they are consenting for everything from beginning to end. That includes, you know, if we're putting it in dating terms, they're consenting to the date, they're consenting to spending time with you, they're consenting to let's say, if it leads to something more sexual, they have to consent to go upstairs with you, they have the consent for you to touch them, everything has to be consent, consent, consent, all the way from beginning to the end. If you control the environment in which they exist, consent is no longer a thing, because now you're controlling the environment in which they're able to make a decision, which means they're not making a decision at all. It's either you do what I want or that's it, you're done.

(...) Or you're just gonna still be in this bunker forever. It's like, it's not gonna change.

Which means she doesn't have a choice, that's not a choice, that's just one, what I want or that's it, there's no other choice. So that's not really consent, but he didn't process it that way. He felt like, okay, well, if I put you in this bunker, I want you to do this for me, like I want you to be my girlfriend, I wanna have a really, I want you to get to know me, but it's not really getting to know you if you're controlling how she does it in the environment in which she does it in. That's very manipulative, which is why I say he does kind of display a lot of the clinical definition of anti-social personality disorder.(...) So yeah, he's somebody who truthfully, I don't know why in the case feels like they,(...) was like, oh yeah, we just checked on his mental health and he doesn't display anything that serious.

That is serious. Okay, let me clarify.(...) When they say that, it's more towards like, are they legally--

(...)

Yeah, like basically if they can't tell right from wrong, if they're like incapable of making appropriate judgments of their behavior, like if they're mentally disabled in a way that's like, they don't know right from wrong. I know what they mean, but this is important information, I think me personally, because at least in America, if something like this would have happened, usually they would make an attempt to,(...) especially in a situation in a case that gets large enough, they would make an attempt to, why did you do this?(...) Like people, someone just doesn't wake up on a Wednesday and be like, hmm, let me build a bunker and abduct people. Like that's not something that crosses most people's minds. So people would then ask the question, what caused this? What's going on in his head that makes him feel like this is okay, because low self-esteem is one thing. Having that red pill mentality is one thing, but building a bunker that took probably years to make it perfectly soundproof and--

And money and like a lot of-- That's

very, very meticulous. That's very meticulous. So I think they should have definitely looked into the possibility of, like I said, something along the lines of anti-social personality disorder or whether it be psychopathy or sociopath, whatever the case may be, it could be anything.

(...) Yeah,(...) because I feel like there's a lot of stuff here that I was just like, I understand because the severity of the aggravated kidnapping, that he was planning this whole bunker, like she could have been trapped there forever.

(...)

And also back then, there were all the other cases that, I think, I don't know if he was specifically inspired by those cases, but there were other cases very similar to that where they were other men who had made bunkers, kidnapped, like, I don't know, a young woman or a teenager, whatever, put them in the bunker and kind of had them as a sex slave. And they became like worldwide news because it was so horrible,(...) but they were like in person there for years.

(...)

And she was lucky that she was like there for only six days. Some of them were like,(...) some people were kidnapped in person for like 20, 30 years.

(...)

Yeah, so it's one of those situations, yeah, that's crazy.

It's crazy, and I was just like, I understand the sentence, I think it's severe. I don't know how they determined if he was sane or not. I think it's probably,

(...)

they do like, there's a line or like a threshold of how you understand certain things or your IQ and stuff. I think they have probably like a criteria, either you pass it or not. You have to be kind of severe to not be able to like(...) be sent as sane.

(...)

Yeah, I think they're just classifying people strictly based off of, are you aware of what right and wrong is? If you're not, then they'll be like, oh, something's wrong. But if you are, then they don't really get into the details of it, which I think is not quite the right way to go about it because if he's doing this now,

(...)

unfortunately, even when he comes out, there's, unless they told him to destroy that bunker or he can't build another one, which I'm pretty sure he can legally probably build another one if he really wanted to, there's still enough probable, you know, thought that he could do this again,(...) which is why information like this should be made public and should be at least considered in the case. So that way there's a database keeping track.

Like I think they're treating him, they probably did severe like,

(...)

like another- Well, the

type of treatment, you can't really change stuff like that because that's more like something wrong with like,

(...)

it's not chemical imbalance per se, but like that's not something you necessarily can treat. Like, you know, I have a cold and I can give you- I know you can't treat him, like just showing them how to deal with it.

Yeah, have to help to manage it. That's what I mean with treatment. Like, I know that certain things you can't really change, especially when it comes to personality disorders or if he had any tendencies of like,(...) yeah, what you said, the psychopathic traits or whatever.

(...)

But I think that especially when they see tendencies and when they do like analyzing and evaluations of his mental health and everything, they do have treatments that they had to check on him and stuff during his prison time.

(...)

If they see that he has severe, like if there's something that is off, but I don't know if it will help him. I don't know if he's gonna relapse. I have no idea.

(...)

But I think the sentence in itself was fair.

(...)

I think that because it was so much planning,

(...)

there was a lot of intent and they had proved of all that intent.

(...)

Absolutely. So cops, well, one, she was smart and I guess we can transition this off into the, you know, the ending of what I usually would say, you know, ladies, like in situations like this, she was very smart. She didn't do anything to go against what he wanted overtly.

(...)

She knew what to do. She played the game. She controlled the situation in terms of as best she could. She made him feel like, oh, I trust you. I mean, I'll give you whatever you want. I just gotta get some clothes, blah, blah, blah. She paid attention to the details of knowing what he wanted and manipulated it to gain her freedom.(...) And it just so happened that the police did the right thing with their protocol by changing the locks on the door, which led them to have to go to the police station. So in this case, because they follow protocol, it presented an opportunity for her to finally be able to-

I didn't even know that it was a protocol that they would do that, honestly, that they took the keys to be like, yeah, I didn't know that was a thing.

I thought it was great. Yeah, because they gotta preserve the crime scene so you can't leave the regular locks because somebody else can come in and then mess up the crime scene so they have to change the locks. So because they follow protocol,(...) it was protocol that met opportunity, which she did. And that's why she pretty much walked out of there. Mentally, she's probably scarred, but physically she's alive. She's able to, she was able to write the book. She was able to change her identity and do what she needs to do. So that's what I mean. Sometimes you just be aware and sometimes you gotta think on your feet and be careful and don't ever let somebody come up to your house unless you know them. I don't care if it's a date or two, not even three, you know them. If you wanna take a risk, that's on you. And obviously life is life and sometimes we all have to take risk, but be careful, that's all I'm saying. Just be careful.

I didn't even think about that. That's actually true. He went to her apartment for the first date, right?

Yeah, especially for first dates, that's not a good idea. So be very careful,(...) be mindful of your environment, be mindful of what you're consuming. If anything, I have word of advice. I tell people we can go to bars, don't drink anything that anyone gave you, don't eat anything anyone gave you. Flowers are fine, but don't smell it because there was a case in the US where someone was putting things in flowers and knocking people out.

That's crazy.

Yeah, so like, don't smell anything, don't eat anything, don't drink anything on a first date. Make sure if you on a date and you're in a restaurant and you walked away from your food, you're done. You're done with the food. You're done with your drink. Unless you order something and you see it get to the table yourself, you're done with that. That's the best way to make sure you can minimize situations like this as much as possible.

(...)

But to wrap up a very tragic event with a very positive ending to keep things a little lighthearted,

(...)

of course we wanna end the episode with our favorite foods or something we wanna eat today, you know?

(Soft Music)

I want greens, beans, potatoes, sorry.

(...)

Then.

I'm sorry. I just, I actually don't know.

(...)

I guess I want watermelon ice cream popsicles.

(...)

That sounds nice and refreshing.

(...)

I can definitely go for some nice tacos, some tacos.

(...)

Yeah.

(...)

Some nice traditional taco.

I just feel like no greasy stuff. I just want something fruity, honestly.(...) Mango popsicles work fine too, honestly. Like I just want thing, one thing, one thing.

(...)

I know who you're making.

(...) I just want something that is something easy.

(...)

Well, thank you all for listening.(...) We appreciate y'all follow, like, and share stuff. And I guess we'll see. Come on now. Like, share. I'm doing properly.

What do you mean? Subscribe to the YouTube. Make sure you go check out the other episodes. Show us some love. We're trying here, you know, we're struggling, but we're trying here to make sure we can provide this stuff for y'all because we wanna provide this for all of you. So we appreciate you. We love you. Stay safe.

We love y'all.

And we'll see you in the next episode.

(...)

Thank you for listening.

(...)

Goodbye.