Jamie-Lee Arrow, 23, met her father, Isakin Jonsson, in 2024 after four years. Known as the “Skara Cannibal” in Sweden, Jonsson was jailed in a psychiatric hospital in 2011 for killing and eating parts of his girlfriend, Helle Christensen. Arrow was only nine when the crime happened.
A new true crime show on Discovery, Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks, shares their story. Over the years, Arrow battled depression and drug addiction. She stayed in touch with Jonsson, who suggested strange rituals like using voodoo dolls and selling her soul.
At 13, she discovered what “cannibal” meant and felt betrayed. Though their meeting felt emotional and warm at first, she later realised he had manipulated her since childhood.
“I read some articles, and then I understood what the word meant. But, by then, my dad had me wrapped around his finger. He made himself a good person, and his girlfriend was the villain. He brainwashed me to believe that,” Arrow told Fox News.
Arrow grew up in two very different homes. Her mother’s place felt loving and normal, but her father’s home was dark and disturbing.
He watched scary horror movies and made creepy voodoo dolls. Sometimes he was “the perfect dad”. But, his mood changed fast. He could suddenly push her away.
At age nine, Arrow met Christensen, her father’s girlfriend, and saw her as a “second mother”. Although Christensen loved him, Arrow never felt her father loved her back. They laughed sometimes but fought violently too.
“He lost touch with reality. I felt like I was losing my dad more and more. The happy times became rarer,” she said.
During the “worst weekend” of her life, she saw Christensen for the last time.
“She cooked some food for us. As she served it, she went, like, ‘Enjoy your meal because this is the last thing you’ll ever eat from me because your dad is going to kill me.’ That’s one of the last things I ever heard her say,” Arrow said.
It turned out to be true. Arrow never saw Christensen again.
‘The man is sick’
When Arrow turned 18, her father asked her if she wanted to know how he had murdered Christensen.
“He showed no remorse. He almost said it with passion. And, I was sitting there wanting to throw up. He almost had a smirk on his face,” she said.
“That’s the first time I truly felt in my body that my dad was not well. This man is sick,” she added.