| Melissa Nordell | |
| Death Date: | 2001-11-11 |
| Death Place: | Sweden |
| Nationality: | Swedish |
| Known For: | her murder, by a boyfriend, was an inspiration for the Millennium novels |
| Occupation: | model |
Melissa Nordell was a Swedish fashion model, who was murdered when she was 22 years old. Her murder, by a disgruntled boyfriend, is said to have inspired Stieg Larsson to write the Millennium novels.
During her post-mortem, signs were found she had been the target of violence on other occasions. Her ex-boyfriend confessed to the murder. He admitted buying a stun gun, and remembered using it on her, but claimed he did not remember strangling her. He admitted weighting her body, prior to throwing it off a bridge. Her ex-boyfriend's motive is routinely described as rage over her decision to leave him.
A few months after Nordell's murder, a Muslim woman, living in Sweden, Fadime Sahindal, was murdered by her father. The two murders are regularly compared.[1] Some commentators question why only Sahindal's murder should be characterized as an honour killing. In May 2015 Sweden's TV4 broadcast a documentary about Nordell's murder.