The daughter of one of Sweden’s most infamous killers has opened up about the haunting reality of growing up with a man who committed one of the country’s most disturbing crimes—and what it was like to finally confront him face-to-face.
Jamie-Lee Arrow, now 46, is the daughter of Isakin Drabbad, who shocked the nation in 2010 after he murdered and dismembered his girlfriend, Helle Christensen. He not only decapitated her but also consumed parts of her body. After confessing to the crime, a psychological assessment confirmed that Drabbad was suffering from a severe mental illness. In 2011, he was found guilty and sent to a psychiatric facility.
In the new episode of Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks, airing tonight on Investigation Discovery, Jamie-Lee shares her experience growing up under the shadow of her father’s crimes. The episode, titled My Father, The Cannibal, also features a rare and emotional reunion between Jamie-Lee and Isakin—who has since been released from psychiatric care.
In a preview clip, Jamie-Lee is seen wiping away tears as she confronts her father, asking, “Do you know how much you have to love someone to still want to see the person who terrifies you?”
Isakin responds, “I think it’s extremely hard having me in your life. You only see heaven from hell… I’m looking at you from hell. And I’m sorry.”
Jamie-Lee recounts the emotional pain of her childhood, admitting that despite the fear he caused, she always wanted to return to him. “It didn’t matter what you did or how much you frightened me—I always wanted to come back,” she said.
“You’re extremely brave,” her father replied. “No,” she answered, “I just loved you.”
She went on to say that she never truly shared how his actions affected her as a child. “I always listen to how you experienced everything. But I never really told you how it felt for me. This is my chance to speak out—and move on.”
In an interview with People ahead of the episode’s release, Jamie-Lee shared that she hadn’t spoken to her father in more than four years before filming the documentary.
“I want people to see the darkness I came from—and that I found a way out,” she said. “I still battle with separating who I am from who he is. But I’m not him.”
Initially, the reunion gave her hope. Drabbad welcomed her with tears and a hug, and for a moment, she believed he had changed. “I so badly wanted to believe he had become the father I needed,” she said.
But that hope didn’t last. “His true self began to emerge again,” she admitted. “I had to face the truth—that he’s ill, and he’s capable of terrible things, even if it hurts to admit.”
Following the filming, the two stayed in touch for a short time, even having several long, emotional conversations. Jamie-Lee even told him she forgave him. But then, everything shifted.
“He sent me a disturbing, threatening message out of nowhere,” she revealed. “It was long, twisted, and terrifying—he basically warned me and my family to stay away. That message was the closure I needed.”
Now a mother of two, Jamie-Lee says she has accepted that her father can never be part of her life or her children’s lives.
“I’m grieving him like he’s dead,” she said. “I love him, but he’s toxic. And that love is something I’ve had to learn to live with—and let go of.”
