Danish detective: decapitated body, homemade submarine and missing Swedish journalist

The decapitated body of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who disappeared two weeks ago, was found in Copenhagen harbor on August 23. She was last seen on August 10, when she boarded the submarine UC3 Nautilus by Danish inventor Peter Madsen. Wall was going to write an article about his largest private submarine in the world. The next morning, the woman did not return home, and her friend reported to the police. On August 11, the inventor was rescued from a sunken submarine, on which the journalist was not. Madsen stated that he landed Wall on one of the islands of the bay before the accident. He was arrested on suspicion of murder.

The police said that the submarine, which was lifted from the bottom a few days later, was flooded intentionally, although Madsen, who built it himself, said that a small problem in the ballast compartment led to the accident.

On August 21, the inventor changed his testimony and stated that Kim Wall died on board as a result of an accident, and he "betrayed her body to the sea." And on August 23, the police received a call from a cyclist who found a dismembered body. After conducting DNA tests, the researchers found out that the remains belong to the missing Kim Wall. How the journalist died is still a mystery.

(15 photos in total)

Source: Daily Mail

We are deeply saddened to learn that Kim Wall is reported to have died. She was beloved by our community. Our thoughts are with her family. pic.twitter.com/YZrGum8jHD

— Columbia Journalism (@columbiajourn) August 22, 2017

The message about the death of Kim Wall.

Danish designer and inventor Peter Madsen.

Police and other authorities continue to search for evidence and the rest of the journalist's body parts off the western coast of Amager Island, where the torso was found.

30-year-old Kim Wall grew up in the Swedish city of Malmo, but lived and worked almost all her life abroad.

After receiving a bachelor's degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Wall worked as a reporter at the Swedish Embassy in Australia, at the EU mission in India and as an intern at the English-language Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post. In 2012, she moved to New York, where she completed a master's degree in journalism and international Relations at Columbia University.

The journalist traveled a lot for work — this year she managed to visit Cuba, Sri Lanka, Uganda and the USA, firmly believing that the best stories cannot be told sitting in the editorial office.

The head of the homicide department of the Danish police, Jens Moeller, gives a press conference on the results of the investigation on August 23, at which it was confirmed that the body found belongs to the missing Kim Wall.

Wall's articles have been published by The New York Times, Harper's Magazine, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, BBC, Vice, Foreign Policy and Time. The journalist herself said that she wrote about hackers, scammers, voodoo, vampires, chinatowns, atomic bombs and feminism.

Friends and colleagues speak of Kim Wall as a fearless person who is able to do absolutely everything and see history where no one sees.

One of the last photos of Kim Wall on board the submarine with Madsen, taken on the evening of August 10.

According to the Danish police, the arms and legs were separated from the body not as a result of an accident, but intentionally.

Damages were found on the found body to ensure the escape of air and gases, and metal objects were attached to prevent the body from surfacing.

Peter Madsen with a friend in 2010.

The designer's biographer Thomas Djursing said that Madsen has a complex and explosive character and he has repeatedly attacked journalists who wrote negatively about his projects. At the same time, according to Jursing, Madsen is not a cruel person and he has never been afraid of him.

On the evening of August 10, just at the time when, according to Madsen, he allegedly dropped off the journalist, he sent a message to his friend that the journalist had got off and that he was canceling the trip scheduled for the next day. He did not answer his friend's questions about why Kim Wall left and why the trip was canceled.

Madsen was arrested on charges of murdering Wall. How and where he killed the journalist remains unclear. If found guilty, Madsen faces from 5 years to life in prison.

Peter Madsen on board the submarine.