Danish police are re-examining the submarine where a female journalist – whose dismembered remains were later found dumped in the sea – is believed to have been killed,saying they are scanning the vessel for concealed cavities.
They are investigating whether inventor Peter Madsen, 46, may have included hidden rooms on his 60-foot-long home-made submarine, and that these could hold clues to the final moments of reporter Kim Wall.
The 30-year-old was last seen alive on Madsen’s submarine on August 10, and her naked, headless torso was found in the water off Copenhagen ten days later.
Search: Copenhagen police are investigating whether inventor Peter Madsen, 46, may have included hidden rooms on his 60-foot-long submarine where reporter Kim Wall, 30, died
Mystery: The headless torso of Miss Wall, left, was found in Koge Bay in Copenhagen last week, not far from where Madsen (right) sunk Nautilus
The UC3 Nautilus was raised from the bottom of Copenhagen harbour the day after it sank, after which police have carried out a thorough investigation of the vessel
‘There can be hidden rooms on submarines, and that’s what we are looking for,’ Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen said on Tuesday.
The 40-ton submarine, was deliberately sunk by Madsen on the day after Miss Wall’s disappearance. He was subsequently arrested, and is now facing charges of murder and indecent handling of a corpse.
The submarine – UC3 Nautilus – stands on land in a remote corner of Copenhagen’s harbor where a mobile cargo scanner has been deployed.
‘It should be highlighted that the scanning is being carried out in order to rule out the possibility that there may be un-searched rooms, and not on the background of there being any suspicion of this,’ Copenhagen police said in a statement to Extrabladet.
In Tuesday’s statement, police also said Swedish colleagues with dogs specially trained to search for corpses in the water were combing the Copenhagen coast looking for clothing and more missing body parts.
Are you ok ? Peter Madsen, who is now charged over the death of Kim Wall, gives the thumbs up after he is rescued from the submarine where police later found traces of her blood
Tragedy: Journalist Kim Wall died on the submarine, Madsen has admitted, but he claims it was an accident
While Miss Wall’s torso was recovered last week, authorities still look for other remains
Police say Miss Wall’s limbs had been ‘deliberately cut off’ her torso, which had been weighted down with metal to make it sink to the bottom of the sea, police said.
Madsen has admitted that she died on his submarine, and says he then ‘buried her at sea’, and continues to deny that he has committed any crime, Danish police say.
Last week, footage filmed by Denmark’s TV2 as he was fished out of Køge Bay shortly after Miss Wall had died, shows him giving a ‘thumbs up’, telling journalists he is ok.
As Madsen is known in Denmark for his ambitious projects, which as well as submarines include building space rockets, the TV2 crew were there to report on his rescue.
Wearing camouflage overalls, Madsen is seen speaking to two policemen about Miss Wall, who by then had been reported missing by her family. They ask: ‘Do you have any contact information for her?’
‘It’s in my phone at the bottom of the ocean,’ Madsen replies according to Ekstrabladet.
‘So you don’t have her name or what?’
‘Just that her name is Kim. I don’t check the background of a journalist, they call and ask ‘can I have an interview’.’
Further search: Police and other authorities search a waterway for further remains related to the ongoing Kim Wall investigation at the west coast of Amager, Copenhagen, Denmark
Police search a waterway for remains related to the ongoing Kim Wall investigation at the west coast of Amager close to Copenhagen, Denmark
Last moments: One of the last images taken of Miss Wall shows her on board the sub alongside Madsen on Thursday August 10
As the camera follows him, Madsen explains in a chillingly casual way that he submarine sank because of an issue with one of the ballast tanks.
Smiling at the camera, he says: ‘ I was just out for a practice voyage when there was an issue with a ballast tank – which was not very serious – and when I tried to repair it, it only got worse.
‘Nautilus sank in 30 seconds so I did not have time to close any hatches or anything. Which was very good, because otherwise I would be down there,’ he adds smiling again.
He smiles again. After this, Madsen can reportedly be heard talking about how they can retrieve the submarine, and how much it’s going to cost – not mentioning Miss Wall, but stressing that there is some form of insurance for the vessel.
Police have found traces of Miss Wall’s blood inside the submarine, despite having had to retrieve it from the bottom of a Copenhagen bay where it sank on August 11.
Tribute: Around 40 of Miss Wall’s classmates from the Graduate School of Journalism in Columbia University gathered at a candle vigil on Wednesday evening
Honour: Salima Koroma, left, and Matthew Claiborne, classmates of Miss Wall, who studied at Columbia University in 2013, mourn at the university campus in New York
In memoriam: Miss Wall hailed from southern Sweden, but had recently been splitting her time between New York and China as she travelled around the world to report stories
Last week, Moeller Jensen said that they had been able to match both the blood and the torso to DNA retrieved from a toothbrush and a hairbrush belonging to Kim Wall.
He added that police had found that the torso had been subjected to some form of force, in order for air to be pushed out of the lungs so it would not float.
Police believe the metal found on the torso had the purpose of ensuring the body sunk and remained on the seabed.
The torso was found by a passing cyclist at the water’s edge in Køge Bay in Copenhagen, where Madsen had informed police that he had ‘buried’ Miss Wall’s dead body.
Miss Wall was a freelance journalist, who grew up in Sweden but was mainly based in New York and Beijing, whose work had appeared in several major publications, including The Guardian and New York Times.
She had arranged to join Madsen on Nautilus as part of an article she had planned on writing about him and his projects.
‘Hot-tempered’: Peter Madsen, pictured with fellow enthusiast Kristian von Bengtson and one of their rocket prototypes in 2010, allegedly has a history of lashing out at journalists
Passionate: Madsen’s biographer has revealed that the hobby rocket builder has made enemies of the people he has worked with, and that his temper can flare unexpectedly
The 40-ton, 18-meter long Nautilus, one of three subs built by Madsen, was found by divers under 7m (24ft) of water, though they were unable to enter it safely
Madsen, an amateur enthusiast who had built the UC3 Nautilus himself, has a history of lashing out at journalists who gave his project bad press, his biographer has said.
‘He often ends up in conflicts, and has a lot of enemies,’ says Thomas Djursing, a journalist who has written a book about Madsen.
‘He can throw tools at you. But at the same time, he’s not a violent person. I’ve never been afraid of him,’ he told Aftonbladet.
Mr Djursing adds that Madsen would often become angry with journalists who wrote about his ambitious projects in a negative way, and says ‘I don’t know a journalist who has not been in conflict with him’.
Madsen, pictured above in 2008 in front of his submarine, was seen standing the tower of the still-floating submarine moments before it sank, according to a rescuer
Peter Madsen, who built the submarine himself, is under investigation for negligent manslaughter as investigators say there is evidence it was wrecked deliberately
In Mr Djursing’s book ‘Rocket Madsen’, the inventor describes himself as a ‘nerd with few friends’ who grew up with his elderly father after the parents’ separation.
Early on, he joined several rocket and space travel clubs, but his lack of patience and short fuse saw him excluded from the societies in his teens.
‘The past few years, he has been driven by a kind of vengeance. To show those he has worked with in the past, but who has since become his adversaries, that he can beat them,’ Mr Djursing toldExpressen.
‘He is a crazy person,’ photographer Bo Tornvig tells the newspaper.
‘I mean, making space rockets and sailing around in home-made submarines is not normal behaviour. But I’ve never seen him lay a hand on anyone. This whole story really stinks. ‘
‘SHE TALKED ABOUT THE MANY STORIES SHE WANTED TO TELL’: FRIEND PAYS EMOTIONAL TRIBUTE TO ‘INSPIRATIONAL’ KIM WALL
Malin Franzén, 29, who had known Kim Wall since they were teenagers, posted an emotional tribute on Facebook, honouring her friend.
‘Inspirational’: Miss Franzen, right, described Miss Wall, left, as an inspiration with a wicked sense of humour who made ‘anything seem possible’
‘The last 12 days have been a never-ending parade of one unfathomable event after the other. Just three weeks ago, she was at on our sofa and told us about her new house in China where – according to her – cats sometimes fall thought the roof, showed us pictures of Chinese t-shirts with inappropriate English text on, and demonstrated translation apps.
‘She talked about her love, of how many stories there are to tell, about the future, about her life. You always listened to her wide-eyed, because how many people do you know who can give you first-hand information about both the Ugandan film industry, the mass graves of Sri Lanka and the Cuban police force? Who had been accepted and graduated from not one, but two, super schools?
‘I was looking over her shoulder when she read her acceptance letter for Columbia, and almost fainted when I saw their term fee, but she just said something along the lines of ‘oh right, yes, I gotta sort that’. And she did that because what she has achieved, she has achieved on her own merits, nothing has been served up for her.
‘Despite this, she never acted superior or was pretentious (but also never falsely humble) and kept the same humour (without competition the most inappropriate I’ve ever encountered) that she had when we worked as telemarketers in a shabby callcentre.
‘It is impossible to describe her. And I doubt anyone could paint a complete picture of her. Losing her is not just the loss of a dear friend, but also of a source of inspiration.
‘A couple of times a year, she swooped into the flat, dragging her gigantic suitcase. And when she left again, you were filled with a feeling like anything is possible. It is hard enough to comprehend that her adventure is over, it is flat out impossible to understand that is how it ended. Rest in peace, dear Kim.
‘That’s just the way it is, things will never be the same.’
Published with the permission of Malin Franzén