The Danish inventor accused of killing a female journalist, whose dismembered remains have been found in the water off Copenhagen, continues to deny all charges.
Peter Madsen, 46, was arrested on August 12 over the disappearance of 30-year-old Swedish journalist Kim Wall, whose naked torso was found on Tuesday.
Miss Wall was last seen alive on Madsen’s home-made submarine on August 10, and the Dane is now facing charges of murder and indecent handling of a corpse.
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
Today, divers are searching for Miss Wall’s remains, as well as the clothes she was wearing when she was seen on Madsen’s submarine, in Køge Bay, Copenhagen, where the vessel sank.
Poolice 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 Miss Wall died on his submarine, and says he then ‘buried her at sea’, before deliberately sinking the vessel he had spent years building.
As he was questioned and told of the upcoming murder charges on Thursday, he continued to deny that he has committed any crime, Danish police say.
Yesterday, 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.
Dead: The headless torso found in Copenhagen is that of Kim Wall, 30, (left) who had gone along for a voyage on the submarine of Peter Madsen (right), who has now admitted to ‘burying her at sea’ after she died on the vessel
Tragedy: Journalist Kim Wall died on the submarine, Madsen has admitted, but he claims it was an accident
‘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
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’.’
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.
Members of The Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) are preparing to assist the police at Kalvebod Faelled in Copenhagen in the search for Miss Wall’s remains
While Miss Wall’s torso was recovered earlier this week, authorities still look for other remains
Smiling at the camera, he says: ‘ I was just out for a practice vouyge 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
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday morning, Copenhagen police investigator Jens 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.
Madsen’s lawyer Betina Hald Engmark said on Wednesday that her client stands by his ‘explanation that an accident happened’.
The Ekstra Bladet tabloid, quoting unnamed sources, said Madsen has asked to be transferred to solitary confinement, allegedly out of fear of being attacked inside the prison.
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.
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
On Wednesday, Miss Wall’s family has paid tribute to the freelance journalist, who grew up in Sweden but was mainly based in New York and Beijing.
The family says it received the confirmation of her death ‘with boundless sadness and dismay.’
‘The tragedy has hit not only us and other families, but friends and colleagues all over the world.’
Her parents and brother said Miss Wall, ‘found and told stories from different parts of the globe, stories that have to be written,’ ranging from the Haitian earthquake to ousted dictator Idi Amin’s torture chamber in Uganda and mine fields in Sri Lanka.
They say said he journalist, who wrote for publications including The Guardian and New York Times, gave ‘a voice to the weak, the vulnerable and marginalized people,’ adding that such a voice had been ‘needed for a long time. Now it will not be.
‘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
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’.
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. ‘
The UC3 Nautilus was raised from the bottom of Copenhagen harbour where it had been under 8m (24ft) of water since sinking on Friday morning
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, 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
Miss Wall was last seen on board the UC3 Nautilus with amateur builder Madsen on August 10, but until Monday, he insisted he had let her off that evening.
Madsen was picked up by the Danish Navy around 10.45am on August 11, when his submarine sunk in Copenhagen harbour.
It was built like a post-World War II submarine, with a galley, crew bunks, officer’s mass, bridge and engine room.
Madsen claims he was the only one on board at the time, and that he dropped Miss Wall off at the mouth of the harbour shortly after 10pm the previous night.
Around the time he claimed to have dropped Miss Wall off, Madsen sent a mysterious text to a friend saying she had left the vessel and cancelling a trip he was supposed to be taking on the submarine the following day, according to local reports.
He did not respond to questions from the friend about why he had dropped Miss Wall off or why the trip was being cancelled.
Madsen was arrested on manslaughter charges the following Saturday before a judge ordered that he be held in custody while investigations are carried out.
He is charged with having killed Miss Wall ‘in an unknown way and in an unknown place sometime after 5pm on Thursday.’
Before the first court hearing, which was held in private and attended by his relatives, Madsen smiled, and chatted with both his lawyer and reporters.
If convicted, Madsen faces between five years and life in prison.