The family of a Swedish journalist who died on board an inventor’s submarine before her body was dumped at sea have released a heartbreaking tribute video.
In the footage friends praise 30-year-old Kim Wall as a ‘phenomenal journalist’ and ‘a beautiful person’ who ‘gave the best hugs’.
Her devastated parents, who are also both journalists, have also started a fund to help women interested in ‘the undercurrents of rebellion’ into their industry.
Family and friends have paid tribute to Swedish journalist Kim Wall who died on board a Danish inventor’s submarine while she was following him for a story
A heartbreaking tribute video shows Kim as a child, speaks about her upbringing by two journalist parents, and her own ‘phenomenal’ talent
Friends say Kim had a ‘childlike curiosity’ which allowed her to fearlessly travel the world in search of stories to cover
Peter Madsen, the submarine’s creator who Kim was following for a story, has been charged with her murder after her naked torso was discovered in Copenhagen harbour on August 23.
He admits killing her by accident after dropping the 150lbs hatch of Nautilus UC3 on her head and dumping her body, but denies murder and mutilating the corpse.
The short video, which was released online last week, starts with Kim herself speaking to the camera from the middle of the Pacific ocean while out on a story.
The award-winning journalist, who had work published by the likes of the New York Times and Time, speaks about her passion, her favourite kinds of stories, and her hopes of making a career in foreign policy reporting.
Her friends then give their emotional tributes, some in broken voices, as footage of Kim’s life from childhood to her work plays in the background.
Different voices praise Kim’s ‘infectious curiosity’, her abilities as ‘an artist and a storyteller’, and her ‘innocence and goodwill’.
Emotional voices recount Kim’s life, including how she would accompany her parents on small reporting trips as a child (pictured with mother Ingrid)
Kim is praised as a ‘beautiful person’, with an ‘infectious curiosity’ that took her all over the world to cover stories she was passionate about
One of her most incredible adventures came while journeying to a nuclear waste dump in a remote part of the pacific (pictured)
As well as being an award-winning journalist, Kim was praised as an exceptional and affectionate friend who formed bonds with people all over the world
‘Kim was always having goodbye parties,’ on person recalls, ‘and I suppose it’s an irony that the more you say it to someone, you feel like – soon enough – you’ll get to say it to them again.’
‘She was always very excited to see you. And she gave the best hugs,’ another friend remembers.
‘She gave the best hugs,’ another voice echoes. ‘I don’t know what she did to those hugs but they were special and they made you feel all warm inside.’
Speaking about her hopes and dreams, another of Kim’s friends says: ‘Kim would have wanted more women out there in the world, brushing up against life.’
To that end her parents, Ingrid and Joachim, have started a fund through the Remembering Kim Wall website.
Ms Wall was last seen boarding the submarine with Madsen on the evening of August 10, and was supposed to take part in a test voyage for a story she was writing.
Early the following day the submarine was reported to be in trouble and the coast guard rescued Madsen from the vessel before it sank.
The same day Kim’s family reported her missing, and Madsen claimed to have dropped her off on an island in Copenhagen harbour hours earlier.
Madsen was taken for questioning by police and charged with manslaughter after changing his story about his final moments with Kim.
Almost two weeks later her partial remains were discovered, and Madsen was charged with murder and indecent handling of a corpse.
Kim was last seen on August 10 boarding a submarine alongside Peter Madsen, before her dismembered and naked torso was found days later
Madsen (left) admits accidentally killing Kim by dropping a submarine hatch on her head, but denies murder and dismembering her body
Kim’s parents Ingrid and Joachim have set up a fund in her honour ‘to fund a female reporter to cover subculture and what Kim liked to call “the undercurrents of rebellion”
Police say Ms 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,
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.
Madsen told a court that the pair had climbed up into the submarine’s watchtower after coming up from deep water.
He said he climbed up ahead of her and when Miss Wall came up to join him, he slipped and dropped a heavy hatch on her head.
‘If I hadn’t slipped, then the hatch would not have fallen – we would have had Kim alive and I would not have been sat here today,’ he said according to Aftonbladet.
When Madsen went down after her, she was ‘bleeding profusely’ from her head, and he says he tried to give her first aid, but came to the conclusion that she had died.
Instead of calling for help, he says he then steered out on the Baltic Sea ‘to think’. Despite there being ‘a lot’ of blood in the submarine, Madsen then slept for a few hours, before he decided to get rid of Miss Wall’s body.
He denies that he dismembered or undressed her, saying he carried her body up to the top of the submarine, at which point he says ‘her shoe and tights fell off’.
Madsen told the court he tied her hands and feet with a rope and threw her off the submarine into the sea.
When asked by the prosecutor why he lied about dropping Miss Wall off alive on the night before sinking his submarine, Nautilus UC3, he replied he just wanted some time to say goodbye to his wife and cats before ‘it all came out’.