Police find severed head in Kim Wall submarine case
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish divers found the decapitated head, legs and clothes of a Swedish journalist who was killed after going on a trip with an inventor on his submarine, police said Saturday.
The body parts and clothing were found Friday in plastic bags with a knife and “heavy metal pieces” to make them sink near where 30-year-old Kim Wall’s naked, headless torso was found in August, Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen said.
Moeller Jensen said there were no fractures to Wall’s skull and he declined to comment on the discovery of the knife.
Peter Madsen, the 46-year-old Danish inventor who is in pre-trial detention on preliminary manslaughter charges, has said Wall died after being accidentally hit by a 155-pound hatch on the UC3 Nautilus submarine, after which he “buried” her at sea.
But police have said 15 stab wounds were on the torso found at sea off Copenhagen on Aug. 21. Her arms are still missing. Wall’s cause of death hasn’t yet been established yet.
The detention of Madsen, who has denied the manslaughter charges, expires Oct. 31 when a court will decide if he will continue to remain in custody ahead of a possible trial. He is also being held on preliminary charges of the indecent handling of a corpse.
Police said the submarine only sailed in Danish waters during the Aug. 10-11 trip.
Police believe the pair didn’t know each other beforehand. Wall was working on a story about Madsen, who dreamed of launching a manned space mission. She was last seen alive on Aug. 10 aboard the 40-ton, nearly 60-foot-long submarine as it left Copenhagen.
The following day, Madsen was rescued from the sinking submarine without Wall and was arrested the same day. Police believe he deliberately scuttled the vessel.
During their investigation, police have found videos on Madsen’s personal computer of women being tortured, decapitated and murdered. The videos were considered to be real, according to prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen.
Investigators believe Madsen killed Wall between Aug. 10 and 11, cut up her body and attached a belt with a pipe to the torso so it would sink. Officials said her head, arms and legs had been deliberately cut off after her death.
Marks on the dismembered torso indicated someone had tried to press air out of the body so it wouldn’t float, police said.
A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation of Madsen is pending.