This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/world/europe/kim-wall-dead-submarine-denmark.html

The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Kim Wall Is Confirmed Dead as Danish Inventor Is Investigated Kim Wall Is Confirmed Dead as Danish Inventor Is Investigated
(about 1 hour later)
COPENHAGEN — The Copenhagen police announced on Wednesday that a torso found this week in local waters was that of Kim Wall, a Swedish journalist whose disappearance after boarding a Danish inventor’s submarine became a grim mystery that has stunned many Scandinavians. COPENHAGEN — The Copenhagen police announced on Wednesday that a torso found this week in local waters was that of Kim Wall, a Swedish freelance journalist whose disappearance after boarding a Danish inventor’s submarine has stunned many Scandinavians.
The inventor, Peter Madsen, is being held on preliminary charges of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Ms. Wall, 30. The journalist had been missing since Aug. 10; Mr. Madsen initially told the authorities that the two had gone out on his self-designed submarine for an article Ms. Wall was working on, and that he had dropped her off later that night in a remote section of the port of Copenhagen. The announcement, which followed DNA tests from the torso, turned what had started as a missing-persons case into what Christian Jensen, editor in chief of Politiken, Denmark’s largest daily, called “the most spectacular murder case in Danish history.”
The inventor, Peter Madsen, 46, has been held on preliminary charges of involuntary manslaughter. How Ms. Wall, 30, died is not yet known, nor how her body was mutilated.
Her torso — missing its arms, legs and head — was found by a cyclist on the edge of Amager Island on Monday afternoon, near where the submarine sank on Aug. 11, and a postmortem examination began that night.
Mr. Madsen initially told investigators that he and Ms. Wall had gone out on his self-designed submarine on the evening of Aug. 10 for an article Ms. Wall was working on, and that he had dropped her off later that night in a remote section of the port of Copenhagen.
But he later told investigators that an accident on the submarine, which sank, had caused Ms. Wall’s death, and that he had buried her at sea.But he later told investigators that an accident on the submarine, which sank, had caused Ms. Wall’s death, and that he had buried her at sea.
On Monday, a woman’s torso was found on the edge of Amager Island, near where Mr. Madsen’s submarine was found to have sunk. On Wednesday, the police said on Twitter that DNA testing had confirmed that the torso was Ms. Wall’s.
Jens Moller, chief homicide investigator for the Copenhagen police, said at a news conference that metal had been attached to the torso to weigh it down. “We consider this a breakthrough in the investigation, but we continue to search for the missing body parts,” Mr. Moller said.Jens Moller, chief homicide investigator for the Copenhagen police, said at a news conference that metal had been attached to the torso to weigh it down. “We consider this a breakthrough in the investigation, but we continue to search for the missing body parts,” Mr. Moller said.
He also said that “coagulated blood” had been found inside Mr. Madsen’s submarine, which was recovered from a depth of about 22 feet. The police have said that they believe the submarine was deliberately sunk.He also said that “coagulated blood” had been found inside Mr. Madsen’s submarine, which was recovered from a depth of about 22 feet. The police have said that they believe the submarine was deliberately sunk.
Mr. Madsen’s lawyer, Betina Hald Engmark, said after the police announcement that she and her client “only find it positive that there is a final clarification” about Ms. Wall’s body having been found.Mr. Madsen’s lawyer, Betina Hald Engmark, said after the police announcement that she and her client “only find it positive that there is a final clarification” about Ms. Wall’s body having been found.
Much remains to be discovered, however, not least how Ms. Wall died. Mr. Moller said a cause of death had not been determined.
Ms. Wall’s family have said that she was on a freelance reporting trip in Denmark, and Mr. Madsen, a well-known maverick inventor, told the police that she was working for Wired Magazine. But a representative of that organization said she did not have an assignment from them.
“It is with boundless sadness and shock that we received news that the remains of our daughter and sister Kim Wall have been found,” Ms. Wall’s mother, Ingrid Wall, wrote on Facebook on her family’s behalf on Wednesday. “We cannot yet grasp the extent of this catastrophe and there are many questions that must be answered.”“It is with boundless sadness and shock that we received news that the remains of our daughter and sister Kim Wall have been found,” Ms. Wall’s mother, Ingrid Wall, wrote on Facebook on her family’s behalf on Wednesday. “We cannot yet grasp the extent of this catastrophe and there are many questions that must be answered.”
The case has been widely discussed in Denmark, where murders are uncommon. Christian Jensen, editor in chief of Politiken, Denmark’s largest daily, called it “the most spectacular murder case in Danish history.” Ms. Wall — a graduate of the London School of Economics and both the Journalism School and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University — had been preparing to move to Hong Kong with her boyfriend. She planned to write about China and the region.
“The confirmation of the death of Kim Wall is a matter of deep sadness for the F.C.C.C.,” the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in a statement on Wednesday. “Kim joined the club having recently returned to Beijing full of passion for the stories she planned to cover here. She was a talented freelance journalist, brimming with integrity, humanity and a deep interest in China and the wider region.”
Mr. Jensen, the newspaper editor, said the case had transfixed Denmark.
“It began with a crazy scientist who we thought was a victim, as his submarine disappeared accidentally with a Swedish journalist onboard,” he said in a phone interview. “Our emotions were completely turned around as he went from victim to possible perpetrator.”
Scandinavian television and literature often portrays the dark currents under the surface of countries famous for safety, happiness, free education and free health care.
The hideous discovery of the torso has already elicited numerous comparisons to the television crime series “The Bridge”; the first season of that show begins with the discovery of a mutilated female body on the bridge over the Oresund strait that connects Copenhagen with Malmo in Sweden.
The themes of the series include gender issues and border crossings, and the series plays out in the same places where Ms. Wall grew up, in southern Sweden, and died, in the waters around Copenhagen.
“I’m not at all comfortable with commenting or reflecting over real crimes in this way,” the scriptwriter, Hans Rosenfeldt, wrote in an email.
But Mr. Jensen, the newspaper editor, said the similarities were too obvious to ignore. Mr. Madsen had been well known in Denmark as a quirky if temperamental innovator who had worked on developing rockets and submarines.
“This is a story about the bright Nordic region where dark forces lurk underneath the surface of our well-kept welfare states,” Mr. Jensen said. “There is an undercurrent of evil, and that’s the noir also found in literature. But the submarine captain is not normal. He broke the norms with his rockets and submarines, and with this alleged crime he broke the norms again.”