Inventor Accused of Killing Journalist in Submarine
Swedish journalist Kim Wall went missing on August 10th, after agreeing to accompany Danish inventor, Peter Madsen, on a voyage aboard his privately built submarine, the Nautilus.
The day after she was reported missing, Danish police and coastguard located the Nautilus in Køge Bay, near Copenhagen. Shortly afterwards, the Nautilus began to sink. Madsen was rescued from the water nearby and claimed that he had accidentally sunk the submarine while trying to repair the ballast tank. He also claimed that he had dropped Wall off, alive, on an island the night before.
Within 24 hours, Madsen had changed his story. He said that he lost his footing and accidentally dropped a 70kg hatch cover onto Wall's head, killing her by accident. Then, in a state of shock, he decided to bury her at sea and take his own life. He claims he weighted the body, threw it overboard, and scuttled the Nautilus. However at the last moment he lost his nerve, jumping into the ocean rather than sinking with his submarine.
But now that police have recovered Wall's body from the harbour and found that there is no trauma to her skull, he has changed his story yet again.
His latest explanation is that she died of carbon monoxide poisoning inside the submarine at a time when he was on deck. Madsen admits to dismembering the body of the journalist, but maintains his innocence with regard to her death.
Madsen is a cult figure in Denmark, famous for his private engineering projects which are mainly focused on submarines and rocketry. The Nautilus, which he designed and built, cost over $200,000 USD and is the largest ever privately built submarine. It can carry a crew of eight for surface operations, or four while submerged. The Nautilus has been salvaged and impounded by police.
His eight day trial is scheduled to take place in March and April 2018.
