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Danish engineer and co-founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals Peter Madsen has admitted to dismembering journalist Kim Wall, but denies murdering her:
Danish police say that inventor Peter Madsen has admitted to dismembering Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who was researching a story in August on board a submarine he built. He denies killing her and maintains that her death was an accident, authorities say.
Madsen was alone when he was rescued from the sinking UC3 Nautilus, which police believe he sunk deliberately. As NPR's Colin Dwyer has reported, he initially claimed that he dropped Wall off safely the same day they set out — then he changed his story, saying he "buried her at sea" after a heavy hatch fell on her head.
Divers later found Wall's severed head in Denmark's Køge Bay. As NPR's Amy Held reported, police said there were "no signs of fracture or blunt force trauma to the skull," casting doubt on Madsen's claims. The head was in a bag weighted down with metal, authorities said.
Now, according to a Copenhagen police statement, Madsen has changed his story once again. He says that Wall died from carbon monoxide poisoning inside the submarine while he was sitting on the submarine's deck. During an interrogation on Oct. 14, police say, Madsen said that after Wall died, he dismembered her body and threw the remains in the bay. "This explanation (by Madsen) naturally will lead the police into gathering additional statements from the coroner and the armed forces' submarine experts," Copenhagen police investigator Jens Møller Jensen said, according to an Associated Press translation.
Also at Ars Technica, The Register, BBC, and NYT.
Previously: Submarine Builder Charged With Manslaughter After Burying Journalist at Sea
Search of "Rocket" Madsen's Space Lab Finds Footage of Woman's Decapitation
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @04:53AM (8 children)
It would seem that Hans Reiser disposed of the body well enough, given that nobody was able to find her until after Reiser was convicted and subsequently made a deal to reveal the location.
Reiser's main problem (well, besides being a murderer) was that he did not shut the fuck up. He thought he could talk his way out of his situation. He was wrong.
Failing to shut the fuck up seems to be one of Peter Madsen's problems as well. It will not work out any better for him.
It's a good thing that many criminals like Reiser are stupid, but seriously people, when the police come knocking, just shut the fuck up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @06:10AM (7 children)
If you shut up, you almost certainly will get arrested. You attract lots of attention, encouraging more investigation.
If you don't shut up, you might reveal something that hurts you or you might lie in a way that gets you more charges. On the other hand, you might convince the cops that you are uninteresting.
It's a gamble either way.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday October 31 2017, @06:39AM (6 children)
As the guilty man and the sole suspect, talking does you almost no favors unless you commit to very few answers and only after talking to your lawyer and having them present.
The "Don't Talk to the Police" [youtube.com] guy has updated advice: invoke your right to legal counsel [youtube.com] (unambiguously [llrmi.com]).
As an innocent man, there is still a chance they will attempt to ruin your life. Interacting with the police and detectives as little as possible could help you avoid them tricking you into making a false statement or worse, a confession of some kind (many [wikipedia.org] do it [pbs.org]). Ideally, cops and prosecutors would leave you alone if they have reason to believe you didn't do it. On the other hand, they might dislike you or have their own reasons [theatlantic.com] to convict you, an especially easy task if you are a babbler like Reiser.
As for getting arrested and treated like the perp... if your wife/SO died, your name will be out there no matter what even if you are innocent. What's important is avoiding being sent to prison and turned into a member of the unemployable caste forever.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @07:23AM (1 child)
Zimmerman, a well-known Florida Man who shot another well-known Florida Man, freely discussed things with the police while walking around the area. The police recorded it.
Later, at trial, Zimmerman's lawyer got to show this to the jury. This meant that Zimmerman could effectively tell his story in court without being cross-examined by the prosecution.
That worked out mighty well. Of course, it helps to not be guilty of anything.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 31 2017, @07:41AM
He had better circumstances on his side. Man vs. black youth, with apparent head injuries. Self-defense is a legitimate defense.
If a woman with a husband or ex-husband dies, that husband will likely become a prime suspect unless they really have a great alibi (out of the country?).
If someone other than the husband committed the murder, that person could make themselves very scarce without ever being caught, whereas the husband is known to the police and has to face full scrutiny immediately.
Oscar Pistorius [wikipedia.org] tried to pull the self defense routine on his wife. Boy did that not work, although the sentence for him is light.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @07:30AM (1 child)
So you clam up. This encourages them to arrest you. They charge you to keep you in jail, even though the evidence is lousy. Assuming you don't just plea bargain and be turned into a member of the unemployable caste forever, you're still fired for missing work due to jail... and thus turned into a member of the unemployable caste forever.
Losing your job due to being jailed is nearly as bad as a felony conviction. Everybody will assume you just got off on a technicality.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday October 31 2017, @07:45AM
Not talking allows you to avoid saying the stupid stuff that will ultimately lead to your conviction.
Not being found guilty and sent to prison means you don't have to check the felon box on applications. You may still have a scarlet letter, but it's not as bad. You'll also have an easier time obtaining a passport and leaving the country in search of a place where they don't give a fuck.
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(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @09:20AM (1 child)
The whole "don't talk to the police" thing is a US concept, and while the Reiser case was in the US, the Peter Madsen case is in Denmark. Danish police aren't paid or promoted depending on number of convictions, and they are usually most interested in finding out the truth, rather than convicting *somebody*.
If you are accused of something you didn't do in Denmark, it is in your best interest to cooperate with the police. While we do have the right to remain silent, it WILL count against you. For example if it's later found out that you are not guilty, you probably won't get any compensation for the time you spent in jail during the case if it can be argued that you caused the case to take longer by not cooperating.
Even if you are guilty, depending on the crime, it can be better to cooperate, for the same reason. If you spend two years in jail before getting a one year sentence - and thus being released due to time served - it will still be considered your own fault that you spent an extra year in jail because you didn't cooperate.
In the case of Peter Madsen, it probably won't make any difference. The crime is so severe that time served won't matter, and they have enough evidence to get a conviction no matter what he said or didn't say.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @01:56AM
Danish rules may be different, but I can assure you that Peter Madsen is not helping his case by failing to shut the fuck up. In fact quite the opposite. If he had only shut the fuck up from the start, he would be in a much better position today.