Copenhagen prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen announced in a court hearing Wednesday that "images" of the torture, decapitation, and burning of a woman were found on a computer hard drive at RML Spacelab, the organization devoted to building a manned suborbital rocket led by Danish aerospace engineer Peter Madsen. The BBC reports that the images, "which we presume to be real," said Buch-Jepsen, were on a computer believed to belong to Madsen—the suspect in the death of journalist Kim Wall in an incident aboard his submarine the UC3 Nautilus.
Madsen, for his part, claimed the video was not his and that the computer the video was on was a computer that everyone in the lab had access to. But other evidence presented in this latest hearing on his case has prompted the judge overseeing the case to order he be held in custody another four months, as Buch-Jepsen told the court of the video and other evidence that have "strengthened" the case against Madsen since his last hearing on September 5.
Pro tip: do not keep torture pr0n on your work computer.
Previously: Submarine Builder Charged With Manslaughter After Burying Journalist at Sea
Related Stories
Accident? Or not?
When the UC3 Nautilus sailed from the Port of Copenhagen on the evening of Aug. 10, the homemade submarine bore just two people: its famed Danish inventor and the Swedish journalist reporting on his invention.
Less than a day later, only one of them was still alive.
Peter Madsen's submarine sank midday Aug. 11; he was rescued by a private boat, but journalist Kim Wall was nowhere to be found. It was Wall's boyfriend who reported her missing, and authorities wasted no time in arresting the 46-year-old Madsen after he came ashore, charging him that same day with manslaughter and arranging his first court appearance for the following day, a Saturday.
Initially he told authorities he had dropped off his 30-year-old companion back in Copenhagen. Now, according to a statement released Monday by Copenhagen police at the behest of the defense and the prosecutor's office, Madsen has recanted that story.
"The defendant has explained to the police and the Court, that there was an accident on board which caused Kim Wall's death," police say in the statement, "and that he consequently buried her at sea at a non-defined location in the Bay of Køge."
[...] Compounding the speculation is Madsen's outsize reputation. Something of a "wannabe Elon Musk or Richard Branson on a much smaller scale," according to Overgaard, the man often known as "Rocket Madsen" has built three submarines with the aid of crowdfunding and aspires to send a homemade rocket to space.
More about Peter Madsen. Related Kickstarter.
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
Danish Court Sentences Inventor To Life For Woman's Murder In 'Submarine Case'
A Copenhagen court has sentenced eccentric inventor Peter Madsen to life in prison over the murder of Kim Wall, a journalist who was killed after joining Madsen on his submarine last August. Parts of Wall's body were recovered after Madsen claimed he "buried her at sea." The case has captivated Denmark and drawn international headlines, with its shocking and gruesome details, and Madsen's wildly shifting explanations for what happened.
The submarine had left a dock in Copenhagen's harbor on Aug. 10, 2017. But one day later, the sub sank. Madsen was rescued; he initially told police he had let Wall off of the sub after just a few hours. But it was also noted that he had fresh scratches on both arms. No sign of Wall was found until some of her remains washed ashore. After the submarine was recovered and brought on land, blood in the craft was matched to Wall's DNA. The discovery of Wall's body prompted Madsen to say that a horrible accident killed Wall — but Danish authorities were skeptical of that story.
[...] "Prosecutors have said they do not know exactly how Wall did die, but that the murder seemed to be premeditated judging from the range of unusual instruments found on board. Much of the case against Madsen was built on his untrustworthiness, a psychological evaluation that found him narcissistic and lacking in empathy, and torture videos found on his computer."
The court ordered Madsen to pay about $19,700 to Ole Stobbe, Kim Wall's boyfriend. Wall had been pursuing an interview with Madsen for months, and was a few days away from moving to Beijing with Stobbe when Madsen texted her. The court also ordered the recovered submarine to be destroyed.
Also at Ars Technica.
Previously: Submarine Builder Charged With Manslaughter After Burying Journalist at Sea
Search of "Rocket" Madsen's Space Lab Finds Footage of Woman's Decapitation
Submarine Builder Peter Madsen Admits to Dismembering Journalist
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aristarchus on Saturday October 07 2017, @06:30AM (1 child)
You know, there is such a thing as "dark humor". Then there is this:
Yeah, right.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @09:06AM
It could be worse. It could be a German eating shit (ScheiBe) as the Germans usually do.
That poor soul may have burned to death but at least she died with dignity, not being a shit-eating German (Verman) and all.
(Score: 5, Informative) by AnonTechie on Saturday October 07 2017, @09:51AM (4 children)
Danish divers find missing body parts of Swedish journalist Kim Wall: [reuters.com]
Danish police said on Saturday divers had found the head and the legs of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who died in mysterious circumstances on an inventor’s homemade submarine.
Peter Madsen has been charged with killing the Swedish journalist who disappeared after she went on a trip with him in his submarine on August 10.
Madsen, a Dane, was arrested after his submarine sank and he was rescued.
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @04:00PM (3 children)
The submarine WAS seaworthy and he only scuttled it in a foolish attempt to cover up evidence of her murder?
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Saturday October 07 2017, @04:20PM (2 children)
We know he had a fetish for women getting killed. So now you have to wonder if the sole purpose of building the submarine was to murder someone? Kind of like Chuck Berry opening restaurants just to put cameras in the women's bathrooms.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @04:58PM (1 child)
no, we know that pigs *say* he had a fetish for women getting killed. there's a big difference.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @05:35PM
Sure thing there retard. It must have been the "pigs" fault that this nutjob killed a woman in a case where nobody else possibly could have, threw her body out, lied about it, and changed his story a bunch of times.
There's no rule that says you reflexively have to be an idiot 24/7. You can take a break.
(Score: 5, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday October 07 2017, @10:34AM (4 children)
Does that mean admins shouldn't keep logs of interaction with users?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Funny) by aristarchus on Saturday October 07 2017, @10:41AM (3 children)
That's what I am saying, Oh Mellifluous Bassoon!
(Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday October 07 2017, @10:57AM (2 children)
Sigh, okay, it's probably the wise course. Redirecting to /dev/null.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @02:58PM (1 child)
But how do you get the porn out of /dev/null again?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @06:50PM
You can't. That's why you should instead send it to /dev/random. You can read it out again, it just takes a while to find.
(Score: 2) by rylyeh on Saturday October 07 2017, @11:41PM
I hope it's not a 'home move' of a previous victim.
"a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss."