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
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.
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
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: 4, Insightful) by terrab0t on Thursday April 26 2018, @11:01AM (15 children)
From the summary:
What if he didn’t own his own self built submarine?
What if the murder took place at his home?
Would the court order his house burned to the ground?
Or perhaps spare the house, but wreck his large model train set with sledge hammers.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday April 26 2018, @11:40AM (2 children)
Not rational, I know, but here's a question for you: would you insist in your (share of) property if that property was instrumental in committing an atrocious murder?
(also, does it say somewhere that the other owners - assuming there are some - won't be compensated?)
Do you suggest this is the case? Or is it just a rhetorical question?
(my question above still stands in this case: would you live in a house where torture and a brutal murder have been committed?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 26 2018, @04:11PM
Depends on the value of the property. I'm not going to throw away an apartment complex. But I would sell a car for parts, if it happened to be instrumental.
I almost certainly will have to deal with irrational people about this matter. A lot of grief can be saved by simply not having the property.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 26 2018, @08:34PM
Yes, why wouldn't I?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 26 2018, @11:40AM
Peter Madsen doesn't own the submarine (named UC3 Nautilus) according to this article (sorry it's in Danish): https://ekstrabladet.dk/112/peter-madsens-ubaad-udsat-for-haervaerk/6999966 [ekstrabladet.dk]
It's own by two investors of which one of them has stated that they don't want the sub back.
(Score: 2) by black6host on Thursday April 26 2018, @11:42AM (5 children)
It's simply meant as a deterrent to others who might aspire to luring, torturing, killing and dismembering someone on their submarine. Quite logical, really! :)
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday April 26 2018, @12:09PM (3 children)
This may send a wrong message: if you go down on luring, torturing, killing and dismembering someone on a submarine owned by others, then your aren't going to care too much what happens with the submarine.
That is... unless you go on a frenzy of such activity and you end in a crisis of others' submarines... in which case the prices of submarines will skyrocket like driven by the free market fairy. Hang on... looking on the market price of submarines... you reckon this has already happened? (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 26 2018, @12:43PM (1 child)
So … buy submarine, murder on other people's submarines, profit from rising prices? :-)
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday April 26 2018, @12:58PM
Sounds like a good approach to market (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday April 26 2018, @06:14PM
> if you go down on luring, torturing, killing and dismembering someone on a submarine owned by others,
> then your aren't going to care too much what happens with the submarine.
Have you tried Uber Sub yet?
They've already got all the basic pieces in place. I just worry they'll get greedy on the blood cleaning charge.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday April 26 2018, @07:22PM
I think it's not the first time it's happened with private citizens. Cartels have been using custom-built submarines [wikipedia.org] to smuggle drugs for a while now, so it's quite likely not the first time somebody got murdered in one. The difference is the cartels have lots and lots of money to bribe their way out of trouble and probably aren't as apt to blab to the authorities as this fellow was.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by MostCynical on Thursday April 26 2018, @12:00PM
In this particular case, was it just removing a potential theme-park attraction, to prevent ghoulish tours ("climb on board the submarine of death!")?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 26 2018, @12:19PM (2 children)
It's probably more in line with:
ordered the seized drugs to be destroyed, or, order to destroy the counterfeit goods, ...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 26 2018, @12:45PM (1 child)
The difference is that those drugs or counterfeit goods are themselves illegal. There's however nothing illegal about the submarine as such.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 26 2018, @01:01PM
Or so the lizard people want you to think. I mean, stepping into their territory can't go unpunished.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 26 2018, @02:29PM
They demolished Fred and Rose West's house.
(Score: 1, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday April 26 2018, @01:43PM (5 children)
The failing @nytimes [twitter.com], @NBCNews [twitter.com], @ABC [twitter.com], @CBS [twitter.com], @CNN [twitter.com] is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People. They are a disgrace to good reporting. Very sad what they did to Peter Madsen. And maybe I can talk to the King of Denmark about that. Peter, our thoughts & prayers are with you. Be strong, be careful and HAVE A GREAT LIFE! There are many pitfalls on the long and winding road of life!
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday April 26 2018, @03:13PM (4 children)
Just hypothetically, what is proper justice for a man, any man, who takes a woman on a boat trip and murders her and disposes of her body at sea, returning alone? Execution? Life in prison?
Severe anxiety to disbelieve all evidence of a crime, particularly when it is so egregious and clear, could be rooted in the desire of the doubters to cover up crimes of their own.
(Score: 2, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday April 26 2018, @03:31PM (3 children)
I never said he didn't do it. They did the Due Process -- Danish style. But when reporters follow somebody around all the time, it's very hard. That's a very hard life, believe me. And Peter thought crime was the answer. It wasn't the answer. Because he got caught. "Smart" guy, he built a submarine, right? But possibly he did something dumb!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 26 2018, @05:12PM (1 child)
Aside from the murder itself, the dumbest thing this guy did was talk to the police about it.
(Score: 4, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday April 26 2018, @08:15PM
In America we don't have to talk to the police. Because we have the Fifth Amendment. Very special, it's part of what makes America great!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 26 2018, @09:12PM
"Because he got caught."
*appalled face*
(Score: 3, Funny) by NotSanguine on Thursday April 26 2018, @06:43PM
It's likely that Mr. Madsen will likely *not* have A date with the health inspector [dailymotion.com].
I guess it's better, even for convicted killers, to live in a civilized country.
Something for those of us in the US to think about.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr