Murder of Kim Wall
Native name | Ubådssagen |
---|---|
Date | 10 August 2017[1][unreliable source?] |
Location | Køge Bay |
Accused | Peter Madsen |
Charges | Murder Indecent handling of a corpse Sexual assault[2] |
Trial | 8 March – 25 April 2018 |
Verdict | Guilty |
Sentence | Life imprisonment |
The murder of Kim Wall (referred to in Denmark as Ubådssagen, "the submarine case")[3][4] took place on 10 or 11 August 2017 in Køge Bay. Wall was a Swedish freelance journalist who was killed by entrepreneur Peter Madsen on board his midget submarine UC3 Nautilus. Her body was later found dismembered and dumped in the ocean. On 25 April 2018, Madsen was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.[5]
Kim Wall
Kim Wall | |
---|---|
Born | Kim Isabel Fredrika Wall[6] 23 March 1987 Trelleborg, Scania, Sweden |
Died | 10 August 2017[1] | (aged 30)
Cause of death | Homicide of undetermined etiology |
Alma mater | London School of Economics Columbia University |
Occupation | Journalist |
Years active | 2013–2017[7][8] |
Website | www |
Kim Isabel Fredrika Wall was born on 23 March 1987 in Trelleborg, Scania, Sweden[9] to Ingrid and Joachim Wall.[10][11] She had a younger brother named Tom.[10][11] After graduating from high school in Malmö, she received a bachelor's degree in international relations at the London School of Economics and a dual master's degree in journalism and international relations at Columbia University in New York City.[9][12][13]
Wall worked as a freelance journalist, writing reports about a variety of topics for publications such as The Guardian, The New York Times, Vice, Slate, and Time.[9] In March 2016, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung awarded her the Hansel Mieth Prize for Best Digital Reportage for "Exodus", a multi-media report on climate change and nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands.[9][14][15] She lived with her Danish boyfriend Ole Stobbe in Refshaleøen, Copenhagen.[16][17][18]
In October 2017, Wall was posthumously nominated for Prix Europa's Outstanding Achievement Award "Journalist of the Year",[19][20] but she lost the award to Can Dündar.[21][22] On 26 November, SVT aired a documentary about her life entitled Hon Som Ville Berätta ("The Woman Who Wanted to Tell").[23]
Disappearance, discovery of remains and legal proceedings
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Submarine_UC3Nautilus_seatrials_2008.jpg/220px-Submarine_UC3Nautilus_seatrials_2008.jpg)
On 10 August 2017, Wall and boyfriend Ole Stobbe were preparing to host a farewell party in Refshaleøen prior to their planned move to Beijing on 16 August.[16][17][18] Shortly before the party, Wall received a text from inventor Peter Madsen—with whom she had communicated via e-mail earlier in the year on the subject of an interview—inviting her to interview him on board his midget submarine UC3 Nautilus. She agreed to join him on the submarine for two hours and boarded the Nautilus around 19:00 local time (UTC+1).[16][24] After the submarine failed to return to the harbour, Stobbe called the police at 01:43 to report Wall missing.[16] The submarine was sighted in the Køge Bay just south-east of Amager by Drogden lighthouse at 10:30, and at 11:00, it foundered.[24] After being rescued from the bay, Madsen was arrested and charged with the negligent manslaughter of Wall, with police suspecting him of having scuttled the submarine.[25][26]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/PeterMadsen_clipportrait.png/150px-PeterMadsen_clipportrait.png)
After originally having said that he had dropped her off on land,[27] Madsen said he dumped Wall's body at sea after she died in an accident on board the submarine.[25][26] On 21 August, the headless, limbless body of Wall was found washed up on a beach in the south-west of Amager.[24] A post-mortem examination showed she had been stabbed fifteen times,[28] mostly in the groin.[29] Police probed possible links to other murder cases in Scandinavia, including the unsolved death of 22-year-old Kazuko Toyonaga in 1986 in Copenhagen, but did not find any connections to any of them.[30][31][32]
At a court hearing on 5 September, Madsen testified in court that she died after being struck on the head by the submarine's hatch cover.[33] The prosecution said police had found videos on Madsen's computer showing women being violently killed,[34] and that witnesses said they had seen Madsen watching videos of decapitation and practicing asphyxiation sex.[35] On 6 October, two plastic bags containing Wall's head, legs, clothes and a knife were found by police divers in Køge Bugt;[36] six days later, a saw was found in the water.[37] The post-mortem found no signs of blunt trauma to the head[36] and did not determine the cause of death.[38][39] Later that month, Madsen changed his story, admitting to dismembering Wall's body but continuing to deny intentionally killing her, saying that she died after poisonous exhaust gases entered the submarine while he was on deck.[40][41] The post-mortem showed no signs of exhaust gases in the tissue.[42] On 21 and 29 November, police divers found Wall's arms in the bay.[43][44][45]
On 16 January 2018, Madsen was charged with murder, indecent handling of a corpse and sexual assault. The prosecution accused him of having tortured Wall before killing her by cutting her throat or strangling her.[2][46] His trial began on 8 March, and he pleaded not guilty to the murder.[47] On 25 April, he was convicted of all three charges and sentenced to life imprisonment.[5]
References
- ^ a b "Peter Madsen murder trial: inventor texted 'hugs to the cats' minutes after Kim Wall's death". The Week UK. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
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suggested) (help) - ^ a b Henley, Jon (16 January 2018). "Peter Madsen formally charged with murder of Kim Wall on submarine". the Guardian. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ^ "Ubådssagen". nyheder.tv2.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ "Ubådssagen". DR (in Danish). Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ a b Orange, Richard (25 April 2018). "Peter Madsen sentenced to life for murdering journalist Kim Wall". the Guardian. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ Stolt-Nielsen, Harald; Husøy, Eirik (21 August 2017). "Ubåtsaken: Dansk politi fant del av kvinnekropp i vannet" [Submarine case: Danish police find part of woman's body in water]. Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- ^ Schmidt, Samantha (14 August 2017). "Did missing journalist Kim Wall die on Danish inventor's homemade submarine?". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ "Kim Wall murder trial: What you need to know". Sky News. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d Lundberg, Simon (23 August 2017). "Journalisten Kim Wall blev bara 30 år – så var hennes liv" [Journalist Kim Wall was only 30 years old – this was her life]. Nyheter24 (in Swedish). Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- ^ a b Isaksson, Jenny (12 October 2017). "Känslofylld minnesstund för Kim Wall". Trelleborgs Allehanda (in Swedish). Retrieved 15 November 2017.
- ^ a b "Miljonbelopp i Kim Walls fond – HD-Sydsvenskan skänker 100 000 kronor". Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 December 2017.
- ^ Jamieson, Amber (23 August 2017). "Journalist Kim Wall remembered as a "badass" by her friends". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
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(help) - ^ Sorensen, Martin Selsoe (23 August 2017). "Kim Wall is confirmed dead as Danish inventor is investigated". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- ^ "Hansel-Mieth-Preise 2016: Die Entscheidung" [Hansel Mieth Awards 2016: The decision]. Zeitenspiegel (in German). 7 March 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
- ^ Hinzel, Jan Hendrik; Jose, Coleen; Wall, Kim. "Wo die Welt gerade untergeht" [Where the world is going down]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Nye oplysninger fra Kim Walls kæreste beskriver de sidste timer op til den skæbnesvangre sejlads". nyheder.tv2.dk (in Danish). 25 January 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
- ^ a b Jeong, May (15 February 2018). "The final, terrible voyage of the 'Nautilus'". Wired. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
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(help) - ^ a b Olsen, Jan M. (6 March 2018). "Trial to begin in case of journalist killed in submarine". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
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(help) - ^ Almlöf, Gabriel (16 October 2017). "Kim Wall kan vinna pris som Europas bästa journalist" [Kim Wall may win the prize for Europe's best journalist]. 24trelleborg.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ^ "Nominations for Outstanding Achievement Award". prixeuropa.eu. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ^ "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ^ "„Prix Europa": Can Dündar ist „Europäischer Journalist des Jahres"" ["Prix Europa": Can Dündar is "European Journalist of the Year"] (in German). 20 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ^ "Bäst på tv i kväll: SVT-dokumentär om Kim Wall" [Best TV tonight: SVT documentary about Kim Wall]. TVdags (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 November 2017.
- ^ a b c "Kim Wall: Headless body identified as missing journalist". BBC News. 23 August 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ a b "Kim Wall: Danish submarine was 'deliberately sunk'". BBC News. 13 August 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ a b Koerner, Claudia (12 August 2017). "Submarine builder arrested on suspicion of killing journalist after vessel sinks". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
- ^ Kentish, Ben (30 October 2017). "Inventor admits dismembering body of Swedish journalist who disappeared on submarine". The Independent. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
- ^ Henley, Jon Henley (3 October 2017). "Kim Wall 'stabbed 15 times' onboard Danish inventor's submarine". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ Sorensen, Martin Selsoe (4 October 2017). "Kim Wall was stabbed after boarding submarine, Danish prosecutor says". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ "Danish police probe possible link between Kim Wall killing and 1986 cold case". The Telegraph. 25 August 2017. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ Bakalus, Silla; Svensgaard, Karina (23 August 2017). "30 år efter makaber sag: Hænger uopklaret turist-mord sammen med ubådsmysteriet?" [30 years after macabre case: Is unsolved tourist murder linked to submarine mystery?]. BT.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ "Norsk politi har undersøgt Peter Madsens dna-profil" [Norwegian police has checked the DNA profile of Peter Madsen]. TV2 (in Danish). 11 October 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Orange, Richard (5 September 2017). "Danish submarine owner claims journalist Kim Wall died when she was hit by hatch cover". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
- ^ Thomsen, Julie Astrid (3 October 2017). "Danish inventor had murder videos on his computer: prosecutor". Reuters. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
- ^ Orange, Richard (5 September 2017). "Danish submarine owner claims journalist Kim Wall died when she was hit by hatch cover". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ a b Fajstrup, Marianne (7 October 2017). "Kim Walls hoved er fundet – uden kraniebrud eller andre tegn på "stump vold"" [Kim Wall's head found – with no fracture and no blunt trauma]. b.dk (in Danish).
- ^ "Sav fundet i Køge Bugt i forbindelse med ubådssagen" [Saw found in Køge bay in connection to the submarine case]. TV2 (in Danish). 12 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
- ^ "Journalist Kim Wall's head is found". BBC News. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ Slawson, Nicola (7 October 2017). "Police find head of murdered Swedish journalist Kim Wall". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ "Inventor admits dismembering Kim Wall". BBC News. 30 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
- ^ "Politiet præciserer udmelding om Peter Madsen efter kritik" [Clarification by the police after criticism]. TV2 (in Danish). 1 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ "Coroner testifies in trial of submarine owner over death of Swedish journalist". The Local. 22 March 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
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(help) - ^ Toft, Emma (29 November 2017). "Politiet har fundet endnu en arm med forbindelse til ubådssagen" [Police has found another arm connected to the submarine case]. DR.dk (in Danish). DR. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ "Politiet har fundet endnu en arm i Køge Bugt" [Police finds another arm in Køge Bay]. TV2 (in Danish). 29 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Orange, Richard (7 January 2018). "A Copenhagen killing: the story behind the submarine murder". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
- ^ Sorensen, Martin Selsoe (2018). "Danish inventor abused Kim Wall before killing her, indictment says". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - ^ "Inventor on trial over submarine murder". BBC News. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2018.