When Kim Wall disappeared in August 2017 and her dismembered body was washed ashore, the media went into overdrive to investigate her colleague’s murder.
The true-crime documentary series The Submarine Killer: Confessions of a Murderer releases twenty hours of phone recordings with Peter Madsen, who was found guilty of killing journalist Kim Wall on board his submarine. On April 8, 2022, the first episode of the show aired.
Who was Kim Wall and what circumstances led to her sad passing?
Kim Wall was a well-known journalist who worked for publications such as The New York Times and The Guardian. She was eager to speak to self-proclaimed Danish inventor Peter Madsen. When Madsen responded to Kim’s request for an interview, agreeing to conduct it and invite her aboard his submarine, Kim accepted and skipped her own retirement party. She left Copenhagen Harbour, where she was last seen, to board the submarine.
Kim Wall had planned a two-hour drive, but when she failed to show up at her home, her boyfriend alerted police. The Danish Navy spotted Madsen’s submarine the next morning, August 11, 2017. Madsen was swimming towards a lifeboat when shortly afterwards it began to sink. However, the wall was not visible.
Although Peter Madsen claimed to have deposed Wall, police were suspicious because of his conflicting story.
A few days later, the torso of Wall’s body washed up in the area. Madsen abruptly changed his account, saying that he gave the woman a sea burial and that she perished after a hatch fell on her head. But when divers found her head, which showed no signs of head trauma, Madsen changed his story yet again, claiming she accidentally died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
On August 10, 2022, Kim Wall was last seen aboard Peter Madsen’s submarine, where she was destined to die a horrible death. Ten days after she was reported missing, her dismembered body was found in the water.
Let’s remember the respected journalist #KimWall who was cruelly murdered, raped and tortured by megalomaniac pervert #PeterMadsen because he believed he had the power of life and death over her.
In 2018, Peter Madsen was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall. He refused to admit his guilt and insisted the crime was an accident, but the case against him was solid. Wall’s body had fifteen stab wounds, and Madsen’s DNA was also discovered on it. The evidence against Madsen was strengthened by the discovery of material on his computer showing women being tortured and killed. It was evident that Madsen was using Wall to fulfill strange and dangerous sexual fantasies.
The 49-year-old was charged with desecrating a body, aggravated sexual assault and first degree murder. Anette Burk, the trial judge, stated that the offense was:
“a cynical and pre-planned sexual assault of a particularly gruesome nature on a randomly selected woman who accepted an invitation to go sailing as part of her journalistic work.”
Upon receiving his conviction, Peter Madsen appealed to the court, requesting a reduced sentence. However, the court upheld its decision.