Suspect in death of Kim Wall had recordings of torture, killings of women, prosecutor says
The Danish inventor charged with killing journalist Kim Wall aboard his homemade Nautilus submarine had a computer containing video of the torture and killing of women, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Senior prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen said at a court hearing that investigators uncovered a hard drive with material on it described as torture on other women.
This is a Dec. 28, 2015 handout photo portrait of the Swedish journalist Kim Wall taken in Trelleborg, Sweeden. Danish police say that the owner of a home-built submarine has told investigators that a missing female Swedish journalist died onboard in an accident, and he buried her at sea in an unspecified location. Copenhagen police said Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 that submarine owner Peter Madsen will continue to be held on preliminary manslaughter charges. (Tom Wall via AP)
This is a Dec. 28, 2015 handout photo portrait of the Swedish journalist Kim Wall taken in Trelleborg, Sweeden. (Tom Wall via AP)
"We think it's video recordings of true killing of women," Jakob Buch-Jepsen said, according to a translation in The Ekstra Bladet newspaper, adding some of the videos containing killings done by "decapitation and burning."
"It's not just that we have the same grounds for arrest as before, but I think they are stronger than last time," Buch-Jepsen said, adding that suspect Peter Madsen should be detained during the hearing. A judge later ruled Madsen will continue to sit behind bars until Oct. 31 as police continue to investigate Wall's death.
Madsen's body also had DNA traces from Wall, including scrapes on his face and neck, according to Buch-Jepsen.
The inventor, who attended the hearing on a video link with his lawyer, said the computer in question has been used by others, including a trainee at the workshop, who "practically" lived there, the Danish B.T. tabloid reported.
FILE - This is a April 30 2008 file photo of submarine owner Peter Madsenstands inside the vessel . Denmark's navy says that Madsen's privately built submarine that had been feared missing in Danish waters has been found and the crew is safe. The navy says that the 40-ton, nearly 18-meter-long (60-foot-long) submarine with at least two people on board had been "found sailing" south of Copenhagen. (Niels Hougaard /Ritzau. File via AP)
This is a 2008 file photo of submarine owner Peter Madsen inside the vessel. (Niels Hougaard/Ritzau via AP)
"I would like to clarify that the computer in the custody of the police and the items that have been removed from the space laboratory are not mine," he said in court.
While authorities have not yet officially announced a cause of death for Wall, Buch-Jepsen said the journalist had a chest wound, and several stitches had been sewn on her torso.
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The wounds came "about the onset of death or shortly thereafter," Buch-Jepsen told the court.
Madsen's lawyer, Betina Hald Engmark, told the court the autopsy report does not indicate Madsen had sex with Wall prior to her death, the B.T. tabloid reported.
The inventor said Wall died after she was hit by a hatch cover aboard the homemade submarine and bled to death from an open skull fracture.
Police search a waterway for body remains related to the ongoing Kim Wall murder investigation at the west coast of Amager close to Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017. The investigation continues after the headless torso identified as that of missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall, was found on a beach off Copenhagen.(Jens Dresling / ritzau via AP)
Police search a waterway for body remains related to the ongoing Kim Wall murder investigation at the west coast of Amager close to Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017. (Jens Dresling / ritzau via AP)
Wall's naked, headless body was found Aug. 21 on a Copenhagen beach, 10 days after she was last seen entering Madsen's sub as part of a story she was writing.
Her family has set up a crowdfunding campaign to raise donations for the "Kim Wall Memorial Fund" -- a grant that will help support a young female reporter.
