Murder on a Submarine - Kim Wall

dropped off that journalist safely hours ago. However, as investigators examined the evidence, that story began to fall apart, and what they uncovered instead was a case built on contradictions, forensic evidence, and a bloody crime scene that unfolded in complete isolation under the surface of the ocean. This is the story of the submarine murder of Kim Wall.

lot of other ways. She was drawn to what she described as the undercurrents of rebellion, you know, situations where culture, politics, and everyday life intersected in ways that honestly are just kind of overlooked now. Her reporting reflected that focus that she had. She had worked in postwar Sri Lanka. She'd written about tourism in Haiti after the earthquake, explored underground tech culture in Cuba, and reported on the long term

effects of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. Her work appeared in major publications including New York Times, The Guardian, Vice, and The Atlantic. And the way she approached these stories while they always stayed consistent, she spent time with people. She asked questions that went deeper than surface level narratives, and she tried to understand systems rather than just events. Now that approach that she had started very early for her.

She grew up in southern Sweden in a household where journalism was part of everyday life. See both of her parents were journalists and the home was filled with newspapers, conversations, and constant discussion about what was happening in the world. From a young age, she showed the same kind of curiosity that would later define her work. She paid attention, she asked questions, and had a tendency to follow ideas further than most people ever would. Now as she got older,

that turned into something much more focused. She studied international relations at the London School of Economics, then went to the Columbia University of New York, where she completed graduate degrees in journalism and international affairs. After that, she continued moving, working in different countries, taking on assignments that required her to adapt quickly and operate independently. By the summer of twenty seventeen, she was living in Copenhagen, Denmark with her

boyfriend Ole. Now Together, they had built a life there, but it wasn't meant to be permanent. In fact, the two of them were preparing to move to Beijing within days, planning to continue their work and start something new. But before she left, she had an interview she scheduled for August tenth, which wasn't unusual for her. It wasn't a high profile assignment or anything like that. It was not

something that really stood out as particularly risky either. It was simply just another story, one that fit her pattern of finding interesting people doing unusual things and taking time to try and understand them from her perspective. It was going to be a short trip. It was close to home with someone who was already relatively known. Now that man was Peter Madson. Now, Peter was a very interesting character,

to say the least. He had spent years building a reputation around projects that sat outside the unusual boundaries of engineering. He wasn't formally trained in the traditional sense, but he had managed to position himself as a very serious figure in Denmark's amateur aerospace and engineering scene. He even co founded Copenhagen's Suborbitals, which is a group focused on building rockets, and he became known for taking on large scale projects

that most individuals would never attempt on their own. In fact, I watched the documentary on this case, and he was often referred to as like kind of like an Denmark's Elon Musk is how many people described him.

local celebrity. He gave talks, participated in interviews, and was often described as unconventional but very driven, someone who pushed ahead with ideas regardless of whether they fit the established systems. The kind of profile that he had made him a very appealing subject for journalists, especially those interested in people working on the edges of innovation, and that's how Kim came to learn about him. He was a man building submarines.

He was building rockets outside of institutional support, and it was the kind of story that she was naturally drawn to. It was unusual, self directed, and connected to broader questions about ambition, independence and how people carved out space for themselves.

two of them proved to be a bit difficult. Dates were suggested and then postponed, and communication went quiet for stretches of time too, And as the weeks passed, with her planning to move Beijing getting closer, it started to look like the opportunity might not come together. And I'm sure we can all sympathize, you know, trying to make plans with friends and stuff. Things get in the way. It's like, well what about Tuesday, But I can't do Tuesday at work? Well what about Wednesday? No, not good

for me. I got dinner.

come aboard the submarine itself. He said that they can go out in the harbor, they can talk a while on the water, and then you know, go submerge for a while, so she can get the experience and then be back on land within a couple hours. Now, it was short notice, but it was also exactly what she

was hoping to arrange. He suggested she come down to the dock that evening and join him on the submarine for that short trip, then could be back by about nine point thirty which would still leave her enough time to return home before dinner. The timing was an ideal, but it was workable. Kim spoke to her boyfriend Olay about it. She asked if he was okay with her stepping out for a few hours before dinner, and he was.

Opportunities like this weren't unusual for her, especially when it was something she'd been trying to arrange for a while, so she agreed to meet him that evening. At one point, while she was getting ready, she admitted that the idea of going out in a homemade submarine made her feel a little uneasy, and it wasn't something she had done before.

dinner together. So at around seven pm, Kim arrived at the dock in Copenhagen where the UC three Nautilus was moored. Now the submarine itself wasn't hidden or difficult to find. In fact, it was kind of stood out with something people in the area already recognized. You know, you don't see a submarine parked at a dock very often, right, No, you don't. So it was also like the identity around around Peter. He'd built this identity. It was very public,

very very well spotted. It's that low in the water. It was sleek and black, long and narrow, with a small upper hatch that protruded upwards. And this is where people could stand above the surface before submerging. So you're in this little spot. You can close the hatch and go down in submarine and then it goes under. When Kim met him that evening, he was very friendly. There wasn't anything unusual about their interaction, and the two of

them were both very excited. The interview, she said that she was trying to set up for months was finally happening at that very last minute, and for Peter he got to show off his homemade submarine. Soon she found herself stepping onto the vessel, and not long after that the Nautilus began moving away from the dock. Now, this vessel was seen by people on passing boats as it departed into the ocean waters. One recording actually even shows them.

That evening shows both Kim and Peter above the surface, standing in the open section near the hatch. Kim appears calm looking out across the water, and it looks exactly exactly what you picture in your mind. The small submarine off in the distance, two people poking out and they go down inside, and that's where she was going to be beginning the interview. The submarine then moved further out into the harbor and it gradually disappeared from view at

around eight thirty pm. Kim sent a message from the submarine by that point, she'd been on board for roughly an hour and a half, the interview was underway, and from everything in the message, the situation just appeared normal. There was no urgency in her wording, no indication that anything had gone wrong. She had wrote the message to her boyfriend Olay, and it said quote still alive as a light, almost playful line to.

Now it's important to clarify once a vessel goes underwater, it would lose signal entirely, and so delays weren't necessarily unusual for a situation like this. Kim was expected back at around nine thirty PM, and at first there was no immediate reason to ascern assume that anything was wrong. When she didn't show up on time at home. Sure, interviews can run longer than normal, especially when they're unfolding in an unusual setting like a submarine, for example. There

were also practical limitations once submerged. They would be no signal and the lack of communication. It didn't stand out right away to Olay, but by around ten thirty he started to feel a bit uneasy. He tried reaching out to her, expecting the submarine might have at least surface by then, but there was still no response. The dinner they had planned was waiting and hadn't returned any sort of message or update of any kind. As more time passed, the silence began to carry much more of a weight.

Then by midnight, the delay was no longer something that could be dismissed as you know, something that was just a scheduling issue, And the longer it went on, the fewer reasonable explanations there were. Oleay continued to contact her, or at least try, but nothing went through. By around one forty five pm, after several hours without any contact, no sign of the submarine returning nothing, Olay decided to call the police and report her missing, and once that report came in, the response moved.

the waters surrounding Copenhagen. Patrol boats moved into the harbor and went out along the expected route that the submarine was supposed to have taken, or at least thought to have taken. Helicopters were sent up to scan from above, covering a wider area and looking for any sign of the vessel breaking the surface. Attempts were made to establish contact with Peter over the marine radio, but there was just no response.

can go wrong in this situation like this. Now, as the night went on, the search expanded sonar equipment was used in an effort to try and locate the submarine below the water, while Cruz checked surrounding sh shorelines in case something had been washed up or come up unexpectedly. And the longer the search went on without finding anything, the more concerning the situation became. By the morning of August eleventh, after hours of searching with no contact, the

UC three Nautilus was finally located. The submarine had surfaced in the waters just south of Copenhagen. Boats in the area moved toward it after a distress signal was reported, and when the boats reached within eyesight of the vessel, they could see Peter. He was already outside, standing on top in the hatch, waving his arms. He was calling for help before he dove in the water and was soon rescued by one of the nearby boats. Kim, though she was nowhere to be seen. It was just Peter.

There was no explanation for her absence either, and before any detailed questions could be answered, the situation shifted once again, as the submarine that Peter had just abandoned did not remain floating. It began taking on water and slowly sank beneath the surface. Witnesses later described how it didn't drop suddenly or break apart. It slowly settled downward in almost a controlled way, disappearing below the waterline until it was

completely gone. By the time the authorities arrived, the Nautilus was no longer visible. Peter was brought back to the shore, where police were already waiting for him. When he was there, they asked where Kim was, and he gave a very direct answer. He said that nothing had happened to her. He said that he had dropped her off safely on land earlier the evening, before before any problems with the

submarine even began. Now, at that moment, there was no immediate evidence to contradict anything he said, but the situation already carried a problem, one that couldn't be ignored, and that was the fact that Kim was still missing. Within minutes of stepping ashore, Peter was placed under arrest and taken in for questioning.

on board. It was a straightforward story, and if it were true, then Kim was in fact somewhere in Copenhagen and the situation would shift away from the submarine entirely when she was found. But even in those first interviews,

there were details that still didn't line up cleanly. When he spoke about the night, he focused heavily on the submarine, on the mechanics of what went wrong, the loss of the vessel, the sequence of events that led to its scene thinking, and when it came to Kim, his answers were noticeably very less so specific. It didn't provide a clear location even where he dropped her off, as I mentioned, and there was no way for police to immediately confirm that part of the account.

take me forth. He's not speaking like that like he normally does. It's more of there was a failure and the vessel took on water. I couldn't control it and it went down, almost like he's rehearsed specific points to hit in a story that very robotic boom boom, okay.

it was kind of this neutral zone of which it's true. Now, even before any physical evidence was recovered, parts of the situation were already starting to raise a lot of concern. People with experience around submarines began pointing out that what had happened to the UC three Nautilus didn't make sense as an accident, something I already discussed. A vessel like this doesn't typically just take on water and sink without warning,

especially not in calm conditions over a short timeframe. The way it had gone down slowly, with a hatch left open, it suggested something else entirely. Submarines are in fact designed to keep water out. Now, there were also questions about Peter's calm and focused behavior once he was rescued. Now, as police began trying to verify Peter's account, the first real cracks appeared almost immediately. The first thing his claim bolt where he had dropped Kim off safely on land.

If that were true, there should be some record of it. The harbor area where he soon said he dropped her off, it wasn't isolated. There were CCTV cameras everywhere. There were also boats and people moving through the area regularly. It wasn't the kind of place that someone could simply appear with a submarine and disappear without being seen. Investigator started pulling that CCTV footage from locations along the waterfront, focusing on that time window when Peter said he had returned

Kim to the shore, but there was nothing. No footage showed her disembarking, no sightings from witnesses, nothing showed that she had ever left the submarine after boarding it that evening, no sightings of the submarine even in the area that he claimed either. At the same time, there were no signs of her anywhere. She hadn't contacted anyone, she hadn't

returned home. Her belongings were even still unaccounted for, and within a short period, the original explanation that she'd been dropped off safely clearly no longer had any support in the last confirmed place that Kim Wall had been seen while was still on the UC three Nautilus. Soon efforts shifted towards recovering the submarine and examining what had happened on board. The submarine was soon located on the seabed and eventually brought back up to the surface after securing

the heavy equipment able to do the job. Once it was accessible, though, investigators began a detailed inspection of the interior. One of the first conclusions was that there was no clear mechanical failure that would have caused it to sink on its own. The systems didn't show any sort of

signs of a sudden breakdown at all. Instead, the way the vessel had taken on water pointed towards something being done intentionally, like someone left the water flow, let the water just flow into the vessel, or something now inside. They also began to find some physical evidence too. They found traces of blood aboard. They also found personal items that belonged to Kim that were in fact still there, including clothing that had not been removed from the submarine before it went under.

get dropped off where he said she did. And while at that point his account of what had happened changed, Peter admitted there to investigators that she had in fact died on board the submarine and he had lied about dropping her off. According to him, there was an accident on board the vessel. He said, the heavy hatch on the submarine was open at one point while they were up on the surface, and it had fallen, slamming shut while she stood in the way, and it struck her

in the head, killing her unintentionally. Now, instead of contacting authorities or trying to bring her back ashore, he told investigators that he chose to dispose of her body at sea, described placing her in the water himself, framing it as something that he did in a state of shock rather than a calculated decision, and at one point he characterized it as some kind of burial, saying that he put her in the sea, you know, as almost like a

form of respect sort of situation. According to this version of events, everything that followed her death, moving the body, you know, removing it from the submarine and leaving it

in the water. It was all the result of panic and an inability to deal with what had happened, but all in all, for the first time, Peter was placing her death inside the submarine, and he acknowledged that something had happened while they were alone together, but the explanation was still framed in a way that was something outside of his control, a sudden, unplanned accident. It was an unlikely story, but certainly not impossible, and they had no way to prove it otherwise either.

was no head attached. It had also been deliberately weighed down. Metal objects had been attached to it in a way that suggested it had been placed in the water with the intention of keeping it submerged. But despite that, though it had resurfaced still shortly after the discovery, investigators were able to identify the remains as belonging to Kim Wall through DNA analysis.

returned to the same locations multiple times. A dismembered body didn't line up with Peter's story at all either. He could, however, possibly claim something like maybe animals did it, or a boat propeller or getting tangled and fishing equipment. Who knows, Who knows what sort of story he could come up with to try and explain this away. So police knew what they had to do was focus on proving his claim of Kim being hit in the head, and they

needed to prove it wrong. So if this was true, if that hatch on the submarine had contacted her head and killed her, she would have suffered blunt force trauma to the head and likely a massive skull fracture. So if they find the rest of her remains, they could see if there was such trauma to her head. Well, if there wasn't, it would prove he was lying. So

over the following weeks they searched diligently through the waters. Then, with the help of experts in the water currents, they focused on one specific area where he believed it would likely carry her remains. They are under the water in the murky depths. One diver came across something. It was a bag, then there was another. Inside each bag were Kim's remains, her head, arms, and legs. They were all found separate, placed in bags, and weighed down in the

same way that the torso was. Each discovery confirmed that the body had not come apart naturally, it had been intentionally dismembered and distributed through the water in ways that suggested planning. They were in Begs Hole.

improvisation in how they had been handled. Now in forensic examinations were completed on the rest of Kim's remains, there was no evidence of the kind of injury Peter had claimed occurred, no skull fractures, and no blunt force trauma that matched what he had described, which meant he was clearly lying. If we it wasn't obvious enough already, But the one fact he did provide was proved wrong.

Each version Peter gave conveniently place the cause of death outside of his control, and each one presented the situation as an accident, and each one directly contradicted the physical evidence. Now, there was still more that they found regarding the condition of her remains, too, though that raised even further questions. The dismembermentt you know, it had been done in a way that was not urgent or with any sort of panic.

Of course, there was the weights, the separation of body parts, and the way it had been disposed, right, we understand that, But the remains also showed multiple other injuries that could not be explained by any accounts Peter had given. For example, there were several puncture wounds consistent with repeated stabbing, isolated to the lower torso and vaginal area on Kim's remains.

it was in fact Kim's blood. It was clear that whatever happened to her had taken place within that confined space. At the same time, Peter's DNA was found on her remains too, though I was unable to determine through my research exactly if it was blood or seamen or something else, but I do know his DNA was found. The traces of Kim's blood were also recovered from inside the submarine, as I mentioned, but also on his clothes. Further, reinforcing that the vessel had been the scene of the crime.

To put it in simple terms, there was no longer any question about where this had happened or what had happened. It was only a matter of how it had happened. Peter had attacked and killed Kim on the vessel, period, full stop. She would have been in an isolated and confined space under the surface of the ocean, alone with a person who attacked and killed her, with no hope of escape.

to torture and killings. No many of these were pornographic snuff films, which is a genre of pornography where women are abused and killed in a sexual context.

tied directly to the environment that he had controlled. And now it also became clear that Kim had not been the only person Peter had tried to bring on the submarine who In the days leading up to August tenth, he had contacted multiple women inviting them to join him on the submarine under similar circumstances. Now, each time the condition was the same. He wanted them to come alone and enjoy the ride sort of thing. But for various reasons,

none of those meetings happened. Kim, though, was ultimately the one who agreed. Investigators also looked at what had been brought onto the submarine that night. There were tools consistent with cutting saws, knives, things that had been present. These were not items that you just find in a submarine. They were items taken onto the vessel and were later

recovered in the water. In fact, there are videos of Peter because he's, you know what, like an engineer type, and he's online, he does interviews, all this sort of thing. There's videos of the saw they recovered hanging in the background his shop, the very same saw they recovered from the bottom of the ocean. These formed a pattern that went beyond simple opportunity. It was something that had been thought about in advance, and the case against Peter, honestly

at this point is staggering. It also caught a lot of people off guard that Peter was capable of something like this, and when words spread, they were taken aback.

He had spent years presenting himself as a very smart, driven, unconventional engineer, for sure, But he had spent years presenting himself as a smart, driven, unconventional engineer and known for taking on projects outside traditional systems, you know, building rockets or submarines with limited resources, and surrounding himself with people who were drawn to that kind of ambition that he shared. He spoke confidently about his work, positioned himself as someone

operating beyond normal limits. But the closer investigators and witnesses looked, the more that image began to shift. People who had interacted with him began to describe a pattern of control he preferred to set. The terms of every situation where meetings took place, who was present, how conversations unfolded, and when those conditions were met. He could come across as engaging and focused, but when they weren't, his behavior could

change extremely quickly. Several women who had been in contact with him also described similar experiences. He would invite them into environments that he controlled, often isolated settings like the submarine or his workshop. Now, the interactions didn't always escalate, but there was a consistent pattern in how he structured those encounters now By the time the investigation in this case, there were also indications that his behavior had been shifting

in the period leading up to the events. In August of twenty seventeen, some people noted increasing instability, along with a stronger focus on themes in both his private communications and digital activity. During legal evaluations, he was described as having narcissistic and psychopathic traits. He was not found to be delusional or detached from reality, but instead he was considered fully aware of his actions and capable of understanding

the consequences behind them, and that distinction was important. It meant that what had happened inside the submarine could not be explained as a loss of control in the moment now. Eventually, the case went to trial in March of twenty eighteen in Copenhagen, and all the findings in the investigation were presented in full peace by peace. Over the course of

several weeks, more than forty witnesses were called. Investigators outlined the submarine, how it had been recovered and examined, and explaining why the sinking could not be attributed to mechanical failure. Forensic experts detailed the injuries found on Kim's body and explained why they were were inconsistent with any of the explanations Peter had. Divers and search teams described the recovery of the remains and the tools that had been weighing

them down and discarded in the water. Digital evidence had also been presented, including the material found on his computer and the communications that outlined violent scenarios connected to the submarine. And then Peter himself chose to testify. During his time on the stand, he repeated the versions of events he had settled on, that Kim had died accidentally while on board and that everything that followed had been the result

of panic. He spoke in detail, often focusing on technical explanations and attempting to account for sequences of events in ways that distance himself from intent. But the explanations continued to conflict with the evidence. Where he described a single accidental incident, a forensic finding showed multiple injuries and proved otherwise. Where he described panic, the disposal the body and tools

suggested a series of controlled actions. Each time his account was compared to what had been recovered, and it failed to align. Throughout the proceedings, he remained composed, at times detached, and showed little visible reaction to the details being presented. The tone of his testimony did not change even as

the evidence against him became more direct. But no matter what he tried to say, it was obvious that Kim boarded the UC three Nautilus on the evening of August tenth, and remained on the submarine as it left the harbor. There was no point after that where she was ever seen leaving the vessel, and no evidence that it returned ashore before the events that followed. At some stage after her final message was sent to her boyfriend Olay, the

situation inside the submarine changed. Then at some point in time, while on board, she sustained multiple injuries that were not consistent with a single accidental event, occurred over time within a confined space where no one else was present, only her and Peter. Then, at some point after her death, her body was dismembered, weighed down, and discarded. This reconstruction did not rely on speculation. It was reconstructed directly from

the evidence that had been recovered. Kim entered that submarine alive, and everything that happened to her occurred inside, and she did not leave it alive. On April twenty fifth, twenty eighteen, the court delivered its verdict after reviewing the full body of evidence, the forensic findings, the digital records, and the recovery of Kim's remains, and the multiple conflicting accounts given

by Peter. The judges rejected the explanation that her death had been accidental, and Peter Madson was found guilty of murder, aggravated sexual assault, and desecration of a corpse. The court determed that the attack had been pre planned and carried out with intent, not the result of a sudden or uncontrolled event. As a result, he was sentenced to life in prison.

that had been presented in court. Even after the verdict and sentencing, he still held that version of events that framed what had happened was an accident, saying he didn't do it on purpose.

did come out and admit it eventually. Now he didn't have anything to gain. He didn't have anything to lose at that point either.

and back behind bars. Now, after everything that had happened, for Kim's family and those who knew her as well, the focus did not stay on the way that her life had ended. Instead, it shifted back to the work she had spent years building. Kim had made a career out of telling other people's stories, often people who didn't have a PlantForm or whose experiences were overlooked, and that approach became the foundation for how her story would be

carried forward. The goal wasn't to define her by what had happened to her on the submarine on August tenth, twenty seventeen, but instead it keeps the focus on who she had been and what she had contributed to Her family established the Kim Wall Memorial Fund, which as an initiative design to support female journalists working on projects that

reflect the kind of reporting that she had pursued. The Fund provides grants for independent reporting around the world, continuing the same type of work that had defined her career, stories rooted in curiosity, persistence, and willingness to go further than surface level narratives. In the years following her death, her work has continued to be read, shared, and translated all across the globe. The stories she has already written remain part of public record, and new attention has been

brought to the subjects that she has already covered. But for those closest to her, the focus remains consistent. They choose to speak about her as a journalist, about her as a person, and as someone who has spent her life trying to understand the world and explain it to others. What happened to her became part of her story. Yes,

that's true, but it did not define it. And from one storyteller to another, I want to name Kim Wall the badass of the day today because that's her story, the story of Kim Wall.

this one be any different? Yeah, as far as safety, goes anyways, I'm sure her perspective, her story would have been different, but safety should have been the same.