COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish divers found the decapitated head, legs and clothes of a Swedish journalist who was killed after going on a trip with an inventor on his submarine, police said Saturday.
The body parts and clothing were found Friday in plastic bags with a knife and “heavy metal pieces” to make them sink near where the 30-year-old Kim Wall’s naked headless torso was found in August, Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen said.
Moeller Jensen said there were no fractures to Wall’s skull and he declined to comment on the discovery of the knife.
Peter Madsen, the 46-year-old Danish inventor who is in pre-trial detention on preliminary manslaughter charges, has said Wall died after being accidentally hit by a 70-kilogram (155-pound) hatch on the UC3 Nautillus submarine, after which he “buried” her at sea. But police have said 15 stab wounds were found on the torso found at sea off Copenhagen on Aug. 21. Her arms are still missing.
Wall’s cause of death hasn’t yet been established yet.
The detention of Madsen, who has denied manslaughter, expires Oct. 31 when a court will decide if he will continue to remain in custody ahead of a possible trial. He is also held on preliminary charges of the indecent handling of a corpse.
Police have said the submarine only sailed in Danish waters Aug. 10-11.
Police believe the pair didn’t know each other beforehand. Wall was working on a story about Madsen, who dreamed of launching a manned space mission. She was last seen alive Aug. 10 aboard the 40-ton, nearly 18 meter-long (60 foot-long) submarine as it left Copenhagen.
Chief Police investigator Jens Moeller makes a comment concerning the latest findings in connection with the Kim Wall murder case on Oct. 7, 2017.
The following day, Madsen was rescued from the sinking submarine without Wall at his side and was arrested the same day. Police believe he deliberately scuttled the vessel.
During their investigation, police have found videos on Madsen’s personal computer of women being tortured, decapitated and murdered. The videos were considered to be real, according to prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen.
Investigators believe Madsen killed Wall between Aug. 10 and 11, cut up the body and attached a belt with a pipe to the torso with the purpose of making it sink, officials said, adding that her head, arms and legs had been deliberately cut off after her death.
Marks on the dismembered torso indicated that someone had tried to press air out of the body so it wouldn’t float, police had said.
A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation of Madsen is pending.
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Some of the 58 white crosses for the victims of Sunday night’s mass shooting last Sunday, on the Las Vegas Strip south of the Mandalay Bay hotel on Friday. “Their names and their stories will forever be etched into the hearts of the American people,” Vice President Pence said while visiting the city on Saturday.
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Some of the 58 white crosses for the victims of Sunday night’s mass shooting last Sunday, on the Las Vegas Strip south of the Mandalay Bay hotel on Friday. “Their names and their stories will forever be etched into the hearts of the American people,” Vice President Pence said while visiting the city on Saturday.
Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Six days after the shooting along the Strip, Vice President Mike Pence visited Las Vegas, and told residents that America is united with their city in grief.
“We do mourn with those who mourn and grieve with those who grieve, but we do not grieve like those who have no hope,” he said. “Because heroes give us hope.”
President Trump was in Las Vegas on Wednesday, when he visited some victims of the shooting at a local hospital and met with first responders. Pence’s speech echoed the president’s, in its somber tone, religious language, message of unity — and in eschewing discussion of guns or gun control.
“In the wake of this tragedy we put on love,” Pence said. “We find comfort in the knowledge that we are united as one nation, as one people, with one voice. United in our grief, united in our support for those who have suffered. And united in our resolve to end such evil in our time.”
The vice president spoke at Las Vegas City Hall, where he was joined by state and local officials, including the city’s mayor. He addressed participants in an interfaith unity prayer walk, an event planned well before the shooting happened.
Two who walked were John and Kristie Lum, retirees who moved to Las Vegas three years ago.
John says he’s a person of faith, but that he struggles with it.
“Because for me, it’s not enough just to pray,” he says. “It’s not enough just to have faith. I think that our calling is that we also have to act. So I get concerned that we just have these kind of events … and it’s over with. And then we move on and wait for the next event. I think we have to do a whole bunch more.”
“It’s very confusing,” adds Kristie. “Because to believe so strongly, and then again, to have people that just have so much hate inside … it’s hard to understand.”
With her characteristic candor, Mayor Carolyn Goodman said the city would be defined not by violence, but by its humanity, tolerance and compassion.
“I want to thank all you walkers,” said Goodman. “Everybody who’s prayed, everybody who’s prayed quietly, everybody who’s made a difference in this phenomenal city — that has been safe, that will remain safe.”
“We will not be brought down by craziness, anger, and hatred!” she said to loud applause.
Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old resident of Mesquite, Nev., opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Sunday night, killing 58 people before fatally shooting himself. Nearly 500 others were injured as he sprayed bullets from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay resort, across Las Vegas Boulevard from the festival.
Investigators have still not uncovered a motive for the shooting, despite having pursued more than a thousand leads.
“While some of it has helped to create a better profile into the madness of this suspect, we do not still have a clear motive or reason why,” Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said on Friday.
Police say they are confident that only one shooter was in the Mandalay Bay hotel room at the time of the attack, but they continue to investigate whether anyone else might have known about the shooting in advance.
The police are asking for anyone with information to contact them via the FBI’s tip line, 1-800-CALL-FBI.
“No information is too small or insignificant,” Las Vegas police tweeted. “If you know something, say something.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse said investigators are launching a public information campaign, in partnership with Clear Channel, to put up billboards with that message across Las Vegas.
More than $13 million in donations have been raised to support the victims and their families.
NPR’s Sarah McCammon and NCPR’s Brian Mann contributed to this report.
