A Danish inventor has admitted dismembering a Swedish journalist who disappeared from his submarine, but says he did not kill her, police in Denmark have said.
Copenhagen police said Peter Madsen now says Kim Wall died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning inside the submarine when he was on deck.
Officers said he has acknowledged he dismembered her body and threw it into the sea. Investigators have found bags containing her body parts and clothes.
Wall, who was working on a story about Madsen, was last seen aboard his submarine as it left Copenhagen in August. The next day, Madsen was rescued from the sinking submarine without her. Police believe he deliberately sank the vessel.
Madsen had previously said Wall died after being accidentally hit by a heavy hatch in the submarine’s tower.
“This explanation (by Madsen) naturally will lead the police into gathering additional statements from the coroner and the armed forces’ submarine experts,” said Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moller Jensen.
Police said Madsen has admitted he threw Wall’s body into Koge Bay, south west of Copenhagen.
Her torso was found on a southern Copenhagen coast in late August, and her head, legs and clothes were found at sea this month. No fractures to her skull were found that would have supported the claim that she was killed by the hatch.
Madsen’s pre-trial detention is set to expire on Tuesday but police said no new hearing will be held as the 46-year-old has voluntarily agreed to remain in detention.
Picture: Niels Hougaard/Ritzau/AP/File
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