UPDATE:
Swedish journalist Kim Wall disappeared over two weeks ago after heading on board a homemade submarine to interview the vessel’s creator.
Wall’s boyfriend alerted police when the reporter didn’t arrive home, after boarding the ship for what was supposed to be just a few hours, at around 7pm on Thursday, August 10.
Now, police have identified the torso of a woman found in Danish waters, south of Copengagen, as the missing 30-year-old, The Guardian reports. Wall’s body was missing its arms and legs.
Copenhagen police’s vice-president, Jens Møller, said her body had been attached to metal weights to supposedly stop it floating to the surface.
“The body bears the mark of having, most likely, been inflicted deliberate damage with the purpose of ensuring that gasses can pass out of the body – possibly in an attempt to avoid that a body rises from the seabed,” he said.
Wall’s DNA also matched the blood found on the submarine. As AAP reports, the cause of death is yet to be determined and police are still looking for her other body parts. Injuries on Wall’s torso seem to suggest that air was forced out of it.
In the wake of the devastating discovery, mother Ingrid posted on Facebook: “The tragedy has hit not only us and other families, but friends and colleagues all over the world. During the horrendous days since Kim disappeared, we have received countless evidence of how loved and appreciated she has been, as a human and friend as well as a professional journalist.”
She added: “From all corners of the world comes evidence of Kim’s ability to be a person who makes a difference.”
ORIGINAL:
Journalist Kim Wall is believed to have been writing a feature on Danish inventor and submarine owner, Peter Madsen. According to the BBC, Madsen claimed to have dropped the journalist back to shore around 10:30pm on Thursday, August 10 after a visit.
A large-scale search was unable to find any trace of the missing woman, and Madsen was subsequently charged with her manslaughter.
The 46-year-old then told authorities Wall had died in an accident which occurred on board the submarine and that he had “buried her at sea at an unspecified location,” a police statement said.
The body, which was also missing its legs and arms, was sent for forensic testing.
