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In his trial, Danish inventor Peter Madsen had denied to the end that he had killed the Swedish journalist Kim Wall aboard his self-made submarine. Now, for the first time, he has admitted to committing the murder: the confession can be heard in the first episode of a documentary series aired on Wednesday. In a phone call to a Swedish journalist who called him several times in prison and spoke for 20 hours, Madsen answered “yes” when asked if he had killed Kim Wall. Later he says: “There is only one culprit and that is me.”
Kim Wall was last seen alive when she boarded Madsen’s submarine in Copenhagen harbor on August 10, 2017. She wanted to write a report on the inventor, who, among other things, was also working on his own rocket. For the 30-year-old journalist who has appeared in international media such as the guardian, Vice or Foreign policy published, it would be one of the last jobs in Europe: he wanted to move to China as a correspondent. Days and weeks after his disappearance, Kim Wall’s dismembered body parts were washed ashore or found by divers.
During his questioning and trial in a Copenhagen court, Peter Madsen changed his description of what allegedly happened on his submarine several times. More recently, he admitted to severing Wall’s body and throwing him overboard. However, he wanted nothing to do with her death. He first said that Kim Wall was hit by the submarine’s heavy hatch and then blamed his death on carbon monoxide poisoning.
Secret recordings with subsequent consent
However, the court last saw as proven that Peter Madsen Wall sexually abused her, tortured her and ultimately killed her. Cuts and stab wounds were discovered on the body parts found. Coroners suspected in their report that Kim Wall was suffocated or killed by a throat cut. The verdict came in April 2018, the court found Madsen guilty of sexual abuse and murder and sentenced him to life in prison, which he is serving in a prison near Copenhagen. Videos were found on Madsen’s computer in which the women were tortured and also killed, and some of his former friends reported on Madsen’s sadomasochistic fantasies.
The documentary series “Peter Madsen’s Secret Recordings” containing the confession was produced by Discovery Networks Denmark. Interviewer Kristian Linnemann told Danish media that he had initially secretly recorded the 20-hour conversation, but later obtained Peter Madsen’s consent to publish the conversation.
Discovery Networks said they had contacted Kim Walls’ parents “to give them the opportunity to preview the show,” but they declined. In 2018, the parents published a book about their daughter and established a foundation in her name to support women in journalism.
