Submarine captain accused of killing a journalist was allegedly into ‘sexual fetish groups’

Swedish journalist Kim Wall was supposed to take a “brief trip to Scandinavia” earlier this month, but ended up dead after a submarine trip with a man who’s now accused of killing and dismembering her.

New York Post reports that Wall climbed into Peter Madsen’s submarine on August 10, with the intention of interviewing the person who called himself the “real-life Captain Nemo.” Wall never made it back from a trip that was intended to a light story about the life of a submarine captain.

Madsen, 46, is now behind bars, charged with Wall’s death. His biographer, Thomas Djursing, told the New York Post that although Madsen was married, he enjoyed “sexual experimenting in fetish groups.” Further, a few Swedish reporters said that Madsen held contempt for some journalists. He allegedly held a grudge against journalists who he felt “belittled” his work in the past. He’s also been described as “a little crazy.”

READ More:  ‘She gave a voice to the weak, the vulnerable’; Friends and family remember journalist Kim Wall as new charges are brought against submarine inventor [UPDATE]

The submarine captain is a former engineering student who never completed his degree. However, his dreams of building a submarine never left him. In middle school, he launched his own rocket. He eventually built the UC3 Nautilus, a midget submarine that Wall saw her last days on.

Wall, according to family, wanted to be a journalist from an early age, after her photojournalist father taught her about social justice.

“Kim’s father was a pretty renowned photographer and a big influence on her career,” retired Columbia professor Sandy Padwe told New York Post.

Wall earned two graduate degrees from Columbia University, one in journalism and the other in international affairs. She spoke eight languages and had already covered in-depth stories on voodoo in Haiti, nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, among other important topics, before climbing into the UC3 Nautilus.

She also planned to start a story on neo-Maoism prior to her death, as evidenced in her last email, sent out to Jonathan Landreth, the managing editor of China File.

“I’ll be working on a long form story on neo-Maoism (all recommendations for reading and experts to interview would be so welcome!).”

ADDITIONAL Reading: Police: DNA of headless torso matches Swedish journalist, her arms and legs ‘deliberately cut off’ and her body weighted down to sink

Wall’s headless torso was found in Denmark waters. The torso, missing her head, legs, and arms was secured to a piece of metal, “likely with the purpose to make it sink,” Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen said.

Inside the UC3 Nautilus, authorities found dried blood that matched Wall’s DNA. Madsen was saved from the sinking submarine and later arrested on August 21. He’s charged with murder and abuse of a corpse.

Madsen denied any involvement in Wall’s death, but his story changed while talking to detectives. He first said he dropped the journalist off safely in Denmark, then later said she died accidentally and he “buried her at sea.”

“The suspect denies homicide and desecration of a human body,” Copenhagen police said in a statement.

Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.

[Feature Photo: Twitter]