Danish Sub Inventor Describes Journalist’s Death to Skeptical Court
Questioned by lawyers during a court appearance that lasted four and a half hours, Mr. Madsen furnished many details
but did not answer an essential question: How did Ms. Wall’s mutilated body — she was missing her head, arms and legs — end up in a bay near Copenhagen, 11 days after she and Mr. Madsen set out on his 55-foot submarine?
When the prosecutor, Jakob Buch-Jepsen, asked if he had ever had sex on the submarine at sea, Mr. Madsen said he had, once, with a mistress.
Mr. Madsen found a rope, he said, and tied it to Ms. Wall’s legs, to pull her out
through the hatch, in the process tearing off her pantyhose and her shoes.
In court on Tuesday, Mr. Madsen confirmed that Ms. Wall had first contacted him to talk about rockets,
but became intrigued by his submarines and wanted to go along for a ride.
The judge, Anette Burko of Copenhagen District Court, said his account was "not reasonable." She approved the prosecution’s request to upgrade the accusation against Mr.
Madsen, who was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter, to manslaughter, which in Danish law implies intentional homicide and is the legal equivalent of murder.
Then, he said, he climbed through the hatch, which weighs about 150 pounds,
and was holding it open for Ms. Wall to follow him onto the bridge of the submarine.
Believing his career was over, and out of fear and desperation, Mr. Madsen said, he decided to bury the body at sea.
