New Philosopher

Underwater psychopath

When Kim Wall boarded infamous Danish inventor Peter Madsen’s submarine, she sank under the water watched by those she loved: her boyfriend and friends who had come to wave her off. Wall thought she was doing a routine interview. Months later the 30-year-old journalist’s severed head washed up in Copenhagen.

Madsen was the only other person on board. Yet, initially he claimed that Wall had hit her head in an accident; then that she suffocated while stuck inside the submarine due to a faulty engine. Later it emerged Madsen had brought with him what appeared to be torture devices – screwdrivers, a saw, straps – as well as a video camera. He was a fan of snuff movies, a number of which he had downloaded to his hard-drive.

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