cover of episode Kim Wall - 624
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Aaron
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Justin
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Justin: 作为一名记者,金·沃尔对世界充满好奇,勇于探索各种故事。她信任他人,这使得她登上了马德森的潜艇。然而,马德森的背景也显示他似乎是一个值得信赖的人,这使得金·沃尔的决定更加合理。我对金·沃尔的遭遇深感惋惜,她本应拥有更美好的未来。马德森的罪行令人发指,他不仅夺走了金·沃尔的生命,还试图掩盖罪行,不断改变说法,最终被绳之以法。 Aaron: 金·沃尔是一位杰出的记者,她热爱新闻事业,喜欢从普通人那里获取故事。她是一位成就斐然的自由记者,她的报道在新闻界备受尊敬。金·沃尔的善良和开放让她无论走到哪里都能建立起坚固的友谊。马德森则是一个自恋者,他的行为经常因为他被认为是天才而被原谅。他对金·沃尔的谋杀是预谋已久的,他在电脑上搜索过斩首、女孩和痛苦等内容,并在金·沃尔遇害的当天带着一把橙色把手的锯子。在审判过程中,马德森不断改变说法,试图逃脱罪名,但最终被判处终身监禁。

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Hey Generation Y listeners, if you're as obsessed with true crime as we are, join us on Patreon. You'll get ad-free listening and exclusive content that dives even deeper into the cases we cover. Don't just follow the clues, get ahead of the game with us on Patreon.

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Start prioritizing their financial education and future today with a risk-free trial at greenlight.com slash wondery. Greenlight.com slash wondery. How are you doing tonight, Aaron? I'm doing all right, man. How are you?

I'm doing okay. Got a couple of announcements. Well, yeah, I want to start off by saying I'm going to be attending the True Crime Podcast Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. This is taking place July 18th to the 20th.

It's the only festival that brings together true crime creators, experts, and advocates to promote compassion, empathy, and respect in the stories we tell and consume. Now, this weekend is going to be packed with live podcasts, panel discussions, and meet and greets.

You'll be meeting some of the most talented creators and fierce advocates in the true crime space. Plus, if you go VIP, you'll get exclusive access to private meet and greets and a catered social where you can personally invite your favorite creators. Tickets are selling fast. Hotel rooms are booking up quickly. Don't wait. Use my exclusive code.

Gen Y for 20% off. Grab your spot now at True Crime Podcast Festival 2025. Let me know if you're coming. I'd love to meet you. Again, the code is Gen Y. Go to True Crime Podcast Festival, search it up on Google, and you'll find more information.

And we always have our Patreon. We have tons of extra content. We have an added tier out there for Wondery Plus. So go check it out and see what all you're missing out on. Yeah. And the feedback I'm getting, Justin, says that the tell each other a story that you came up with, that is getting the most love right now. People are really interested in hearing all kinds of stories about

And some of them have nothing to do with murder. In fact, your latest one certainly doesn't. So get over there to our Patreon and check out the stories we tell each other. Oftentimes, we don't even know what the other person's coming with. So it makes it very interesting. And a very happy birthday to Smudge. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and birthday. We very much appreciate you. Awesome. So tonight's case, Aaron, is one that I...

Absolutely heard about when it happened. It was international news. It is heart-wrenching and again, just kind of emphasizes the point of why the women choose the bear. So what are we talking about tonight?

Tonight, we're talking about the death of Kim Wall aboard a homemade private submarine that was built and owned by Peter Madsen near Copenhagen, Denmark on the evening of August 10th, 2017. This was, like you said, big news, and we've had people for years contacting us saying, please cover this case.

Yeah. We need to talk about Kim, because Kim had made a huge splash in the journalism world. She was well-known. She was not your typical journalist, I would say, that she was more...

I don't know what the term was, like guerrilla journalism, where they would just kind of go somewhere and find the story. And the main thing that her family, her mother would say is she wasn't impressed by presidents or celebrities. She liked to get stories from ordinary people. And that's where she felt like the real stories came from.

Kim Isabel Frederico Wall was born March 23, 1987 in Sweden. Her parents were Ingrid and Joakim Wall.

Ingrid worked as a journalist and her husband worked as a photojournalist. Throughout her childhood, Kim traveled the world with her parents and younger brother, Tom. They went to Mexico for a family vacation and were in Germany for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. That seems so long ago now. But yeah, she had a love for journalism and world affairs was in her DNA. She had graduated high school in Sweden and went on to study in Paris.

earned a degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, two master's degrees in journalism and international studies from Columbia University in New York. In addition to her native language, Kim spoke English, German, Spanish, and studied Mandarin.

Now, all this dedication paid off, and Kim became an accomplished freelance journalist. This was someone you couldn't stop. I feel so lazy and unaccomplished listening to just that one paragraph. Like, spoke multiple languages, multiple degrees, and on top of that, she was very humble, too. Yeah, just a wonderful person. Yeah, I...

I feel somewhat inadequate. I'm thinking, well, I've been learning German in my spare time for, you know, quite a while now. And here she has multiple languages. But you know what this is, is some people are sponges and they can't wait to learn more. And obviously this is exactly the kind of journalist you want because her hunger for information and education just means that she's going to be able to get those stories and tell them correctly. Yeah.

She was freelance, and being a freelance journalist, it allows you to follow the stories that interest you. So she went after stories about war, conflict, climate change, and gurus around the world. It said that 14,000 photos tracked her explorations of Uganda, North Korea, Sri Lanka, India, China, and more.

I wonder which countries she hadn't visited. It's probably a shorter list than the ones she had. She wrote stories and traveled. She collected friends all around. And she cherished all the items that she collected from her travels. And everyone says her kindness and openness formed formidable friendships wherever she went. Everyone she knew, she made an impact on.

Well, and the other thing being a freelance journalist meant that she would get published in various places like the New York Times, Harper's, Time Magazine. I mean, a long list here of great publications that journalists would dream to be published in. Yeah.

So friend and colleague Tim McDonald described Kim as ambitious with a low tolerance for bullshit. His words, not mine. It said that her extraordinary reporting was respected throughout the world of journalism. Her accolades included an internship at New Delhi at the delegation of the European Union, first place in a young journalist competition for the Foreign Press Association, United Nations Press Fellow Award,

Pulitzer Center and crisis reporting grantee and just a whole litany of other awards. And just, we can go on and on about Kim, but again, I think her mother wrote a book about her and we'll get into it at the end, but it tells her life and Kim has survived.

so much going for her. And she, again, likes to talk to ordinary people, likes to get real stories and even unique and oddball stories. These are the stories that sometimes the mainstream media won't cover, but they'll be like, oh, you know what? That's something interesting. We'll get that story from. Well, in July of 2017, Kim traveled from New York to Copenhagen for the summer until August.

When she and her boyfriend were moving to China for a year, she spent time with family and friends, and her boyfriend met her parents. On August 10th, she prepared for a going-away party with friends when she received a long-awaited message that Peter Madsen had agreed to her interview request that she had sent months before. Now, Peter Madsen was a popular Danish innovator. He was in a space race with another Danish group, Copenhagen Suborbitals,

Kim found the story intriguing. Private entities trying to best one another in a personal cold war of sorts. Madsen, once part of Copenhagen suborbitals, formed his own group, Rocket Madsen Space Lab. After a dispute with the other members, if successful, the rocket was set to launch from Madsen's private, homemade submarine,

Nautilus. So Madsen himself, he was born in 1971 to a young mother named Annie and a father named Carl, who apparently was very cruel. His father was 36 years older than his mother. Madsen, he attempted college with an interest in engineering, but he never graduated. Still, he was known to be a gifted welder and had gained an interest in submarines along with rockets. So he went on to build three submarines.

He launched one in May of 2002, another May 7th, 2005, and a third one in May of 2008, which is the Nautilus, the one we're talking about in this story. The original one was small, barely fit two people. The second one maybe held three people, but the Nautilus though, the third one, that was the charm. That was his prize submarine. It was the largest of all three. But apparently once he built this one and it was pretty much what he wanted, he

He tired of working on submarines. So he turned his focus back to rocket science and was determined to build a functional rocket despite no government funding or materials. People would refer to him as a quirky genius and they thought he was very endearing and charming. Uh,

He brought together people who helped him accomplish building some of these dangerous machines, whether it's a rocket or submarine. And he was dubbed Rocket Madsen. These projects garnered the attention of the journalistic world.

There was a biography of his life and accomplishments that was written, and a film crew started to follow him around to document his journey to space in 2016. So he's very well known. He's been published. He is a large name in this community and industry world.

When you think about vetting others, when you think about trusting others, when you're a journalist, you have to put your trust in others. And someone like Kim Wall, who's been to North Korea and put herself in some of the most scary and intimidating situations...

This is just another Tuesday to her. She doesn't think anything about this. She just thinks, oh, there's a guy that built a submarine and builds rockets and he wants to show me that. This sounds interesting, right? Yeah. In fact, her only hesitation is time. I mean, Kim, when she had sent these messages back in spring of 2017, they were never received by Madsen because she was given the wrong number. So when Madsen unexpectedly said,

responded to her, she was like, oh, this is an opportunity I've been waiting for. So she and her boyfriend spoke with Madsen in his hangar just a few hundred yards from their home. While she's talking to him, he's saying, yeah, I want to talk with you, but I want to do it on the Nautilus. And Kim, her hesitation is, well, she wanted to spend the evening with her friends before she and her boyfriend moved across the globe.

That was just days away. So time is tight here. But after the discussion, Kim says, you know what? Let's do the interview because it's only going to take a few hours. It'll be exciting. And when I return to the party, I can tell people all about it. So her boyfriend walks with her part of the distance to the harbor where this submarine is docked, the Nautilus. And then he sees her board the Nautilus with Madsen at about 7 p.m.

And she waves goodbye. This is the last time anyone sees her. This is not a situation where anyone is worried. This is not a situation where anyone thinks, oh, something terrible could go wrong. She's going to just go out in the submarine with a professional who built the thing himself. And I'll see her in a few hours.

I mean, he's a well-known person and a lot of people had witnessed her going to his submarine. So it's not like she was snatched off the street or something. No. When no one was looking. So there's some comfort there. A lot of people just have that trust that, oh, there's a lot known about this or everything's safe.

And she has her phone on her. She starts texting her boyfriend from the submarine. And she sent a photo with a message that excitedly said, I get to steer it too. Then she said, I'm still alive. I love you. And her final text said he even brought coffee and cookies on board.

Sounds like she's having a good time. Yeah, and she's able to update her boyfriend. So this sounds like everything's above board, right? Yeah. But her boyfriend gets concerned because at 10 p.m., he hasn't heard from Kim. She was supposed to be back. And then at around 2.30 in the morning on August 11th,

Her boyfriend contacted the police and Coast Guard, and by 3.30, the authorities started their search for the Nautilus. Now quickly, reporters received word that a submarine with two men aboard was missing in the Copenhagen waters.

His biographer, Thomas, was suspected to be on board with Madsen. And finally, a lighthouse spotted a submarine at 1030 in the morning with a man on the tower and called it in. And Madsen made radio contact and stated that everyone was okay. Hmm. Everyone was okay. Got it.

So they're going to send out a search and rescue team along with a naval diving fleet. They think they are no longer needed. You know, they're sending out all of these things to rescue this submarine, but they're like, oh, everything's okay. But a call from the search and rescue helicopter reported a man jumping into the water as the submarine sank.

So what was thought to be a false alarm now has turned into a catastrophic event and this sub is sinking and by 11 a.m. Madsen was rescued and brought to shore. Now there is no sign of Kim Wall.

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Gen Y. Now, officers questioned Madsen as soon as he reached land. Madsen reported that the Nautilus emerged the night before with Kim and dropped her off near her home around 1030. His story, though, was vague, and he claimed to only know her first name and that she was a journalist. When questioned why the sub sank, he blamed a valve failure. Now, this story is immediately suspicious.

And it's suspicious because Madsen left the hatch open as the sub sank to the ocean floor. And this submarine sank as if it was proceeding with a routine dive. So there was this feeling that this sub was lost intentionally.

So it's a questionable story. Kim Wall is missing, and the story for that is suspicious. So officers arrest Madsen. And after some contemplation, the authorities agreed Madsen's story was suspicious. So a local bar owner had closed-captioned TV, security cameras, for the area around his establishment, and he turned all these videos over to the authorities. Neither Kim nor Madsen were seen entering the harbor.

So there goes his story of dropping her off. Kim's friends saw her leave on the submarine, but they never saw it reemerge. Locals accustomed to seeing this submarine at the harbor confirmed they did not see it on the night of the 10th. So obviously everyone felt that Peter Madsen's story was completely false. I mean, this is, I'm supposed to be out for two to three hours. They don't come back. Friends haven't seen or heard from her.

And then his submarine sinks in the morning due to essentially a dive with the hatch open. I'm just thinking, what is he saying? How does he think anyone's going to believe this story? Just, oh, yeah, you must have dropped her off. And, oh, we're not going to look into this submarine sinking. So have a nice day. I don't get it.

Well, so the authorities, they don't give up on looking for Kim Wall. Search and rescue efforts continued. Divers surrounded the area of the sunken submarine, and they made their way into the depths of the water. Now, as they approached the Nautilus, they noticed the open hatch, but they saw no sign of anyone inside. Now, they believed at this point, Kim's not in the Nautilus. So all they can do is prepare to bring the submarine ashore so they can get a better look at it.

On August 12, 2017, a preliminary hearing was held where Madsen pled not guilty. The court was closed to the public out of consideration for Kim Wall's family, but the room was packed with media and citizens managed to claim a seat. The court detained Madsen on a negligence charge. In Sweden, this loosely translated to causing the death of another.

That night, investigators attached the sub to a larger boat using a crane and towed it ashore. Yeah, because they're going to check out this submarine. They're going to inspect it. This is a crime scene in their eyes. So it's August 13th of 2017. The Nautilus was on land and drained of over 9,000 gallons of water. When they first entered to investigate...

They approached the engine room. It was a disheveled mess. And there's an HBO short series documentary called undercurrent, the disappearance of Kim wall. And so the commander from the Royal Danish Navy said, I saw something that looked like a piece of flesh. And then I had some, my legs, the legs were,

of the blue suit got wet. She reached down and touched the liquid and it had the metallic smell of blood.

So why is there blood on this vessel? Despite the open hatch and the sinking, there were still traces of blood throughout the vessel. The water obviously disturbed some of the evidence, but it didn't completely wash away the evidence that Kim was on the submarine, probably had never left. Investigators found her jacket in the submarine with a train ticket in its pocket. So

He claims he dropped her off there on the sub, even though it's been flooded with seawater and they're seeing her possessions and blood. So his story is completely debunked at this point.

Chief of Police Jens Jensen held a press conference and confirmed no body was found on board. He also said that the submarine was sunk intentionally. Reporters enthralled by the story reached out to Kim's family and friends, but of course, no one really wanted to talk about this case. They were still concerned for Kim. There was nothing they knew that the police hadn't released, and the tragic story that caught the attention of international headlines was their life.

On August 17th of 2017, at the request of Jensen, the family released a statement asking for anyone with information to come forward. And it's August 21st, 2017, reports emerged that Madsen changed his story during his detention hearing. With clear evidence Kim had not returned to shore, Madsen, he claimed Kim was on board and died from an accident.

After her death, he buried her at sea. And then that afternoon, well, a bicyclist found a torso in the water on a nearby island. And the family provided authorities with a hairbrush and toothbrush for comparison. And the results are a positive match for Kim. The blood in the submarine also matched Kim's. Her torso had injuries.

injuries and metal pieces attached with a strap to keep the body at the bottom of the seat. So Madsen has changed his story and said she died from an accident. So even his story changing isn't adding up with the evidence that's being found. September 5th, another court hearing was held, and this time it was open to the public. Madsen clarified what accident occurred. He claimed he lost grip of the hatch door and it hit Kim in the head and it killed her.

He then buried her at sea, but he still did not address the dismemberment of her body. The court granted a search and seizure of his computer and ordered a psychiatric evaluation. And authorities, you know, they worried this was not his first violent offense. They tested his DNA against that of unsolved cases in Denmark and the surrounding Nordic countries, but his DNA never received a match.

So they're thinking this is an extreme escalation for someone that has no priors. Yeah. It's a little odd, especially with the changing of the stories. But the investigators, they're not done. They continue looking for her and her remains. After more than a month, they bring in an oceanographer, Torben Vang, and he

He is an expert specifically in the currents in the Danish region. He helped narrow down the search area based on where Kim's torso was found. And the calculations he came up with on the movements of the water pinpointed an area to search and specifically trained cadaver dogs help divers decide where to begin.

And it's October 6th of 2017. Divers found two plastic bags. Kim's head was found in one bag and her clothes, legs, and a knife were found in another. Her phone was not in the bags. The bags were also weighed down with metal to keep them from floating to the surface. Kim's head was examined and there was no fracture to her skull and her

And Madsen's second account obviously was disproved because he said that the hatch had hit her. So despite the overwhelming evidence, Madsen continued to claim he didn't murder or dismember Kim. But we have plastic bags. We have a torso. We have a knife. We don't have any injuries to the top of her head. Yeah. So the rest of her remains were found November 22nd and 29th. But yeah, Madsen's story does not work at all.

But that's the story he went with. January 16, 2018, the Crown Prosecution Service formally indicted Madsen for the premeditated murder, sexual assault, and dismemberment of journalist Kim Wall. His trial was set for the beginning of March. The media, of course, took up with this because this is one of their own, and it's a sensational story, someone being murdered on a submarine, of which many people knew she was going to be on. They saw her leave.

The crime, without assistance, was horrific. So, of course, to add insult to injury, the articles focused on Madsen instead of Kim's life, goals, and accomplishments, which we've detailed for you. This is the tough part when you tell these stories, Justin. There's obviously a victim. There's a killer.

And a lot of times you end up having to talk a lot about the killer because of what happened. But, you know, this story, people have to know this was a woman with the world in her hand, in the palm of her hand. She had so much going for her. And so this is what makes it difficult. Not only that bright light, but just what would have the future have held for Kim Wall had this not happened to her. Yeah. And the only reason I even wanted to bring up Madsen's background was because it

It's to show that he seemed to be a trustworthy person. People knew him. There wasn't any danger here. No sign of, oh, maybe I shouldn't get on the submarine with this guy because he is so well known too. But personally, I'm way more impressed by her than him.

Yeah. And so, you know, the biographer Thomas, because of all of what happened, he thought, I better do something about this because he knew Madsen and he believed he was a narcissist and he believed that his behavior was often excused because of his perceived genius. That happens a lot in the world. It's not just there in Copenhagen, but Thomas wrote a short letter to Madsen and

and said, I need to go to the authorities and tell them everything I know about you. And in response, Madsen sent back a 10-page letter. In part of that letter, Madsen discussed the possibility of a second biographical book that would have an even larger readership.

And I think there's some ego at play there. Yeah. Let's make some money off my story and make me infamous. Yeah. But the Netflix documentary into the deep, the submarine murder case, it was produced by the film crew that started following Madsen around in 2016. It kind of reveals things about Madsen that just, you know, weren't well known. Madsen talked of death as a downfall and the team would go down as the greatest heroes or the greatest criminals. Yeah.

In the context of the conversations, his words didn't seem out of the norm. But after Kim's murder, and as the details of this case unfolded, they became an eerie forewarning. After Kim's disappearance, the focus of the film shifted from an unconventional inventor to the emotional fallout experienced by those closest to Madsen. Again, when these things happen, it's the people around them

that are affected. And even people around Madsen were affected by this. Yeah. His trial wouldn't begin until March of 2018.

And as you can imagine, there was a media circus surrounding this. People who knew Madsen were concerned that he would overwhelm the court with technical information and talking about the submarine and the issues he had and really bury the importance of the evidence of her body and the details of the crime.

His colleagues and friends knew all too well how persuasive and charming he could be, and they worried that he would talk his way out of a conviction. I mean, these are people that are his friends and family who like him, who are now afraid that his narcissistic technical skills are going to get him out of this. His manipulation is going to allow him to walk free. Well, in court,

He has to tell his story, but it changes again. With no skull fracture present, the story of the hatch couldn't be true. So Madsen is now claiming that Kim died of carbon monoxide poisoning. According to him, he was in the tower of the submarine when the hatch got stuck and he was unable to open it. The running engines caused the interior of the submarine to fill with carbon monoxide and he said Kim died within 10 minutes.

But naval experts refuted this. Now, we talked earlier about a commander from the Royal Danish Navy, Dita. She testified. Every time she spoke, she opposed the probability and possibility of Madsen's claims. Dita explained that the pressure in the cabin and the structure of the sub would make carbon monoxide poisoning impossible. I'm going to go with her opinion, but let's say there was carbon monoxide poisoning. Guess what? It would kill both of them.

Well, yeah, but he claimed he was up above on the sub. So unless he's outside of the sub, he's going to die. And so this, again, he's not giving enough detail to really make this story believable. And if the hatch is open and he's outside, well, that's going to bring in fresh air and it's not going to build up enough within the sub unless Kiernan,

Kim was literally right by where it was coming out. It's, it doesn't make any sense regardless of how you spend this story. Well, either way, it just doesn't make sense because how do you go from? It's an accident to ID. I need to dismember her only. I didn't dismember her, but she's found in bags. Yeah. And none of this makes sense. I mean, I mean, it, it goes from, I dropped her off to, it was an accident to, uh,

She's found dismembered. It just, every single step of the way, gets more unbelievable and stupider from this guy.

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Now, we did say there was an evaluation of Madsen, and the report came back that Madsen lacked empathy and remorse. It went on to say that he was a psychopath with narcissistic tendencies and sexual deviance who would likely commit another violent crime if the opportunity arose. The prosecution claimed Peter planned the murder for some time, and in the days before Kim's death,

He had done internet searches for beheading, girl, and agony. The day Kim was killed, he was spotted with an orange-handled saw sticking out of his bag.

The film crew captured footage five hours before Kim boarded the Nautilus that showed an orange-handled saw hanging out from a wall behind Madsen as he talked to the camera crew. The saw matched that of the one that the police found in the Bay Waters. So he brought the saw on the day of. He's literally seen with...

One of the murder weapons. The fact that it's there and they know they brought it with them. That's where the premeditation comes in. Why else is he bringing a saw on board a submarine? So there's a photo of Madsen captured after he was rescued from the sinking submarine and briefly before his arrest, where blood was visible on the tip of his nose. Still, Madsen continued to claim that Kim's death was an accident. He claimed the story of the hatch was in respect of

to Kim's parents. He made it up so that the death, I guess, would be, I don't know, quick.

Because if she died over time, then that's horrible for them to hear. But throughout Madsen's testimony, he went on tangents and rambled about information irrelevant to the case. His narcissistic personality was on full display during this trial. Madsen tried to portray himself as the victim. He talked about his three cats and how he couldn't be with them in front of Kim's loved ones. I mean, they're in court here. They're never going to get to see her again. But here he is complaining that he can't see his cats again.

I'm not sure he's garnering much sympathy at that point. Yeah. It said that the more he spoke, the more obvious his lies became. He claims that he dismembered Kim because he had a big problem and you deal with a big problem by making it into smaller pieces, which is disgusting to hear. He was so arrogant and he had this belief that he was smarter than everyone in the room. Yeah.

During a heated exchange between the prosecutor and Madsen, he proclaimed, I am holding back my explanation until your evidence means I have to tell you what death she has suffered, how she died, until you can prove what happened, discoveries that force the truth to come forth.

So he's saying, I'm not going to tell you anything unless you have evidence to prove it. And I'm holding back. He's literally telling the prosecutor on the stand, you can't handle the truth unless you have the evidence. Yeah. He's not going to give up anything freely.

March 23rd, 2018, women testified against Madsen at trial, and this is where we learn about some of the things he was thinking of doing before. The friend testified that they never saw indications of deadly violence from him. One woman from a fetish party Madsen attended testified that Madsen respected boundaries and did not harm her. Madsen was in an open marriage and partook in fetish parties and had mistresses. According to a friend, he said,

He was open about his intentions with women and viewed them as play objects. His wife was excused from testifying during the trial, but she ended up divorcing Madsen. But one friend testified that Madsen claimed he was a psychopath, and videos that were found on Madsen's computer seemed to support this self-declaration of psychopathy. The videos found were violent pornographic films that depicted murder. We know these as snuff films.

And more shockingly, some of the videos viewed just hours before Kim was killed acted out the same violence that authorities suspected that Kim suffered. Madsen claimed interns had access to the computer. He says one of them searched and watched the videos, but I don't think anyone's believing that. They went through his text messages and supported some of the violent fantasies and content that he had searched for and was into.

One female witness stated she had met him at a party. They remained friendly, and he indicated he wanted more than a friendship. These messages became more and more bizarre and erratic. In the months before Kim's murder, Madsen called and texted her and implied he would kidnap her and her children. He invited her to go on the submarine.

but she wanted to bring her boyfriend and kids and Madsen had reversed the offer because obviously he wanted to just get her alone. He claimed though that there wasn't enough room for everyone and only she could go with them. And she declined the offer and dodged a major bullet. But I mean, he's,

Implying that he wants to kidnap her and her children, saying, I want you to go on the submarine, but no one else is invited. It's pretty easy to read into these text messages what his intentions were. There was another string of messages. A colleague, Sarah, texted Madsen and jokingly said she needed threats to get her work done because she was moving slowly.

Madsen responded with text saying, He continued on that he would make a movie out of her murder and then cut her into pieces.

On August 10th, around noon, Madsen also invited Sarah to come on the submarine the following day. Sarah told the film crew she would have trusted him and gone on the sub, but the only thing that stopped her was Kim's interview and the subsequent tragedy. So Kim unexpectedly is going to be on the submarine. If she hadn't gone on it, then Sarah would have.

I, I'm glad she didn't. Uh, I don't know why those types of text messages would be, um, acceptable to anyone. I think I would get the creeps if somebody sent me that even in a joking manner, it would be, well, there's, there's funnier things. That's not my sense of humor. Uh, but you know, it's,

This trial goes on and throughout the trial, 40 witnesses gave testimony, 10 of them interns and volunteers of RML. There was footage from the documentary that was in progress that was provided to corroborate evidence in the trial. Interviews where Madsen talked about psychopathy and joked about murder.

Footage from the film showed the orange-handled saw that he obviously had brought along that day. He was also filmed with a large pipe just a day before Kim's interview with him on the sub. And these are just all the items that obviously they think were used in the commission of this murder. So how does this trial play out, Aaron?

Well, April 25th, 2018, the court found Madsen guilty on all charges and he was sentenced to life in prison. Of course, he automatically appealed to the Eastern High Court, but he didn't appeal the ruling, just the sentence of life in prison. His appeal was unsuccessful. And on September 26th, 2018, the Eastern High Court upheld the life imprisonment sentence.

Yeah. He wasn't even arguing that he was not guilty. He just wanted to be paroled or let out sooner. He won't even say he didn't do it. He just thought, oh, I don't deserve a life sentence. I'm better than all of you.

Yeah. And, you know, and here, Justin, we have more research that indicates how later he admits to killing Kim and he has new reasons for why this all happened. And I don't even care to go through that. This guy is a liar. And we know it's very obvious that he got Kim on the submarine and it could have been anyone. It could have been Sarah. It could have been Kim. It could have been another person.

His goal was to kill and dismember a woman on the Nautilus. Yeah. That was his goal. So I don't even care to hear from this guy. I mean, he later gets into trouble in jail. You know, this guy, he's a real piece of work. Yeah. I mean, he is a menace even while he's incarcerated. He threatens guards. He gets weapons. He files charges.

suits and and just he won't stop even after he's incarcerated yeah I don't know it almost feels like he just wants to get more press

Honestly, that's what it feels like to me. But Kim's parents wrote a book. It's called A Silenced Voice, The Life of Journalist Kim Wall. And it is translated in English, so you can buy it. Her parents were obviously frustrated by the media and the trial. Their daughter Kim was

Only viewed as a victim and they wanted her story, her life, her goals, her accomplishments to be told and to reach the world. It's important for them to have her memory based on who she was and how she lived and not how she died. And they say those were moments.

of a joyful and fulfilled life. And at that point, I 100% agree with her parents. I saw a long interview with her mother, and it's heart-wrenching to hear how they were treated and how their daughter was portrayed in the media.

Trelleborg's Alejandras Culture Prize presented Kim with the award posthumously. The Swedish Publicist Association's South Stipend was also awarded posthumously. Awards named in Kim's honor were presented to aspiring journalists or worthy publications. I love this because this is a way to keep her name out there and to continue to honor her.

All the money from the awards was added to the Kim Wall Memorial Fund, which awards female and non-binary journalists $5,000 to assist in their reporting. Kim described her reporting interests as the undercurrents of rebellion. And through the fund, more women and non-binary journalists continue her work. In the first year, the fund raised over $150,000 through donations.

Each year, the recipient or recipients are announced on Kim's birthday. The ceremony serves as a celebration of Kim's life and legacy that continues today. And all the recipients of the Kim Wall Fund awards in Kim's honor and donations made through organizations can be found on rememberingkimwall.com.

So anyway, if you'd like to learn more, I would definitely read the book by Ingrid and Joachim Wall, A Silenced Voice, The Life of Journalist Kim Wall. That's really your best source, I think, to learn more about Kim.

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