COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Danish police said Wednesday that a headless torso found in the Baltic Sea has been identified as that of missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who is believed to have died on an amateur-built submarine that sank earlier this month.
Wall, 30, was last seen alive on Aug. 10 on Danish inventor Peter Madsen’s submarine, which sank off Denmark’s eastern coast the day after. Madsen, who was arrested on preliminary manslaughter charges, denies having anything to do with Wall’s disappearance.
The headless torso was found on a beach by a member of the public who was cycling on Copenhagen’s southern Amager island Monday, near where she was believed to have died. Copenhagen police said Tuesday that the arms and legs had “deliberately been cut off” the body.
Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen told reporters Wednesday that DNA tests confirmed the body matched with Wall. He said it was attached to a piece of metal, “likely with the purpose to make it sink.”
The body “washed ashore after having been at sea for a while,” he said. He added police found marks on the torso indicating someone tried to press air out of the body so that it would not float.