The Danish Man Who Murdered Journalist Kim Wall Has Been Recaptured After Breaking Out of Prison

On Tuesday, Peter Madsen—the Danish man convicted of sexually assaulting, torturing, and murdering journalist Kim Wall aboard his homemade submarine in 2017—escaped from the Copenhagen jail where he has been serving a life sentence since 2018, NBC News reports. He was quickly recaptured near the prison by West Copenhagen police. A press conference is expected to take place later today.

In 2017, Madsen was a “semi-celebrity” inventor in Denmark who invited Swedish journalist Wall onto his submarine for an interview. Her body was found nearly two weeks later.

Madsen was found aboard his sinking submarine on August 11, 2017, claiming to have brought Wall safely to shore. On August 21, when her body was found mutilated, he said she died in an accident aboard the sub. He continued to change his story as the details of her gruesome death became apparent, eventually admitting to dismembering her body, defiling her corpse and dumping her in the Baltic Sea, but not murdering Wall. Overwhelming evidence led to his conviction of “premeditated killing,” which is equivalent to murder stateside—Madsen had researched murder and dismemberment prior to Wall’s death, and he brought tools onto the submarine used to tie her up and kill her. He texted two people before the murder, saying Wall “should be tied up and tortured aboard the sub,” and “that ‘he had planned the perfect murder, one that would be a ‘great pleasure.’” During the highly publicized trial, prosecutors gave evidence of 15 stab wounds on Wall’s body, along with Madsen’s DNA.

Last month, a new Danish documentary titled, The Secret Recordings with Peter Madsen, was released—in it, Madsen admitted to killing Wall for the first time. “Yes. It’s my fault she died. And it’s my fault because I committed the crime,” he told journalist Kristian Linnemann in the doc. “It’s all my fault … There is only one who is guilty, and that is me.”

According to NBC News, life sentences in Denmark “usually mean 16 years in prison,” when convicts are reevaluated to see if they are still a danger to society.