Danish Sub Inventor Describes Journalist’s Death to Skeptical Court<br />Questioned by lawyers during a court appearance that lasted four and a half hours, Mr. Madsen furnished many details<br />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?<br />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.<br />Mr. Madsen found a rope, he said, and tied it to Ms. Wall’s legs, to pull her out<br />through the hatch, in the process tearing off her pantyhose and her shoes.<br />In court on Tuesday, Mr. Madsen confirmed that Ms. Wall had first contacted him to talk about rockets,<br />but became intrigued by his submarines and wanted to go along for a ride.<br />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.<br />Madsen, who was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter, to manslaughter, which in Danish law implies intentional homicide and is the legal equivalent of murder.<br />Then, he said, he climbed through the hatch, which weighs about 150 pounds,<br />and was holding it open for Ms. Wall to follow him onto the bridge of the submarine.<br />Believing his career was over, and out of fear and desperation, Mr. Madsen said, he decided to bury the body at sea.
