Peter Langkjær Madsen (; born 12 January 1971) is a Danish convicted murderer and former entrepreneur. In April 2018, he was convicted of the 2017 murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall on board his submarine, ''

UC3 Nautilus ''UC3 Nautilus'' was a privately built Danish midget submarine. It was built over a three-year period by Peter Madsen and a group of volunteers, and cost approximately US$200,000 to build (1.5 million DKK). The submarine was Madsen's third subm ...

'', and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

Biography

Madsen was born in 1971 to Annie and Carl Madsen. He spent his early life in Sæby and

Høng Høng is a town with a population of 4,355 (1 January 2022)Kalundborg Municipality), Denmark. Annie was more than 30 years younger than Carl and had three other boys from two previous men. Carl was allegedly abusive toward his three stepsons. Annie left when Peter was six, taking the children with her. After a couple of years, Madsen returned to his father, with whom he shared an interest in rockets. While attending primary and secondary school in Høng, Madsen developed an interest in rocket fuel with the help of chemistry and physics teacher Johannes Fischer. He developed his first large rocket at Høng and launched it on 3 March 1986. It was one meter tall, modelled after the American ICBM MX Peacekeeper and built in his father's workshop. It reached a height of before crashing without harming anyone. In 1987, Madsen was accepted at the gymnasium (upper secondary school) in the nearby town of

Kalundborg Kalundborg () is a Danish city with a population of 16,211 (1 January 2022), He moved to live in a youth house in the town. His father died in 1990 when Peter was 18. Madsen continued to experiment and to consult engineers, and became friendly with the family responsible for the fireworks in Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens. He also joined the Dansk Amatør Raket Klub (DARK) rocket club in Copenhagen, but the other members gradually became disillusioned with him. DARK members claimed that "saying his name would start the fire sprinkler system". He never finished any formal education, but took courses in welding and engineering to learn something about submarines. His enthusiasm brought impressive results, but also caused conflicts with others. Madsen funded his lifestyle through financial support from people, organizations, and enterprises which saw promise in him.

Personal life

Madsen was married at Copenhagen City Hall in November 2011. His wife had worked in the film industry and had also helped in Madsen's workshop at Refshaleøen, Copenhagen. In February 2018, it was reported that his wife had abandoned him after he was charged with murder. Madsen said that he had lived in an "open relationship". His wife has chosen to remain anonymous and her identity has not been released by the media. According to a report from Wired magazine, Madsen was a regular at fetish parties. On December 19, 2019, Madsen married 39-year old Russian-Mauritian opposition activist Jenny Curpen. Curpen has had political asylum in Finland since 2013, because of her persecution in Russia. In a post on Facebook, Curpen said that she received death threats after her marriage was made public. According to a Facebook entry of Jenny Curpen, they divorced on January 7, 2022.

Projects

Submarines

Madsen built three submarines: ''

UC1 Freya ''Freya'' or UC1 ''Freya'' (in Danish: ''Freja'') was the first private Danish submarine, and thus first amateur electric sub in Denmark. It was built by Peter Madsen and Claus Nørregaard in 2001–2002, as a demonstrator to try submarine techn ...

'', ''

UC2 Kraka ''Kraka'', or UC2 ''Kraka'' was an amateur-built midget submarine completed in 2005, the first diesel–electric amateur sub in Denmark. It was built by Peter Madsen, Claus Nørregaard and several other people. The overall length was , and it dis ...

'' and ''

''. The ''Nautilus'' was a privately built midget submarine, launched on 3 May 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Constructed over three years, it cost approximately US$200,000 to build (1.5 million DKK).

Copenhagen Suborbitals

On 1 May 2008, Madsen co-founded Copenhagen Suborbitals with Danish Architect

Kristian von Bengtson Kristian von Bengtson (born August 1974) is a Danish architect, specializing in crewed spaceflight, a resident of Copenhagen and married to animation director Karla von Bengtson. He is most notable for his involvement in founding Copenhagen Suborbi ...

. In June 2014, he left the project. Madsen was responsible for the launch system, launchpad and booster rocket engines.

Rocket Madsen Space Lab

In June 2014, Madsen established RML Spacelab ApS. The goal was the development and construction of a crewed spacecraft. From 2016, RML was developing a nano satellite launch vehicle using venture investments. Under the title Madsen has blogged about his activities on the website of the Danish news magazine '' Ingeniøren''.

Murder of Kim Wall and sinking of ''UC3 Nautilus''

Murder

On 11 August 2017, Madsen was arrested after the sinking of ''

'' and the disappearance of Kim Wall, a Swedish journalist who had last been seen alive aboard the submarine. The following day, a court ruled that he be held in pre-trial detention for 24 days on a charge of negligent homicide. Madsen initially claimed that he had dropped Wall off on land at the tip of Refshaleøen on the night before the sinking. He later changed his statement, saying that she had died on board in an accident, and that he had buried her at sea. According to the

Danish police The Police of Denmark ( da, Politiet, fo, Løgreglan, kl, Politiit) is the Danish National Police force, and the interior part of the Danish security forces (the Danish military being the exterior) in the Kingdom ( The Danish Realm: Denma ...

, the submarine was deliberately sunk, contradicting Madsen's explanation regarding a technical fault. A human torso washed up on the coast of

Amager Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...

on 21 August, which DNA tests concluded belonged to Wall. Chief investigator Jens Møller reported that the torso had been stabbed multiple times to vent accumulating gases that could float it to the surface, and that a piece of metal had been fastened to it to ensure its sinking to the seabed. On 25 August, Madsen's charge was extended to improper handling of a corpse.

Trial and conviction

During a hearing on 5 September, Madsen stated that Wall had been killed when he lost his grip on the submarine's hatch cover, which he was holding open for her, and it hit her on the head, causing her skull to fracture. On 7 October 2017, Royal Danish Navy divers assisting the police found Wall's head, arms and legs, along with a knife and pieces of her clothing, in bags at the bottom of Køge Bay, weighted down by pieces of metal. A police spokesperson reported that there were no fractures to Wall's skull. A post-mortem examination of the torso found "knife wounds to her genitals and ribcage", believed to have been caused "around or shortly after her death". The prosecution said that police had found videos on Madsen's computer showing women being murdered, and that witnesses said that they had seen Madsen watching videos of decapitation and practising asphyxiation sex. On 30 October 2017, it was reported that Madsen had changed his account of Wall's death and admitted dismembering her body. It was reported that he now claimed that she had died from carbon monoxide poisoning on board the submarine, but his legal representation denied this, saying that Madsen did not know how she died. It was later confirmed by the police that he had made no clear statement on how she had died, but had said that she was inside the submarine when it contained exhaust gases. In January 2018, Madsen was charged with

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

, indecent handling of a corpse (due to dismemberment), and sexual assault (due to stabbings in genital region). The prosecution accused him of having bound, hit, cut and stabbed Wall before killing her by cutting her throat or strangling her. Madsen's trial began on 8 March 2018 with him pleading not guilty to Wall's murder. On 25 April 2018, Madsen was found guilty of all charges, and sentenced to

. A psychiatric evaluation of Madsen described him as a narcissistic psychopath, lacking in empathy but not psychotic or delusional. Madsen immediately appealed the sentence but not the guilty verdict. On 26 September 2018, the Østre Landsret (High Court of Eastern Denmark) upheld the sentence.

Later events and escape

Madsen was admitted to the hospital in August 2018 after being assaulted by an 18-year-old inmate in Storstrøm Prison. Madsen was also in a relationship with a female prison guard, before she left. On 20 October 2020, Madsen escaped from prison. He was arrested again in a nearby residential area, however, not far from

Herstedvester Prison Herstedvester Prison ( da, Herstedvester Fængsel) is a prison in Herstedvester, Greater Copenhagen, Denmark, for treatment by the Danish Prison and Probation Service. It houses convicted felons and in some cases also people with custody rulings ...

. When police discovered that he was in possession of a pistol-like object and was wearing a belt that could potentially contain explosives, he was surrounded until bomb experts had determined that it was a decoy. On 9 February 2021, a Copenhagen court handed down a 21-month prison sentence to Madsen, for his attempted escape from jail. The additional sentence will not be added to the life sentence, but may play a role if a probation request were ever made.

Media

On 24 January 2020, a Danish documentary, '' Into the Deep'', premiered at the

Sundance Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

in Utah, United States. The 90-minute documentary was directed by Australian-born Emma Sullivan and chronicles Peter Madsen and a group of volunteers helping Madsen with his projects – shot as it happens before, during, and after the murder of Kim Wall. ''

The Investigation ''The Investigation'' (original title ''Śledztwo'') is a science fiction/ detective/ thriller novel by the Polish writer Stanisław Lem. The novel incorporates a philosophical discourse on explanation of unknown phenomena. It was first publis ...

'' (''Efterforskningen'') is a Danish-language television dramatisation created by Tobias Lindholm, which follows the criminal investigation of the case. The six-part series premiered on 28 September 2020 on

TV2 Channel 2 or TV 2 may refer to: Television networks, channels and stations *Channel 2 (Iran), operated by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting *Channel 2 (Israel), a commercial television station *, entertainment and music television in Latvia * ...

and SVT. It features Søren Malling as chief inspector Jens Møller, Pilou Asbæk as special prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen and Rolf Lassgård and Pernilla August as Wall's parents. The TV series does not feature the crime itself and does not mention Madsen's name, whose character does not appear onscreen either; it focuses on the investigative work leading to his indictment and conviction. It has been compared to the 2020 BBC series '' The Salisbury Poisonings''. The series was broadcast on UK's

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

between 22 January and 5 February 2021.

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

began showing it on 1 February 2021.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Madsen, Peter 1971 births Living people 21st-century Danish criminals Danish male criminals Aerospace engineers Copenhagen Suborbitals Danish naval architects Danish people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Denmark People with narcissistic personality disorder Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Denmark Rocket scientists Space advocates People convicted of sexual assault People with antisocial personality disorder