Kim Wall's Family, Friends Speak Out After Journalist's Body Discovered

After Copenhagen police confirmed Wednesday they had identified the remains of missing freelance journalist Kim Wall, Wall’s friends and family around the world gathered to remember the 30-year-old’s life and work and share their memories of her. Wall was working on a story about Danish inventor Peter Madsen’s submarine when she went missing.

“It is with boundless sorrow and dismay that we received the news that the remains of our daughter and sister Kim Wall have been found,” her mother, Ingrid Wall, wrote on Facebook Wednesday. “The tragedy has not only affected us and the other family but friends and colleagues around the world. During the horrific days since Kim disappeared, we have had countless evidence of how loved and appreciated she was, as well as human and friend as a professional journalist.”

Police confirmed Wednesday a headless torso found off the coast of Denmark belonged to Wall. Wall was last seen Aug. 10 getting on the submarine with Madsen. After her boyfriend reported her missing, Madsen initially told police Wall left the submarine safely and that he had dropped her back on land. His story later changed and he told police Wall had an accident on the submarine and that he had dumped her body at sea in an "unspecified place" in Køge Bay, off the coast of Denmark.

Wall had traveled the world extensively for her work, writing for publications like the New York Times, the Guardian and the South China Morning Post, among others. A group of Wall’s former Columbia University journalism classmates gathered at the school’s Pulitzer Hall this week to remember her life.

“She was one of those people who could walk into a room and start up a conversation with anyone,” former classmate Dhiya Kuriakose told the Columbia Journalism Review. “It didn’t matter your background, where you came from, what language you spoke, she had something to talk to you about.”

Columbia professors remembered Wall as a diligent and curious journalist with an insatiable appetite for the truth.

“As a Chinese-American, I was always impressed by her breadth of knowledge when it came to China,” Justin Chan, another former classmate told the Columbia Journalism Review. “She was someone who set the standard in terms of reporting not only on China but also on social justice.”

Friends remembered her not only for her work but for her electric personality, as well.

“Kim was a rare breed,” Laura Dimon, a graduate school classmate, told Buzzfeed. “She’d ask about digging up city election records and in the same breath remind you, with great delight, that Shakira is pregnant.”

Authorities had not yet released Wall’s cause of death but said they were continuing to search for additional remains and other evidence. Madsen, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter and pleaded not guilty, maintained that her death was an accident. His lawyer said discovering the body did not change that.

“It doesn’t change my client’s explanation that an accident happened,” Betina Hald Engmark reportedly told Danish tabloid TB. “No matter what, we find it very positive that she has been found now.”