Peter Madsen's DNA To Be Tested Against Unsolved Murders After Kim Wall's Death

The Danish inventor charged with killing Swedish journalist Kim Wall will have his DNA tested against unsolved murder cases, Swedish police said. Peter Madsen, 46, was charged with killing and dismembering the 30-year-old after she boarded his submarine to write a story on him in August. Police said they have additional cases involving dismembered bodies and want to test whether Madsen might have any connection, the Copenhagen Post reported.

While there was no explicit evidence Madsen was connected to any other crimes, police said testing Madsen’s DNA against other cases was merely standard protocol.

Wall was reported missing Aug. 10 after boarding Madsen’s homemade Nautilus submarine. Wall’s torso was recovered a week later — her head, arms and legs had been deliberately removed. Authorities finally located the rest of her body Saturday, stuffed inside a bag and weighted down with metal to make it sink. Madsen was charged with murder and abuse of a corpse, though he’s maintained Wall died in an accident on board the ship and has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Investigators, who had not yet revealed Wall’s exact cause of death, but said they believed Madsen killed her sometime Aug. 10 or 11, dismembered her and weighted her body down with metal. Wall’s skull revealed no sign of fracture or blunt violence, but her body had several stab wounds and stitches sewn onto her. Blood belonging to Wall was found inside the submarine and her DNA was found in scrapes on Madsen’s body.

In a preliminary hearing last week, Special Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen said investigators found videos on Madsen’s computer that depicted the real life torture and decapitation of women.

“We think it’s video recordings of true killing of women,” said Buch-Jepsen, according to Swedish newspaper The Ekstra Bladet.

Madsen, appearing in court via video conference, said the computer on which the videos were found was used by other people and not just him alone. His lawyer maintained his innocence, but a judge ruled he should be held until at least Oct. 31.

“It’s not just that we have the same grounds for arrest as before,” said Buch Jepsen. “But I think they are stronger than last time.”