What we know about the search for the missing Swedish journalist in the Baltic Sea

A headless torso found in the Baltic Sea may belong to Kim Wall, police said.

ByABC News
August 22, 2017, 10:03 PM
This family handout photo shows Swedish journalist Kim Wall who died on board a submarine south of Copenhagen, Aug. 11, 2017.
This family handout photo shows Swedish journalist Kim Wall who died on board a submarine south of Copenhagen, Aug. 11, 2017.
Family Handout/AFP/Getty Images

— -- Danish investigators have discovered the torso of a woman in the same area where a Swedish journalist went missing after boarding a submarine, police announced Monday evening.

Kim Wall, a 30-year-old reporter, is believed to have died this month aboard an amateur-built submarine that sank in the Baltic Sea, The Associated Press reported. But, police said it is too early to tell if the torso -- which was found without a head, legs or arms -- is the remains of Wall.

Wall was to embark on a brief ride for a profile about 46-year-old Danish inventor Peter Madsen, according to The Associated Press. Wall's boyfriend later alerted authorities that the submarine had not returned, The AP reported.

Here's what we know about the search for Wall:

The submarine sank shortly after after setting sail

The UC3 Nautilus set sail from Refshale Island in Copenhagen on Aug. 10 around 7 p.m. local time with two people on board, the male owner and a female Swedish journalist, Copenhagen Police said in a press release the following day.

Police said a witness contacted them after almost colliding with the submarine on the Oresund Strait off southern Copenhagen heading toward Sweden on the evening of Aug. 10.

Around 3:39 a.m. the following day, authorities received an inquiry from the Joint Rescue Coordination Center regarding a possible marine accident, police said.

Onlookers at the Drogden Lighthouse later saw the submarine in the Koge Bay -- off Denmark's eastern coast -- around 10:30 a.m., police said. When authorities made radio contact with the submarine, the owner said they were heading toward the harbor. Thirty minutes later, the submarine "suddenly sank," police said, and the owner was rescued on a private motorboat, which sailed him to port.

Madsen was not identified on the initial police press release as the owner of the submarine. However, he appeared on Danish television on Aug. 11 to discuss the sinking of the submarine, The Associated Press reported.

Madsen is charged with Wall's death

Madsen was arrested and charged with killing the Swedish woman, police said on Aug. 11. The woman had not yet been identified as Wall.

The next day, police identified Wall as the missing woman and said that Madsen had been arrested on reasoned suspicion of negligent manslaughter.

PHOTO: Peter Madsen (R), builder and captain of the private submarine "UC3 Nautilus" talks to a police officer in Dragoer Harbor south of Copenhagen, Aug. 11, 2017.
Peter Madsen (R), builder and captain of the private submarine "UC3 Nautilus" talks to a police officer in Dragoer Harbor south of Copenhagen, Aug. 11, 2017, following a major rescue operation after the submarine sank in the sea outside Copenhagen Harbor. A swedish woman supposed to be on board the submarine is still missing.

At first, Madsen denied killing the woman, saying he dropped her off on land the night before at the tip of Refshale Island, police said. He later told police that there was an accident on board the submarine that caused Wall's death and that he buried her at sea, police announced Monday.

Madsen’s attorney, Betina Hald Engmark, told Danish television network TV2 on Monday that her client is cooperating with investigators and maintains his innocence.

Engmark said she could not comment on why Madsen changed his explanation as to what happened to Wall.

Madsen has taken people sailing in the submarine on several occasions, police said. He is known for financing his submarine project through crowdfunding, The AP reported.

Wall's remains were not found on the submarine

Soon after it sank, the submarine was lifted from the bottom of the Koge Bay and towed to a closed area on the North Sea, police said.

The submarine was then partially emptied of water so that it could be lifted onto land, police said. It was then taken to a closed hall for investigation.

PHOTO: Divers from the Danish Defence Command preparing for a dive in Koge Bugt near Amager in Copenhagen, Aug. 22, 2017, where a woman's torso was found yesterday.
Divers from the Danish Defence Command preparing for a dive in Koge Bugt near Amager in Copenhagen, Aug. 22, 2017 where a woman's torso was found yesterday. Swedish journalist, Kim Wall, went missing after going sailing with the submarine, UC3 Nautilus.

Wall's remains were not found on the submarine, Copenhagen Police Spokesperson Jens Moller Jensen said on Aug. 13, according to The AP.

Wall was last seen wearing an orange blouse with long sleeves, a black and white floral skirt, nylon stockings and white tennis shoes, police said.

The submarine was intentionally sunk, police say

After two days of investigations, police announced on Aug. 14 that the sinking of the UC3 Nautilus was allegedly the consequence of a deliberate act. Electronics from the submarine were then extracted for further investigation and to attempt to piece together the vessel's navigation route.

Divers, as well as authorities in helicopters and ships, have been searching a route along the Danish waters in southern Øresund and west of the Kobe Bay, police said.

Police find woman's torso in the Baltic Sea

Hours after Madsen told police that Wall had died on board the submarine as a result of an accident, search and rescue teams found a torso belonging to a woman, The AP reported.

PHOTO: Swedish journalist Kim Wall is seen standing in the tower of the private submarine "UC3 Nautilus" in Copenhagen Harbor.
Swedish journalist Kim Wall is seen standing in the tower of the private submarine "UC3 Nautilus" in Copenhagen Harbor.

Wall's family previously told The AP that, as a journalist, she worked in many dangerous places and that it was unimaginable that something could happen "just a few miles from her childhood home."

The investigation into Wall's death continues, police said.

The Associated Press contributed to this reported.