Danish Inventor Who Murdered Journalist On Submarine In 2017 Briefly Escapes Prison

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A police marksman and his dog observes convicted killer Peter Madsen threatening police with detonating a bomb while attempting to break out of jail in Albertslund, Denmark on Tuesday.

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Nils Meilvang/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Ima

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At a news conference, Copenhagen West Region Police confirmed that Madsen escaped Herstedvester Prison, in Albertslund on the outskirts of the capital, using a fake pistol and a belt that looked like a bomb. He was recaptured less than a mile from the prison, police said, according to the daily Jyllands-Posten.

A witness, Frank Jensen, was quoted by Ekstra Bladet as saying that Madsen had been driving a white van when he was surrounded by officers who then pulled him from the vehicle.

Madsen, 49, was first arrested in 2017 following his rescue after the sinking of the submarine he designed and built, the UC3 Nautilus. Wall, who had been working on a story about the inventor, was last seen alive on the vessel just prior to its sinking. It was more than a week before authorities found her torso washed up ashore in Copenhagen.

She was later found to have more than a dozen stab wounds in and around her genitals.

Madsen initially told police that he had dropped Wall safely ashore, but later changed his story multiple times – first, saying he had «buried her at sea after a heavy hatch fell on her head.

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Peter Madsen’s UC3 Nautilus submarine sits on a pier behind police tape in Copenhagen harbor, Denmark, in 2017 as authorities investigated the disappearance of Swedish journalist Kim Wall.

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The Two-Way
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He was found guilty of premeditated murder and sexual assault and sentenced to life in prison in 2018.

In a documentary that aired last month, Madsen reportedly admits for the first time to the murder, saying: «There is only one who is guilty, and that is me.