A headless and limbless corpse found in waters off Denmark was deliberately mutilated, say Copenhagen police.

But they say it is still too early to say whether it is the remains of Swedish journalist Kim Wall.

She was last seen alive on 10 August as she departed on a trip with submarine inventor Peter Madsen.

He initially said he had dropped her off safely near Copenhagen, but has since said she died in an accident and that he had "buried" her at sea.

The body has been sent for DNA analysis, but the results will not be available until Thursday morning.

Divers continue to search the waters near where the torso was discovered, but, despite some reported sightings, other remains have not been found.

"The current situation is that there is a torso in which arms, legs and head have been removed off as a result of deliberate cutting," said Jens Moller Jensen of the Copenhagen police.

"There is nothing about the length of the torso to indicate that it is not Kim Wall, but we do not yet know."
• Kim Wall: What we know and what we don't

Ms Wall, 30, was a freelance journalist who had graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She was based between New York and Beijing and had written for The Guardian and The New York Times.

She was reported missing by her boyfriend after she failed to return from what should have been a short trip to research a feature about Mr Madsen and his submarine, the Nautilus.

The submarine sank hours after the search for the journalist began, and Mr Madsen was charged with negligent manslaughter. Danish police believe the 40-tonne vessel was deliberately sunk by Mr Madsen, who was rescued before being arrested.

The torso was found on Monday in shallows off the densely populated Danish island of Amager, on which the Danish capital of Copenhagen is partly situated.

Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning </s> A headless torso found in waters off Denmark has been identified as missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall, Danish police say.

There was a "DNA match between [the] torso and Kim Wall", Copenhagen police said early on Wednesday.

Ms Wall was last seen alive on 10 August as she departed on a submarine trip with inventor Peter Madsen.

The submarine sank hours after the search for Ms Wall began. Mr Madsen was charged with negligent manslaughter.

He initially said he had dropped her off safely near Copenhagen, but has since said she died in an accident and that he had "buried" her at sea.

Danish police believe the 40-tonne submarine was deliberately sunk by Mr Madsen. He denies any wrongdoing.

Lead investigator Jens Moller Jensen said that DNA had been taken from Kim Wall's hairbrush and toothbrush at her home in Sweden and it matched the remains found on a beach south of Copenhagen on Monday. There was metal attached to the headless torso to ensure it sank, he added.

Blood found on the submarine itself had also been identified as belonging to the Swedish journalist. He would not comment on the cause of death but said a post mortem examination was being carried out and police were still looking for the rest of her body.
• What we know

Ms Wall, 30, was reported missing by her boyfriend in the early hours of 11 August, after she failed to return from a trip on Peter Madsen's homemade submarine, the Nautilus.

A freelance journalist who had written for the Guardian, New York Times and South China Morning Post, she was researching a feature about the inventor and the Nautilus, which he built in 2008 with crowdfunding.

Emergency services scoured the area of sea to the east of Copenhagen and the submarine was eventually spotted from a lighthouse south of the Oresund bridge between Denmark and Sweden. Within 30 minutes the vessel had sunk and Mr Madsen was rescued.

For 10 days, the search for the journalist continued. A torso was found by a passing cyclist on a beach near Koge Bay on Monday.

Police said the next day that the arms, legs and head had been deliberately cut off. They finally confirmed it was Kim Wall in a tweet early on Wednesday.

Mr Madsen's lawyer, Betina Hald Engmark, says her client has not confessed to anything. He pleaded not guilty in a closed-door judicial hearing earlier this month. </s> Copenhagen Police confirmed Wednesday morning that a torso washed up near Copenhagen is that of missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall.

“DNA match between torso and Kim Wall,” police wrote early on Wednesday in a tweet confirming the DNA match.

Lead investigator Jens Møller Jensen said at a press briefing at Copenhagen’s Politigården police headquarters on Wednesday morning that DNA from muscle taken from the torso and blood found in the submarine had been matched to samples from some of Kim Wall’s belongings.

“There’s a connection that tells us it is one and the same person… we have an identical DNA match from a hair brush and a toothbrush belonging to Kim Wall, from blood in the submarine, and from the torso on which we conducted autopsy yesterday,” he said.

The lead inspector also told media that it appeared Wall's body had been tampered with to make it sink.

“With regard to the autopsy, I can add that there are some injuries to the torso that appear to have been caused deliberately in an attempt to ensure that air leaves the body to prevent it from floating or leaving the sea bed.”

“Similarly, metal was attached to the body, ostensibly to make sure that it sank to the bottom,” Jensen said.

The inspector added that he considered the DNA match to be a “relatively big breakthrough” in the investigation of Wall’s death.

The discovery of the torso and Wall’s disappearance could now be treated as one and the same case, he said.

The torso was found near the shore on the island of Amager on Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday, police said that the body’s arms, legs and head had been ‘deliberately’ removed.

“Current status is that there is a torso whereby the arms, legs and head have been removed by means of deliberate cutting,” lead investigator Jens Møller Jensen said in a video statement released to press via Twitter on Tuesday.

Freelance journalist Wall went missing after having boarded the 18-metre UC3 Nautilus sub on the evening of August 10th, apparently as part of her work on a feature story about its owner, inventor and entrepreneur Peter Madsen.

Madsen was brought back alone to a harbour on Copenhagen on Friday after the vessel sank in waters near Køge Bay.

The submarine owner initially claimed that he had brought Wall back to land at around 10.30pm on the night of her disappearance.

On Monday August 14th, police said that they believed the Nautilus to have been sunk deliberately, after the vessel was raised and brought to land for forensic examination.

Copenhagen Police confirmed on Monday morning that Madsen told Copenhagen City Court on August 12th that he had buried Wall at sea after she died on board due to an “accident”.

That information was kept behind closed doors by the court until Monday.

Madsen’s lawyer Betina Hald Engmark told the BT tabloid on Wednesday morning that the DNA match does not change the explanation given by her client for Wall’s death.

“The DNA match does not change my client’s explanation that there was an accident,” Engmark told the newspaper.

“We consider it to be a positive thing that she [Wall, ed.] has now been found,” she added.

Police will continue searching in waters off Copenhagen for the remaining parts of the body, Jensen confirmed on Wednesday.

A call by police for any witnesses who may have seen the submarine on the night of Wall’s disappearance or following morning still stands, he added.

The investigation will proceed with further forensic testing as well as ongoing collection of witness statements.

READ ALSO: Kim Wall died in accident on board submarine: Peter Madsen </s> Copenhagen: Danish police have identified a headless female torso found in the Copenhagen waterside as that of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who police believe was killed on a home-made submarine.

"DNA match between torso and Kim Wall," the police said on Twitter on Wednesday, declining to comment further until a press briefing in the morning.

Danish inventor Peter Madsen, charged with killing Wall on his submarine, told the court she had died in an accident and that he "buried" her at sea, changing his previous statement that he dropped her off alive in Copenhagen.

The body was found on Monday by a passing cyclist and police said then it was too early to identify the body which was missing its head, legs and arms.

The case has been followed closely by Danish and Swedish media and has drawn interest from around the world.

Madsen has been charged with manslaughter of Wall who has been missing since he took her out to sea in his 17-metre submarine on August 10. He denies the charge.

He was rescued a day after his UC3 Nautilus sank. Police found nobody else on the vessel.

Danish and Swedish maritime authorities used divers, sonar and helicopters in the search for the body in Koge Bay, south of the city, and in the Oresund Strait between the two countries.

Madsen, an entrepreneur, artist, submarine builder and aerospace engineer, appeared before a judge on August 12 for preliminary questioning. The case is not open to the public to protect further investigations, police said. </s> Police in Denmark have confirmed that a body that was found washed up on shores near Copenhagen on Monday had its arms, legs and head "deliberately" removed.

In a video statement released to press via Twitter, lead investigator Jens Møller Jensen stressed that it is still uncertain whether the body is that of missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall.

The torso was found near the shore on the island of Amager yesterday afternoon.

“Current status is that there is a torso whereby the arms, legs and head have been removed by means of deliberate cutting,” Jensen said.

“The length of the torso means that there is nothing to suggest that it is not Kim Wall, but we do not yet know,” he said.

Samples taken for DNA testing would provide further information in the identification of the body by Wednesday morning, the investigator added.

“Material has been taken for DNA analysis. We will not have the results until tomorrow, and it must then be matched against DNA material from Kim Wall,” he said.

At a press briefing on Monday evening, Jensen confirmed that the female torso, without arms, legs or head, had been found in water off the island of Amager.

“We have recovered the body in the proper manner. It is the torso of a woman… The torso has been taken to the Department of Forensic Medicine [at the University of Copenhagen, ed.] where an inquest will be conducted,” he said.

“Clearly, the police, like the media and everyone else, are speculating as to whether [the body] is Kim Wall. It far, far too early to say anything about that. We simply do not know,” the lead investigator added.

READ ALSO: Kim Wall died in accident on board submarine: Peter Madsen

Jensen also said during the Monday briefing that the body bore clear signs of having been submerged in the water for some time, with Jensen saying that the body had “certainly not fallen in the water today.”

Freelance journalist Wall went missing after having boarded the 18-metre UC3 Nautilus sub on the evening of August 10th, apparently as part of her work on a feature story about its owner, inventor and entrepreneur Peter Madsen.

Madsen was brought back alone to a harbour on Copenhagen on Friday after the vessel sank in waters near Køge Bay.

The submarine owner initially claimed that he had brought Wall back to land at around 10.30pm on the night of her disappearance.

On Monday August 14th, police said that they believed the Nautilus to have been sunk deliberately, after the vessel was raised and brought to land for forensic examination.

Copenhagen Police confirmed on Monday morning that Madsen told Copenhagen City Court on August 12th that he had "buried Wall at sea" after she died on board due to an “accident”.

That information was kept behind closed doors by the court until yesterday.

Jensen also said in the press message released on Tuesday that police were continuing to search in the water near where the torso was discovered in an effort to find other remains.



 Police divers on the shore of Amager on Tuesday. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Scanpix </s> The headless body identified as that of missing journalist Kim Wall was intentionally weighed down with a piece of metal before it washed up on a Copenhagen beach, officials said Wednesday.

The body of the 30-year-old journalist, who disappeared earlier this month after the home-built submarine she was on with another person foundered, was discovered Monday attached to a piece of metal, "likely with the purpose to make it sink", Copenhagen police chief Jens Moeller Jensen told reporters. Copenhagen police said Tuesday that Wall's head, arms and legs had "deliberately been cut off" her body.

Wall's body "washed ashore after having been at sea for a while," Moeller Jensen said, adding police also found marks on the torso, indicating someone tried to press air out of the body so that it wouldn't float.

In addition to the the grim discovery on the beach, authorities found dried blood belonging to Wall inside the submarine.

"On Aug. 12, we secured a hair brush and a toothbrush (in Sweden) to ensure her DNA. We also found blood in the submarine and there is a match," Moeller Jensen said.

While DNA tests confirmed Wednesday the torso is Wall's, the cause of the journalist's death is not yet known, police said, adding they were still looking for the rest of her body.

Wall was last seen alive on Aug. 10 on Danish inventor Peter Madsen's submarine, which police believe he intentionally sank off Denmark's eastern coast the following day.

Madsen, 46, who has been arrested on preliminary manslaughter charges, denies having anything to do with Wall's death.

The inventor initially told investigators Wall disembarked from the submarine to a northern Copenhagen island several hours into their trip and that he didn't know what happened to her afterward. But he later told authorities "an accident occurred on board that led to her death" and he "buried" her at sea.

Madsen also told a local television station last week the sub sank due to technical issues.

“I was toying with various things on the submarine and then an error occurred,” he told TV2 immediately after the sub sank.

Madsen's defense lawyer said Wednesday her client still maintains he didn't kill Wall, and the discovery of her torso doesn't mean he's guilty.

"It doesn't change my client's explanation that an accident happened," Betina Hald Engmark told Danish BT tabloid, adding "no matter what, we find it very positive that she has been found now."

What is likely the last picture taken of Wall showed the freelance journalist, smiling, aboard the sub and standing alongside Madsen, whose back is turned, just before the Nautilus departed on its ill-fated voyage.

Wall, who was based in Brooklyn, N.Y., had been writing about Madsen and the Nautilus at the time of the incident. Wall freelanced for publications such as the New York Times, The Guardian and Vice magazine, and had studied at the Sorbonne university in Paris and the London School of Economics. She also received a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York in 2013.

Her family had told The Associated Press she was working on a piece on Madsen, adding that she had worked in many dangerous places as a journalist, and it was unimaginable "something could happen...just a few miles from the childhood home."

In an email to the AP, the family said it received the confirmation of her death "with boundless sadness and dismay," adding "the tragedy has hit not only us and other families, but friends and colleagues all over the world."

The International Women's Media Foundation said it was "deeply saddened" to receive confirmation Wall had died.

"She was dogged in her pursuit of important and sometimes quirky stories," the organization said in a statement. "She was adored by those who knew her."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - - Aug 10: Kim Wall goes on submarine trip with Peter Madsen. They are the only two people on the sub. It is the last time Wall is seen alive.

- Aug. 11: Major search for submarine after Wall's Danish boyfriend alerted authorities that the sub had not returned. Madsen is saved from sinking submarine south of Copenhagen. Wall is nowhere to be found. Madsen is arrested and claims Wall disembarked from the submarine to a Copenhagen island several hours into their trip.

- Aug. 12: Madsen appears before a pre-trial custody hearing on preliminary charges of manslaughter while police investigate. In Denmark, preliminary charges are a step short of formal charges.

- Aug. 13: The submarine is raised and brought onshore in northern Copenhagen.

- Aug 21: The dismembered torso of Wall is found at sea off Copenhagen.

- Aug. 25: Madsen also faces preliminary charges of indecent handling of a corpse.

- Aug. 23: Copenhagen police says DNA test confirms it is Wall's torso.

- Sept. 5. During a four-hour pre-trial custody hearing, Madsen claims Wall died accidentally when she hit by a 70-kilogram (155-pound) hatch on the UC3 Nautilus submarine, after which he "buried" her at sea. He later changes that claim when Wall's head is found with no skull fractures.

- Oct. 4: Police say 15 stabs found on Wall's torso, and videos of women being tortured, decapitated and killed are found on Madsen's computer. They are not produced by Madsen but considered real (so-called snuff videos).

- Oct. 7: Police announce head, two legs and clothes found in plastic bags a day earlier. Dental records help in the identification of Wall.

- Nov. 22: Left arm is found by divers in the sea south of Copenhagen. Belongs to Wall.

- Nov. 29: Right arm is found by divers in the sea south of the Danish capital. Belongs to Wall.

- Jan. 12: Police stop searching for cell phones of Wall and Madsen believed to have been thrown at sea.

- Jan. 16: Madsen is charged with murder, dismemberment and indecent handling of a corpse, among other things.

- March. 8: Trial against Madsen starts at the Copenhagen City Court where he faces a judge and two jurors.

- April 25: Last trial day. Verdict to be announced. </s> Danish police say body found near Copenhagen was Kim Wall's

Danish police have identified the journalist Kim Wall as the woman whose body was found on the Copenhagen waterfront. A wealthy inventor claims that he "buried" her at sea after she died in an accident on his sub....
• In the last 1 day
• Body found in search for missing USS John S. McCain sailors DW World (Yesterday) - The remains of some missing Navy sailors have been found in a compartment of the...
• Danish police say body found near Copenhagen was Kim Wall's </s> Danish police have identified the journalist Kim Wall as the woman whose body was found on the Copenhagen waterfront. A wealthy inventor claims that he "buried" her at sea after she died in an accident on his sub....
• In the last 3 hours
• Danish police say body found near Copenhagen was Kim Wall's DW World (Today) - Danish police have identified the journalist Kim Wall as the woman whose body was found...
• In the last 2 days
• Body found in search for missing USS John S. McCain sailors DW World (Yesterday) - The remains of some missing Navy sailors have been found in a compartment of the...
• Danish police say body found near Copenhagen was Kim Wall's
A headless dismembered torso found washed ashore in Copenhagen two days ago is identified as Kim Wall. According to a police spokesperson, the body was deliberately mutilated and had metal attached to it so that it would not float.