DNA from headless torso matches Swedish journalist, Danish police say

Danish police said Wednesday that a DNA test from a headless torso found in the Baltic Sea matches that of missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who is believed to have died on an amateur-built submarine that sank.

Wall, 30, was last seen alive on Aug. 10 on Danish inventor Peter Madsen's submarine, which sank off Denmark's eastern coast the day after. Madsen, who was arrested on preliminary manslaughter charges, denies having anything to do with Wall's disappearance.

He initially told police that she disembarked from the submarine to a Copenhagen island several hours into their trip and that he did not know what happened to her afterward, but later told authorities "an accident occurred onboard that led to her death" and he "buried" her at sea.

The headless torso was found by a member of the public Monday near where she was believed to have died. Copenhagen police said Tuesday that the arms and legs had been "deliberately been cut off" the body.

In a brief statement, police said Wednesday tests found the torso matched with Wall, and a news conference was scheduled later Wednesday.

Wall, a Sweden-born freelance journalist, studied at the Sorbonne university in Paris, the London School of Economics and at Columbia University in New York, where she graduated with a master's degree in journalism in 2013.

She lived in New York and Beijing, her family said, and had written for the New York Times, the Guardian, the South China Morning Post and Vice Magazine, among other publications.

In a Facebook post, Wall’s mother, Ingrid Wall, said the family was waiting for a number of questions to be answered.

UPDATES:

8:53 a.m.: Updated with a post from Wall’s mother.

This story was originally posted at 12:23 a.m.