Peter Madsen is a Danish former engineer, artist, entrepreneur and convicted murderer who is infamous for the sexual assault and murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall aboard his submarine UC3 Nautilus.
Wiki/Biography
Peter Madsen was born on January 12, 1971 (50 years old in 2021) in Denmark as Peter Rankjaer Madsen. His star sign is Capricorn. Peter completed his primary and secondary education in the city of Høn, Denmark. While at school, his chemistry and physics teacher, Johannes Fischer, got him interested in rocket fuels and rockets. The first rocket he developed was one meter tall and its design was based on the American intercontinental ballistic missile MX Peacekeeper. He launched this rocket on March 3, 1986. In 1987, he was accepted into a high school in Kalundborg and moved there to study. Peter never completed any formal education, but he took welding and engineering courses to learn about submarines. Madsen was passionate about his projects, but this often caused conflicts with others.
Launch of the first rocket developed by Peter Madsen
appearance
Height (approximate): 5′ 9″
Hair color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Family and Race
Parents and siblings
Peter Madsen was born to Anne (mother) and Karl Madsen (father). His mother Anne had been married twice before marrying Karl and had three sons from her previous marriages. Peter had three stepbrothers and his father Karl abused all three of them except Peter. When Peter was six years old, Anne decided to leave Karl and moved away with her three children. In 1987, Peter moved to a youth home and studied at a high school in Denmark. When Karl Madsen died, Peter was 18 years old.
Anne and Karl Madsen with Peter Madsen
Relationships, Wife and Children
In November 2011, Peter Madsen got married at the City Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark. His wife worked in the film industry and decided to hide her identity. Peter was in an “open relationship” and had many extramarital affairs. During the court trial, he admitted that he often had sex with other women on the submarine he built. Peter was also a regular at various sexual fetish parties. During the trial, when more incriminating information surfaced, his wife decided to abandon him. In December 2019, Jenny Curpen, a former Russian journalist and illustrator living in exile in Finland, married the notorious killer Peter Madsen. Peter confirmed his marriage to the artist through a Facebook post.
Jenny Curpen, Peter Madsen’s second wife
project
Submarine (UC1 Freya)
Peter was interested in rockets and submarines since he was a child, and after finishing school, Peter took several welding and engineering courses to learn more about submarines and rockets. Madsen did not have a formal job, so all his projects were funded by people, organizations and businesses that saw his potential. Peter started building submarines, and the first private submarine built in Denmark was the Freya or UC1 Freya, which was built by Peter Madsen and Claus Norregaard in 2001-2002. The submarine completed 500 dives and was decommissioned.
UC2 Kraka
Peter and Claus’ second project was the Kraka (or UC2 Kraka), a diesel-electric mini-submarine. Completed in 2005, the submarine is 12.6 meters long and displaces 6 tons. The submarine is powered by a 16 hp diesel engine and an 8 hp electric motor. The submarine is currently on display at the Danish Technical Museum in Elsinore, Denmark.
UC3 Nautilus
The UC3 Nautilus is a small submarine built by Peter Madsen in 2008 with the help of several other volunteers. The submarine cost about $200,000 to build and can accommodate 4 to 8 people, depending on whether it is submerged or operating on the surface. In August 2017, the submarine was seized by authorities because Peter Madsen was convicted of murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall. She was last seen alive when she was on board with Madsen. In December 2018, the submarine was destroyed by authorities.
UC3 Nautilus sailing in the water after launching
Copenhagen Suborbital
In May 2008, Madsen and Danish architect Kristian Von Bengtson founded an amateur, crowdfunded, non-open-source human spaceflight program, Copenhagen Suborbitals. Since 2008, they have launched five rockets and two mock space capsules. In 2014, Peter Madsen withdrew from the program.
Rockett Madsen Space Laboratory
On July 16, 2014, Peter Madsen established a new laboratory in Copenhagen called “Rocket Madsen Space Lab”. In this laboratory, Madsen is committed to manufacturing rockets based on polyurethane and H2O2 hybrid engines. Since 2016, Peter has started to develop nanosatellite launch vehicles with venture capital.
Peter Madsen (center) and his team of volunteers at the Rocket Madsen Space Lab
The Disappearance and Murder of Kim Wall
Kim Wall is a Swedish freelance journalist who boarded the mini-submarine UC3 Nautilus to interview the submarine’s engineer and owner, Peter Madsen. On August 10, 2017, Kim Wall was preparing for a farewell party with her partner, Ole Staub. The couple had planned to move to Beijing on August 16, 2017; however, Kim received a message saying that Peter invited her aboard his submarine to interview her. Kim boarded the submarine with him at 7 pm, but the submarine never returned to port. Staub reported the incident to the police that night, and the next morning, people on the dock told the police and Staub that the submarine Nautilus was last seen near the Droden lighthouse before it sank. Peter Madsen was arrested by police on suspicion of murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall.
Swedish journalists Kim Wall and Peter Madsen on the UC3 Nautilus submarine
On August 21, 2017, a body washed up on the beach and was found by a nearby cyclist. An autopsy showed 15 stab wounds to the groin. Later, police searched the area near the beach and found two plastic bags containing Wall’s head, legs, clothes and a knife.
Police and coroner send Kim Wall’s torso to hospital
Arrest and trial
On August 11, 2017, Peter Madsen was arrested and taken into custody, where he was questioned about Kim Wall’s whereabouts. Peter gave a statement saying that he had dumped Wall on land. He later changed his story and said that Kim Wall died from blunt force trauma when the submarine’s hatch fell on her head. When her head was found, an autopsy showed no signs of blunt force trauma to the head. Madsen changed his story again and admitted to dismembering Kim Wall’s body. However, he still denied killing her and said that she must have died from breathing in toxic exhaust fumes from the submarine, but there were no signs of exhaust fumes in Kim’s lungs.
Peter Madsen enters a police car after being arrested
On January 16, 2018, Peter Madsen was charged with murder, sexual assault and indecent assault on a corpse, with prosecutors alleging that he had tortured and then killed journalist Kim Wall. His trial began in March 2018, and on April 25, 2018, he was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to life imprisonment.
In digital media
In January 2020, a Danish documentary based on the life of Peter Madsen, In Depth, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary was directed by Australian-born Emma Sullivan. The documentary was originally supposed to be released on Netflix, but was shelved by Netflix after the participants claimed that they had not given their consent for their names and images to appear in the film. The streaming platform announced that they had withdrawn from the deal.
Facts/Trivia
- Peter Madsen is good friends with former adult film actress Dort Damsgaard. Dort told a local newspaper that Peter had invited her to his submarine several times but she declined the invitations because she was claustrophobic. In an interview with the newspaper, she said –
There are two sides to him: He can be this well-spoken, charming guy who can talk for hours about his subs. And then… there’s this darker side. He makes no secret of his desires for his sexual fantasies, and he’s funny, manipulative, serious, and scary.”
- In April 2018, Peter Madsen was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to Storstrom Prison. While serving his sentence, Peter met a prison guard, a mother of two children, and the two began to talk frequently. Later, it was discovered that the prison guard had developed feelings for Peter and she fantasized about living with Madsen.
- On August 15, 2018, Peter Madsen was attacked by an 18-year-old inmate at Storstrøm prison. After the attack, Peter’s lawyers asked the court to transfer Madsen to Hestervist Prison in Denmark to protect him from further attacks.
- At the trial, Peter Madsen was sentenced to life imprisonment and was ordered to pay DKK 328,246.14 in compensation to Kim Wall’s parents, DKK 150,000 in compensation to Kim Wall’s Danish partner, and to cover the costs of the case.
- Peter Madsen’s father was an alcoholic who would often get drunk and beat his stepson. Peter was the favorite of his four children and he always managed to get away with the beatings.
- Peter had several close friends who initially supported him during the court hearings, but as more and more evidence came to light related to the murders, pointing to Peter’s guilt, his friends abandoned him. His wife would also attend the court hearings, but after hearing Peter’s confession during the trial, she decided to abandon him and leave town.
- According to a volunteer who worked with Peter Madsen at Suborbitals in Copenhagen, Peter was known to have a bad temper on the project. He said Peter used to act like “a kid who just lost a toy or dropped an ice cream or something,” occasionally throwing hammers and other tools.
- On June 27, 2014, Peter Madsen was invited as a guest speaker at the European Federation of Young Entrepreneurs event.
Peter Madsen speaking at a public event
- After his arrest in August 2017, police searched Madsen’s computer for evidence or links to the murders. In his search history, they found the murder video, and his top three porn categories were “throat,” “girls,” and “pain.”
- In October 2020, Peter Madsen attempted to escape from Hestervest Prison in Copenhagen. Peter managed to escape by threatening prison staff with a homemade explosive device. He was caught by the police 500 meters outside the prison. The bomb disposal team arrived at the scene and after several hours of testing, they confirmed that the explosive device was fake. On February 9, 2021, he was sentenced to 21 months in prison for attempting to escape.
Peter Madsen arrested by police after failed prison escape attempt
- On December 19, 2020, Jenny Curpen posted an illustration of herself and Peter Madsen together. She drew it as a gift for their first wedding anniversary.
She is pictured with Peter Madsen, painted by Jenny Curpen
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education