Danish police find body amid hunt for missing reporter

By Ilker Girit

ISTANBUL

Danish police are reported to have found a female torso -- without arms, legs or head -- amid an ongoing search for a missing Swedish journalist.

Danish investigation leader Jens Moller Jensen said in a news briefing on Monday evening that they were, so far, unable to identify the body, local media reported.

Jensen added that it was also too early to say if "this female body is Kim Wall".

On Monday, police said 46-year-old Danish inventor, Peter Madsen -- who has been charged with the mysterious death of 30-year-old Wall -- claimed she died in an accident, and that he buried her at sea in a private submarine.

Wall had been onboard the craft as part of research she was conducting for a story on Madsen.

"The defendant has explained to the police and the Court that there was an accident on board which caused Kim Wall’s death and that he consequently buried her at sea at a non-defined location in the Bay of Koge," Copenhagen police said.

The statement also said that a "preliminary charge of manslaughter is upheld" for the Danish inventor.

Madsen, the private submarine’s owner, had invited the journalist on a short voyage on the night of Aug. 10, but Wall was later reported missing.

The sunken submarine was located by the emergency services on Aug. 11, according to local media, but Wall’s body remained unfound.

In his first police interrogation, Madsen denied the allegations, claiming Wall had left the 40-ton vessel of her own will.