The inventor accused of killing a Swedish journalist aboard his homemade submarine a heavy hatch door fatally struck her on the head.
Peter Madsen, the Danish scientist charged with killing 30-year-old Kim Wall, told a Danish court Tuesday he even considered killing himself before ultimately sinking his sub.
The freelance reporter was aboard Madsen’s UC3 Nautilus on Aug. 11 for a story about the eccentric scientist when the door allegedly struck her on the head.
Madsen said he lost his footing and thus his hold of the roughly 150-lb. lid, The Copenhagen Post reports.
When he was able to get it back open, Madsen found Wall was bleeding and he went into shock.
"There was a (pool) of blood where she had landed," he’s quoted telling the court.
Madsen took the sub further out to sea, where he claims he pushed her intact body overboard, according to the newspaper.
He stuck by his decision — given the circumstances.
Crews are sweeping the Nautilus, which Madsen is believed to have intentionally sank after Wall's death.(MOGENS FLINDT/AP)
“In the shock I was in, it was the right thing to do,” he told the court.
At one point Madsen considered killing himself, too, but had a change of heart and simply sunk his submarine.
The journalist’s headless torso was found in the waters near Copenhagen more than a week after she boarded the ill-fated vessel.
Madsen’s claim that Wall hit her head is the latest in a bizarre case filled with twists and turns.
Wall was last seen boarding the 60-foot sub in Copenhagen on Aug. 11.
Her boyfriend reported Wall and Madsen missing when they didn’t return home that evening.
Madsen was rescued about 15 hours later when the Nautilus sank. He initially said he dropped Wall off on an island less than four hours into the trip.
He turned that story around within a week, however, and said she accidentally died aboard the sub — but didn’t explain how.
Wall was profiling Madsen at the time of her death. (TOM WALL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
When her torso was discovered without limbs on Aug. 21, police said it was intentionally mutilated and attached to a piece of metal so it would sink.
The 46-year-old inventor was later hit with murder as well as other charges.
Madsen in court denied that he touched Wall’s body — indicating the dismembering must’ve happened after he threw her into the sea.
He pleaded not guilty to murdering Wall, but admitted he messed up in disposing her body, according to The Copenhagen Post.
The 40-ton Nautilus — where crews initially found blood stains matching Wall’s DNA — is currently stored at a dock in Copenhagen.
Last week, a search crew went through the sub in search of secret compartments.
