COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A headless torso found on a beach off Copenhagen has been identified as that of missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who is believed to have died on an amateur-built submarine earlier this month, Danish police said Wednesday.
Wall, 30, was last seen alive Aug. 10 on Danish inventor Peter Madsen's submarine, which police said he intentionally sank off Denmark's eastern coast the following day.
Madsen, 46, who was arrested on preliminary manslaughter charges, denies having anything to do with Wall's disappearance.
Her family said the freelance journalist was working on a story about Madsen.
The torso was found Monday on a beach by a member of the public who was cycling on Copenhagen's southern Amager island, near where Wall was believed to have died. Copenhagen police said Tuesday her head, arms and legs had "deliberately been cut off" her body.
DNA tests confirmed the torso is Wall's, Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen told reporters Wednesday. He said it was attached to a piece of metal "likely with the purpose to make it sink."
The body "washed ashore after having been at sea for a while," he said.
He added police found marks on the torso indicating someone tried to press air out of the body so it wouldn't float.
Dried blood belonging to Wall was also found inside the submarine, he said.
"On Aug. 12, we secured a hairbrush and a toothbrush (in Sweden) to ensure her DNA. We also found blood in the submarine, and there is a match," Moeller Jensen said.
The cause of the journalist's death is not known, police said, adding they still were looking for the rest of her body.
Madsen, who remains in police custody on suspicion of manslaughter, initially told investigators Wall disembarked from the submarine to a northern Copenhagen island several hours into their trip, and he didn't know what happened to her afterward.
He later told authorities "an accident occurred onboard that led to her death," and he "buried" her at sea.
Madsen's defense lawyer said 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."
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