Introducing: Below the Surface from AbJack Entertainment

Below the Surface is a true crime podcast covering a variety of strange and bizarre cases with one common theme; a water connection. The show features both solved and unsolved cases, some of which are well known, while others have received little attention. 

In this special preview of episode 1, we explore the puzzling case of Kim Wall who was Best known for her articles in the Guardian, New York Times, and Vice, journalist. She disappeared in a submarine beneath the Oresund Strait after interviewing inventor, Peter Madsen, on August 10, 2017. We can only speculate what exactly happened below the surface, but upon the submarine’s resurface, Kim was missing, but Peter Masden was not.   

Below the Surface is hosted by Olivia McKenzie (Co host of True Crime Society). It's produced by Mike Morford of AbJack Entertainment (Co host of Criminology). Research and writing by Abagail Belcastro (Campus Killings)  

You can find Below the Surface on your favorite social media outlets.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/morbidology--3527306/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, listeners, this is Emily at Morbidology. I want to
invite you to listen to a special preview of a
brand new true crime podcast that I think you'll really enjoy.
It's called Below the Surface from ab Jack Entertainment, the
team that brought you the amazing DNAID Campus killings, Missing Persons,
the Murder in My Family and more. It's hosted by
established Australian podcaster Olivia McKenzie, the co host of True

(00:24):
Crime Society. In every episode of Below the Surface, you'll
hear about a new fascinating case with one common theme,
a water connection. In this preview of episode one, you'll
hear about the mysterious case of Kim Wall, a journalist
who went for a ride as a guest on a
submarine and was never seen again. You can listen to
episode one Kim Wall in the entirety right now. Just

(00:46):
search for Below the Surface on your favorite podcast player
or app. If you like the show, you can also
listen to episode two, which is out now. I'll include
links and other info for Below the Surface in the
show notes. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Thank you for checking out this special preview of Below
the Surface, the new podcast from Abjac entertainment that brings
you fascinating cases with the water connection. I'm your host, Olivia.
I'd like to play this short preview few of episode one.
Today I'll be unpacking the case of journalist Kim Wall,
best known for her articles in The Guardian, The New
York Times and Vice. The journalist disappeared in a submarine

(01:22):
beneath the Orison straight after interviewing inventor Peter Madson on
August tenth, twenty seventeen. We can only speculate what exactly
happened below the surface, but upon the submarine's resurface, Kim
was missing and Peter Madsen was not. To listen to
the full episode, search for Below the Surface on your
favorite podcast app. You'll also be able to check out

(01:44):
episode two, which is out now as well. Be sure
to subscribe to Blow the Surface so that you don't
miss a single episode. Thank you for listening. Let's dive in.
Born in nineteen eighty seven, Kim Ware grew up with
her parents and her older brother Tom in the tiny
town of Trellabori in the south of Sweden. Her parents,

(02:04):
Ingrid and Joachim were both journalists. Ingrid in finance and
economics and Joachim in photography. Their children's lives were filled
with newspapers every morning as the family ate breakfast. Kim
often accompanied her mother to interviews and assignments as a child,
so nobody in the family was surprised when Kim announced
that she wanted to be a journalist someday too, but

(02:26):
not the kind that her parents were. She wanted to
go places and write stories about the people nobody else
bothered to pose questions too. As a teenager, Kim's family
and friends described her as extremely driven and very impressive.
Nothing stopped her, and even after she met her goals,
she simply moved on to new ones. She never took
time to sit on her laurels. After high school, Kim

(02:50):
studied at the London School of Economics before getting her
masters from the prestigious School of Journalism at Columbia University,
where she graduated with honors at the top of her class.
In the years after Kim obtained her masters, finding work
with particular network or company proved almost impossible, as most
reporting networks were no longer hiring full time journalists. Instead,

(03:12):
these companies searched for freelancers who had already written articles
and paid them for their rights to publish their stories.
While this wasn't the most financially stable life, it worked
for Kim. She went on to freelance for some of
the world's most popular media outlets, including Vice, The Guardian,
The New York Times, and even the South China Morning Post.

(03:33):
One of her friends later told the BBC what made
her journalistic abilities so exceptional was that she looked for
quirky stories, but with a bigger narrative. Most of the
stories Kim focused on circled around subcultures, gender, and issues
in social justice. While her interests were vast and she
traveled frequently and wrote about her experiences in other countries,

(03:53):
her stories were always incredibly topical and allowed her audience
to see a deeper message beyond the reporting. She was
particularly skilled at digging deeply into her interviews, and she
never lost the humanity of her subjects the more she
wrote the more she traveled. By the age of thirty,
Kim had literally traversed the globe, interviewing everyone from voodoo

(04:15):
priests in Haiti to individuals identifying as vampires and gang
members of China's Tumil Tigers. She was quick witted street
smart and always prepared. Her friend Katerina recalled Kim, explaining
that she carried a photo of her and her parents
in her wallet when she traveled. This wasn't because of
any kind of emotional connection, but as a security measure

(04:35):
in case she got kidnapped. Katerina explained that's just who
Kim was. She was never afraid, always aware, and never reckless.
She'd interview anyone, but was always able to keep charge
of the situation with her Swedish bluntness and her carefully
placed decisions. That's how she got reclusive and shy people
to talk to her. It was also how she'd won

(04:58):
a fellowship with the International Women's Media Foundation to report
on Uganda and Sri Lanka. She'd also lighted a commission
to write a feature article for Harper's magazine. But the
world was not enough for Kim. There was always another
story to be told. So in twenty seventeen, when she
walked past a warehouse in Copenhagen belonging to the Rocket
Madsen's science lab, she saw a potential story. Kim had

(05:21):
no idea that this would be the last story she
would ever tell. In August of twenty seventeen, Kim and
her partner, Danish designer Ulla Stobi, were packing up their
apartment to move to Beijing in China. After almost a
decade of traveling the world and living in places for
less than three months, Kim and Ulla had decided to
settle permanently in Beijing to build a life together. But

(05:44):
as they walked through their Danish neighborhood a few months
before their departure date, Kim noticed a warehouse that had
escaped her previous notice. On the side of the building,
Rocket Madsen's space lab was painted in large letters. Some
cursory research informed her that RMS Labs, as it was
more commonly known, was a company for do it yourself

(06:04):
rocket and submarine projects. Its founder, Peter Madson, who was
often referred to as the Danish Elon Musk, was kind
of a celebrity in Denmark. He was a self proclaim
in entrepreneur who focused his engineering skills on ocean exploration
and space travel. In two thousand and eight, he made
headlines by inventing and building his own submarine, called the

(06:26):
UC three Nautilus. Peter was very keen on public interviews
surrounding his inventions, especially after going on to partner with
former NASA contractor Christian von Benksten. Together they formed Copenhagen Suborbitals,
which they described as a collective of amateur rocket makers,
funded by donations and working with the aim of launching

(06:47):
a manned rocket into space. Despite the co op dismantling
in twenty fourteen due to disagreements between Madsen and his
fellow engineers, Madsen went on to create his own company,
RMS Labs. Kim was enamored with Madsen's story. His world
was so removed from that of most people. Getting his
take on submarines and rockets was exactly the kind of

(07:09):
article Kim would be able to pitch to a media outlet.
But for all that Peter Madson liked the press, he
was a difficult man to get an exclusive interview from.
It took Kim several months before she was able to
schedule an interview with Peter, but on August tenth, twenty seventeen,
only a few days before she was due to leave
Copenhagen for good, Madsen finally agreed to not only give

(07:31):
her an interview, but a ride on his famous submarine.
Kim was ecstatic to get such an opportunity, and Ulla
walked her down to the dockyard. At around seven pm.
She shook hands with Madsen and bought it the nautilus.
Ulla snapped a photo of Kim waving from the top deck,
and then he went home to get ready for the
going away party that the couple were throwing to say
goodbye to their Danish friends. Kim's interview was only supposed

(07:55):
to take around two hours, and then she said she'd
joined Ulla at the party. By the time if Ulla
returned to their apartment, Kim had texted him I'm still alive,
by the way, but I'm going down now. I love you,
he as she meant Peter Madsen bought coffee and cookies,
though Ulla texted her back and went to prepare for
the party. By the two hour mark, Ulla expected to

(08:16):
hear that Kim was coming home, but his phone remained silent.
He texted her for an update, and he got no response.
By midnight, Kim hadn't returned, and Ulla and their party
guests were getting increasingly worried that something had gone wrong
with the submarine. When there had been no word from Kim.
By one forty five am, Ulla contacted the police to

(08:37):
report Kim missing. Authorities and harbor staff were contacted to
locate the Nautilus, but since the sub had no satellite tracking,
nobody could get in contact with Madsen to find out
if something had gone wrong. Local police and the harbor
staff watched the water all night for any sign of
the submarine, but the waters remained empty, at least until

(08:59):
ten th am. The next morning, the drought and Lighthouse
of Koha Bay reported that the Nautilus had been spotted.
Something was definitely wrong with it, though as rescue helicopters
tried to get in contact. As the subbury surfaced, Peter
Madsen blew through the top hatch, waving frantically at nearby
fishing boats. Four fishermen were able to pull Madsen to safety,

(09:21):
but he was alone. There was no sign of Kim
wall The fishermen sowed Madsen into Drauerport, where both police
and the media were waiting for him. Madsen was immediately
arrested for Kim's disappearance, and the Nautilus was resurfaced and
searched by investigators. They were hoping against hope that Kim
was still on board. Somewhere, but the sub was empty.

(09:44):
There was nobody else on board. Only Madsen knew the
truth about Kim. Could they get him to tell it?