Havfruemordet

What Is the Series About?

Havfruemordet — which translates from Danish as The Mermaid Murder — is a Danish true-crime documentary series produced for DRTV, the streaming platform of Denmark's public broadcaster DR. Released in 2019, the series examines one of Scandinavia's most shocking and widely followed criminal cases of the twenty-first century: the 2017 murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall aboard Danish inventor Peter Madsen's homemade submarine, UC3 Nautilus, in the waters off Copenhagen. DRTV lists the documentary in its true-crime and crime documentary category with a runtime of approximately 43 minutes per entry, though the exact number of episodes in the series has not been officially confirmed in available public metadata.

The title Havfruemordet is a direct reference to the case's setting in Danish waters — waters culturally associated with Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid — and to the grim manner in which Wall's remains were recovered from the sea. The series forms part of DRTV's broader slate of Nordic true-crime productions, a genre that has seen significant growth across Scandinavian public broadcasters in recent years.

The Case

On the evening of 10 August 2017, Kim Wall — a freelance journalist of Swedish nationality whose work had appeared in major international publications — boarded the UC3 Nautilus, a privately built submarine constructed by Peter Madsen, a Danish inventor and self-styled rocket and submarine enthusiast. Wall was reportedly working on a feature story about Madsen. The two departed from Copenhagen harbour together. Wall was never seen alive again.

The following day, the UC3 Nautilus sank in Danish waters. Madsen was rescued alone. He initially told authorities that he had dropped Wall off safely on shore before the submarine went down, but his account changed repeatedly under questioning. Investigators grew suspicious almost immediately.

In the days and weeks that followed, human remains were recovered from the waters around Copenhagen. By 21 August 2017, torso remains confirmed by DNA analysis to belong to Kim Wall had been found, and a full murder investigation was formally launched. Further remains were subsequently recovered, bearing signs of deliberate dismemberment. Danish police concluded that Wall had been killed aboard the submarine.

Peter Madsen was arrested and charged with premeditated murder. Throughout the investigation and trial, he offered multiple conflicting explanations, denying premeditation before eventually admitting that Wall had died on board the submarine. On 25 April 2018, the Copenhagen City Court found Madsen guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment — the most severe sentence available under Danish law. The verdict was upheld on appeal.

The case drew global media attention, in part because of Wall's profile as a journalist, in part because of the bizarre circumstances involving a homemade submarine, and in part because of Madsen's repeated attempts to construct alternative narratives. The Netflix documentary *Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case* later brought the story to an even wider international audience, drawing on footage filmed with Madsen before and after the killing.

Production

Havfruemordet was produced by or for DR, Denmark's national public broadcaster, and made available through its streaming service DRTV. DR has a long tradition of investigative and documentary journalism, and the broadcaster's decision to produce a dedicated documentary series on the Wall case reflects both the domestic and international significance of the crime.

The director of the series has not been confirmed in publicly available sources at the time of writing. Similarly, production details such as the precise number of episodes, the names of producers, and the specific contributors or interview subjects featured in the series have not been independently verified through available metadata or official press materials. The 43-minute runtime noted on DRTV's catalogue page suggests a standard documentary episode format common to Nordic public broadcasting.

The title Havfruemordet was later reused as the name of an episode within the 2021 Danish television programme *Pressens kriminelle håndlanger*, indicating the phrase had entered broader Danish cultural shorthand for the case.

Reception

Because Havfruemordet was produced for Danish public broadcasting and distributed primarily through DRTV rather than a global platform, detailed international critical reception is limited in publicly available sources. The series does not appear to carry a dedicated IMDb title page that can be independently verified from available search results, and viewer ratings for the series specifically have not been confirmed.

Within Denmark, the Kim Wall case had already generated intense public and media debate by the time the documentary aired in 2019 — touching on questions about press freedom, the dangers faced by freelance journalists, gender-based violence, and the criminal justice system's treatment of high-profile cases. Any documentary examining the case would have entered a highly charged public conversation. DR's true-crime documentary output generally performs strongly with Danish audiences, and the subject matter of Havfruemordet would have ensured significant viewer interest domestically.

International interest in the underlying case remained high following the Netflix release of Into the Deep, which drew renewed global attention to Madsen's crimes and to the life and work of Kim Wall.

The Case Today

Peter Madsen remains imprisoned in Denmark, serving a life sentence. In 2020, he made headlines again after a failed escape attempt from Herstedvester Prison, during which he threatened a staff member with what turned out to be a replica weapon. The incident resulted in additional charges and further underscored the ongoing public and institutional scrutiny surrounding him.

Kim Wall's family and colleagues have continued to honour her memory and her journalistic legacy. The Kim Wall Memorial Fund was established in her name to support female journalists working in challenging environments — a lasting tribute to a reporter whose work took her across the globe before her life was cut short aboard a submarine in Danish waters.

The case continues to be studied in journalism schools, criminal justice programmes, and true-crime media as an example of a high-profile homicide in which digital forensics, maritime investigation, and persistent questioning of a suspect's shifting narrative all played central roles in securing a conviction.