Peter Madsen

Peter Langkjær Madsen (born 12 January 1971) is a Danish convicted murderer and former entrepreneur.

Madsen was born in 1971 to Annie and Carl Madsen.

He spent his early life in Sæby and Høng (both in Kalundborg Municipality), Denmark.

Annie was more than 30 years younger than Carl and had three other boys from two previous men.

Carl was allegedly abusive toward his three stepsons.

Annie left when Peter was six, taking the children with her.

After a couple of years, Madsen returned to his father, with whom he shared an interest in rockets.

While attending primary and secondary school in Høng, Madsen developed an interest in rocket fuel with the help of chemistry and physics teacher Johannes Fischer.

He developed his first large rocket at Høng and launched it on 3 March 1986.

It was one meter tall, modelled after the American ICBM MX Peacekeeper and built in his father's workshop.

It reached a height of 100 m before crashing without harming anyone.

In 1987, Madsen was accepted at the gymnasium (upper secondary school) in the nearby town of Kalundborg.

He moved to live in a youth house in the town.

His father died in 1990 when Peter was 18.

Madsen continued to experiment and to consult engineers, and became friendly with the family responsible for the fireworks in Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens.

He also joined the Dansk Amatør Raket Klub (DARK) rocket club in Copenhagen, but the other members gradually became disillusioned with him.

DARK members claimed that "saying his name would start the fire sprinkler system".

He never finished any formal education, but took courses in welding and engineering to learn something about submarines.

His enthusiasm brought impressive results, but also caused conflicts with others.

Madsen funded his lifestyle through financial support from people, organizations, and enterprises which saw promise in him.

The Nautilus was a privately built midget submarine, launched on 3 May 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Constructed over three years, it cost approximately US$200,000 to build (1.5 million DKK).

On 1 May 2008, Madsen co-founded Copenhagen Suborbitals with Danish Architect Kristian von Bengtson.

Madsen was married at Copenhagen City Hall in November 2011.

His wife had worked in the film industry and had also helped in Madsen's workshop at Refshaleøen, Copenhagen.

Curpen has had political asylum in Finland since 2013, because of her persecution in Russia.

In a post on Facebook, Curpen said that she received death threats after her marriage was made public.

According to a Facebook entry of Jenny Curpen, they divorced on 7 January 2022.

Madsen built three submarines: UC1 Freya, UC2 Kraka and UC3 Nautilus.

In June 2014, he left the project.

Madsen was responsible for the launch system, launchpad and booster rocket engines.

In June 2014, Madsen established RML Spacelab ApS.

The goal was the development and construction of a crewed spacecraft.

From 2016, RML was developing a nano satellite launch vehicle using venture investments.

In April 2018, he was convicted of the August 2017 murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall on board his submarine, UC3 Nautilus, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In February 2018, it was reported that his wife had abandoned him after he was charged with murder.

Madsen said that he had lived in an "open relationship".

His wife has chosen to remain anonymous and her identity has not been released by the media.

According to a report from Wired magazine, Madsen was a regular at fetish parties.

On 19 December 2019, Madsen married 39-year old Russian-Mauritian opposition activist Jenny Curpen.