The Case of Lawrence DeLisle Notes:

Header Image Source: Photo by Cristian Palmer on Unsplash

Other Image Source: Lawrence DeLisle and Kids from Detroit.CBSlocal.com

"It is a murder case that was heartbreaking and horrifying. In one of the most talked about tragedies in Detroit history, 28-year-old Lawrence J. DeLisle of Lincoln Park drove his speeding Ford LTD station wagon down a dead end street in Wyandotte, catapulting the car into the deep, dark water of the Detroit River.

It was just after 9 p.m. on Aug. 3,1989. DeLisle and his wife Suzanne were able to get out of the car through the open windows, and surface and survive.  Their four children tragically drowned inside the car, 30 feet underwater:  8-year-old Bryan, 4-year-old Kathryn,  2-year-old Melissa and 8-month-old Emily.

DeLisle told police he had a leg cramp that forced his foot down on the gas pedal, and that the accelerator stuck, causing the vehicle to careen down Eureka Road into the river.

The car itself had a haunting history.  DeLisle’s father had committed suicide in that vehicle less than two years before at Elizabeth Park in Trenton.  There were still blood stains from the shooting inside the car.

Police didn’t buy DeLisle’s leg cramp/stuck accelerator story.   Investigators questioned him, gave him a lengthy lie detector test, and claimed they had gotten an official confession from him.  Several days after the drownings, DeLisle was charged with 4 counts of 1st degree murder in the deaths of his children, and one count of attempting to murder his wife.

The case caused a frenzy in the local community and attracted national and international attention. There were stories in Time magazine and The New York Times. People wondered, how could an “average Joe,” a typical dad, with a  good job at a local tire store, and a nice home in Downriver Detroit do this to his own kids.  People openly speculated that DeLisle’s wife was in on it.

Angry anonymous callers phoned the DeLisle home, threatening to blow up their Austin Street house.

When the case went to trial the following June, Wayne county Prosecutor Kevin Simowski argued that DeLisle was a troubled man, drowning in debt, feeling burdened by life and by his wife and kids.  Simowski argued that DeLisle deliberately planned the crash and fully intended to die along with the rest of his family that August night.

Defense attorney Frank Eaman claimed the car was defective, and that DeLisle was NOT guilty.  Eaman also told reporters that the only reason DeLisle “confessed” to the crime was because police wore him down with an eight hour interrogation (with no attorney present)  and basically brainwashed him and gave him a “kind of nervous breakdown.”

Eaman also argued that DeLisle could not possibly get a fair trial in Metro Detroit because of sensational media coverage by reporters “stalking” the DeLisle family.

The trial judge Robert Colombo Jr. did suppress the confession, however Colombo rejected the idea of moving the case out of town.

The trial lasted 8 days in downtown Detroit with more than two dozen witnesses called to testify.  The jury deliberated almost nine hours over two and a half days.  The jury found DeLisle guilty on all counts.

DeLisle and his wife both wept when the verdicts were announced.

Numerous appeals were filed.  Attorneys claimed the jury was poisoned by pretrial publicity about the “confession” and that the case should have been moved.  The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to  hear it.

Lawrence DeLisle is doing life in prison with no chance of parole in Coldwater, Mich.

He still maintains his innocence, and says he still grieves over the death of his children..."

— Source: 62 CBS Detroit article by Roberta Jasina

The Murder of Kim Wall Notes:

Header Image Source: Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Other Image Sources:

Kim Wall and Peter Madsen, pictured aboard the Nautilus UC3 on August 10, 2017 (Reuters/BusinessInsider.com) 

Kim Wall and Peter Madsen (Reuters via BusinessInsider.com)

The Nautilus UC3 rusts behind a fence and police tape after being pulled up from the sea floor for investigation (AP via BusinessInsider.com)

"The murder of Kim Wall refers to a Danish murder case which is also known in Denmark as Ubådssagen (lit. "The submarine case"). On 10 August 2017, Swedish freelance journalist Kim Wall boarded the midget submarine UC3 Nautilus with the intent of interviewing its owner, entrepreneur Peter Madsen. She was reported missing after the submarine failed to return to Refshaleøen, Copenhagen. The submarine was found sunken the following morning and Madsen was arrested upon being rescued from the water. Between 21 August and 29 November, Wall's dismembered body parts were found in different locations around the area. Charged with her murder, Madsen was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on 25 April 2018 by Copenhagen City Court. following a widely publicized trial.

Kim Isabel Fredrika Wall (23 March 1987 – 10 or 11 August 2017) was a Swedish freelance journalist. She was born in Trelleborg, Scania, to Ingrid and Joachim Wall, and had a younger brother, Tom. After graduating from high school in Malmö, she received a bachelor's degree in international relations at the London School of Economics and a dual master's degree in journalism and international relations at Columbia University in New York City. She wrote reports about a variety of topics for publications such as The Guardian, The New York Times, Vice, Slate, and Time. In March 2016, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung awarded her the Hansel Mieth Prize for Best Digital Reportage for "Exodus", a multi-media report on climate change and nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands. At the time of her death, Wall lived with her Danish boyfriend Ole Stobbe in Refshaleøen, Copenhagen.

On Thursday, 10 August 2017, Wall and boyfriend Ole Stobbe were preparing to host a farewell party in Refshaleøen prior to their planned move to Beijing on 16 August. Before the party, she received a text from entrepreneur Peter Madsen—with whom she had requested an interview earlier in the year—inviting her to interview him on board his midget submarine UC3 Nautilus. She agreed to join him on the submarine for two hours and boarded Nautilus around 19:00 local time (UTC+2). The submarine never returned to the harbour and Stobbe called the police at 01:43 on Friday to report Wall missing. The submarine was sighted in Køge Bay southeast of Amager by Drogden lighthouse at 10:30; it foundered at 11:00.

On 21 August 2017, a cyclist found Wall's torso washed up on a beach in the southwest of Amager. A post-mortem examination found 15 stab wounds, mostly in the groin. On 6 October, assisted by police dogs, police divers found two plastic bags in Køge Bay containing Wall's head, legs, clothes and a knife; six days later, a saw was found in the water. On 21 and 29 November, police divers found Wall's arms in the bay. Police probed possible links to other murder cases in Scandinavia, including the unsolved death of 22-year-old Kazuko Toyonaga in 1986 in Copenhagen, but did not find connections to any of them.

Madsen was arrested upon being rescued from Køge Bay after UC3 Nautilus foundered on 11 August 2017, and was charged with negligent manslaughter. Police suspected that he had scuttled the submarine. He initially stated that he had dropped Wall off on land, but then admitted to dumping her body at sea after she died in what he claimed was an accident on board the submarine. He testified in a court hearing on 5 September that Wall died after being struck on the head by the submarine's hatch cover. The prosecution said that police had found videos on Madsen's computer showing women being murdered, and that witnesses said that they had seen Madsen watching videos of decapitation and practising asphyxiation sex. A post-mortem examination performed on Wall's head after it was found a month later found no signs of blunt trauma to the head and did not determine the cause of death. Madsen subsequently changed his story, admitting to dismembering Wall's body but continuing to deny intentionally killing her, saying that she may have died after poisonous exhaust gases entered the submarine while he was on deck. The post-mortem performed on Wall's torso showed no signs of exhaust gases in her lungs.

On 16 January 2018, Madsen was charged with murder, indecent handling of a corpse, and sexual assault. The prosecution accused him of having tortured Wall before killing her by cutting her throat or strangling her. His trial began on 8 March at Copenhagen Court House. On 25 April, he was convicted of all three charges and sentenced to life imprisonment. Madsen appealed his sentence in September 2018 at Østre Landsret, Copenhagen's High Court, which endorsed the sentence.

After her death, Wall's family and friends started the Kim Wall Memorial Fund, aiming to fund female reporters to cover stories of subcultural value. A memorial run was organised in which people around the world were allowed to run or walk a distance in her memory, and took place on 10 August 2018, the first anniversary of her murder. In October 2017, Wall was posthumously nominated for Prix Europa's Outstanding Achievement Award "Journalist of the Year". On 9 November 2018, Wall's parents published a book in her memory titled Boken om Kim Wall: När orden tar slut (English: The book of Kim Wall: When words end).

In August 2018, Madsen was admitted to hospital after being attacked in prison by another inmate..."

— Source: Murder of Kim Wall Wikipedia