Photo: AP

A Danish inventor has admitted dismembering a Swedish journalist who disappeared from his home-made submarine in August and has changed his story about how she died, but still denies killing her, police investigating the bizarre case said Monday.

According to Copenhagen police, Peter Madsen now says Kim Wall died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning inside the submarine while he was on deck. Previously he had said she died after being accidentally hit by a heavy hatch in the submarine’s tower.

“This explanation (by Madsen) naturally will lead the police into gathering additional statements from the coroner and the armed forces’ submarine experts,” said Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moller Jensen.

Police say Madsen acknowledged he dismembered her body and threw it into Koge Bay southwest of Copenhagen..

Wall’s torso was found on a southern Copenhagen coast in late August, and her head, legs and clothes were found at sea this month. No fractures to Wall’s skull were found that would have supported the claim that she was killed by the hatch.