A Swedish journalist, an eccentric Danish inventor and a grisly death aboard a homemade submarine: A Copenhagen court will rule whether Peter Madsen is guilty of murdering Kim Wall before chopping up her body and tossing it into the sea.
Here are the main events in the gruesome case that has made headlines around the world:
The interview
Kim Wall, a 30-year-old freelance reporter boards self-taught engineer Peter Madsen's homemade submarine, the UC3 Nautilus, in a Copenhagen harbour on 10 August 2017 to interview him for a story.
But she never returns. Ms Wall's boyfriend, with whom she had planned to move to China, reports her as missing on 11 August.
The Nautilus is found that same day, sinking, as Mr Madsen, 47, is rescued from the water.
The eccentric and well-known figure in Denmark tells authorities he dropped Ms Wall off in the harbour the night before and that a technical problem caused the vessel to sink.
But the Danish authorities are not convinced. Mr Madsen is detained for negligent manslaughter under particularly aggravating circumstances on 12 August.
Buried at sea
Mr Madsen changes his story on 21 August and says Ms Wall died in an accident on board his vessel and that he subsequently "buried her at sea in an undefined location of the Koge Bay" south of Copenhagen.
Two days later, Copenhagen police confirm that a headless torso found in Koge Bay is Ms Wall's. The head and limbs had been deliberately cut off. The torso had been attached to a metal object to weigh it down.
Mr Madsen is charged with indecent handling of a corpse during a police hearing on 24 August. He insists she died in an accident when a hatch hit her on the head while on board the vessel.
Prosecutors also reveal autopsy results, which show Ms Wall was stabbed 15 times before her death.
Forensic results show no sign of a fracture on her skull.
Brought a saw
Danish divers find both of Ms Wall's arms on 21 and 29 November near the same area where her other body parts were discovered.
A 24 January charge sheet says Mr Madsen tied Ms Wall up by the head, arms and legs before beating, "stabbing and cutting her".
Prosecutors say Mr Madsen "brought a saw, knife, sharpened screwdriver, straps, strips and pipes" on board the vessel with the intention of killing Ms Wall.
Neither the cause of death nor the motive has been established, but investigators believe Ms Wall was suffocated or had her throat cut as part of a sadistic sex crime.
Psychopathic traits
Described by psychiatrists as a "perverse polymorph" with "psychopathic traits", Mr Madsen has changed his story several times about how Ms Wall died.
After the autopsy report revealed no blunt trauma to her head, Mr Madsen said she died from toxic fumes that filled the vessel after a sudden drop in pressure while he was up on deck.
He maintained this argument throughout the trial. He rejects the charge of premeditated murder, but admits to desecrating a corpse.
A coroner testified that Ms Wall's lungs showed no sign of fume inhalation. But under cross-examination, she could not totally rule out Madsen's scenario because of the torso's decomposed state after being submerged for ten days.
The court was shown several animated and so-called snuff films found on the hard drive of Mr Madsen's computer.
While the prosecutor calls for a life term for premeditated murder, Mr Madsen's defence urges the court to acquit him on the murder and sexual assault charges, but admits to the charge of desecrating a corpse.
"I'm really, really sorry for what happened," Mr Madsen told the court.
