Why woukd he kill the poor journalist while also sinking his sub? I'm very curious how this turns out.
Violent crime is rarely based on rational, well reasoned acts. I wouldn't try to read too much logic into it.
The murder itself? Try to cover for another crime? Again, (obviously) just conjecture.
Conversely, if you feel you need to sink the sub to destroy evidence, then you don't say you dropped her off, you say she died in the same "accident" that caused the sinking.