Murderer Caught After 24 Years of Disappearance... Released After Statute of Limitations Expires

Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Soyoung] The police arrested the woman's then-boyfriend as the murderer of a woman in her 20s who went missing in Seoul 24 years ago and whose whereabouts had been unknown, but prosecution was not possible due to the statute of limitations.

According to the Jeonbuk Police Agency on the 6th, A (47), who was 23 years old at the time, took his girlfriend B (then 28) into a car along with two juniors in early 1997 in Seoul.

A drove the car to near Iksan IC and brutally assaulted B, resulting in her murder. The police reported that A and the two juniors buried the body at a road construction site in Gimje and then left the scene.

This long-unsolved case came to light when the police received intelligence that one of the two juniors who were with A at the time was trying to extort money from him.

While investigating the two juniors, the police detected circumstances indicating A's involvement in the murder, obtained an arrest warrant from the court, and focused their interrogation on the main suspect A. After persistent questioning, A admitted to the murder charges, but the statute of limitations had already expired. During the police investigation, A reportedly stated, "B was angry because she suspected my infidelity, so I committed the crime."

Based on A's statement, the police conducted an excavation at the construction site in Gimje last month to find the body but did not achieve any significant results.

A police official said, "We requested a warrant from the prosecution because the body could not be found without compulsory investigation, and the court issued it. However, perhaps due to the long passage of time, we were unable to find the body."

He added, "Since it is the duty of investigative agencies to uncover the substantive truth of criminal cases, the investigation proceeded even though the statute of limitations had passed. However, since it is not subject to punishment under the Criminal Procedure Act and the decisive evidence?the body?was not found, A and his accomplices were released."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.