Joint Police-Prosecutor Task Force Formed to Arrest Lee Eunhae and Jo Hyunsoo in Gapyeong Valley Murder Case

Suspect Lee Eun-hae (left in photo) and accomplice Jo Hyun-soo in the 'Gapyeong Valley Murder Case' [Photo provided by Incheon District Prosecutors' Office]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The prosecution and police have formed a joint task force to capture a woman in her 30s and her accomplice who fled while under investigation for killing her husband in a valley for insurance money (known as the 'Gapyeong Valley Murder Case').

Incheon District Prosecutors' Office and Incheon Police Agency announced on the 6th that they have formed a joint team to promptly apprehend Lee Eunhae (31, female) and Jo Hyunsoo (30, male), who are suspected of murder and attempted murder.

The prosecution had previously released their photos to the media and switched to a public manhunt on the 30th of last month, but their whereabouts remain unknown.

The prosecution must obtain a new arrest warrant if they fail to capture Lee and Jo by the expiration date of their current arrest warrants on the 12th.

Lee is suspected of killing her husband A (39 years old at the time of death) together with her lover Jo at Yongsogye Valley in Gapyeong-gun on June 30, 2019.

The prosecution believes that Lee and others forced A, who could not swim at all, to dive into the valley without any equipment and ignored his calls for help, resulting in his death.

Earlier, they are also suspected of attempting to kill A in February and May of the same year by feeding him food mixed with pufferfish poison and by pushing him into fishing pond water.

The prosecution judged that Lee killed her husband aiming for the 800 million won life insurance money taken out in her husband's name.

In fact, Lee filed a claim for her husband's life insurance five months after his death but was denied. At that time, the insurance company refused payment, suspicious that A had died four hours before the insurance contract, which was signed in August 2017, was due to expire.

After A's death, the Gapyeong Police Station in Gyeonggi Province closed the case as an accidental death, but in October 2019, a family acquaintance reported it to the Ilsan Western Police Station in Gyeonggi, prompting a reinvestigation.

Lee and Jo were sent to the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office Goyang Branch without detention in December 2020 on charges of murder and attempted violation of the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud.

Subsequently, the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office Goyang Branch transferred the case to the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, which has jurisdiction over the suspects' residence. The Incheon District Prosecutors' Office summoned them for investigation on December 13 last year. However, they fled before the second investigation scheduled the next day and remain missing.

Meanwhile, a man in his 30s, a friend of Jo, has also been identified as an accomplice in this case and is under prosecution investigation for murder and attempted violation of the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud. He is reported to have 18 prior convictions and is already in custody for another fraud case.

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