'Frog Boys Crime Tool' Claimed by Netizens... Lee Soo-jung Says "It Is Convincing"

"Fully Testable with Current Forensic Techniques"
"I Think We Should Restart the Investigation"

Professor Lee Su-jeong evaluated the netizens' claim that the murder weapon in the Frog Boys case was a "vernier caliper" as "seems convincing."
Photo by KBS

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Gun-chan] Professor Lee Soo-jung of the Department of Criminal Psychology at Kyonggi University evaluated a netizen's claim mentioning the murder weapon in the 'Gaeguri Sonyeon (Frog Boys) Case,' a representative unsolved case in Korea, as "seemingly persuasive."

Professor Lee appeared on KBS's 'Crystal Mind' on the 7th and shared her stance on the recent online claims related to the Gaeguri Sonyeon case. She said, "The weapon left on the skull is so unique that we tried to identify it, but the reinvestigation stalled without progress because we couldn't find a suitable weapon," adding, "The most noteworthy part of this post is the weapon."

Earlier, a netizen named A posted on an online community on the 1st, titled "I know the murder weapon of the Gaeguri Sonyeon case." In the post, A claimed that the murder weapon was a type of caliper called a 'vernier caliper,' which is used to precisely measure length or height.

He also suggested that the culprit could be students attending a school where they might carry such a tool. A wrote, "The probability that a bold murderer who could brutally kill five people is lurking in the neighborhood mountain is lower than the probability that it is local middle or high school students."

A's post quickly spread across various online communities and social networking services (SNS).

Professor Lee responded to these claims, saying, "I was actually somewhat moved. When you look at photos of people who died from blunt force trauma, it doesn't look like that," explaining, "Blunt weapons have dull ends, so the damage is widespread. (Looking at the skulls of the Gaeguri Sonyeon victims) they were shattered into several pieces. All the depressed areas on the skull are 'punctured'."

She continued, "It may not be completely fatal, but I think the weapon corresponds to a tool that can cause scars of that level of damage."

Professor Lee also said, "The hypothesis that the children were harmed because of a group of high school students hanging out together is quite persuasive," adding, "It is entirely possible that several people held the victims while one person wielded the weapon to inflict fatal injuries."

She mentioned the need to reinvestigate the Gaeguri Sonyeon case. She emphasized that whether the related tool matches the scars "can be sufficiently tested with current forensic techniques." She added, "Even though the statute of limitations expired for Lee Chun-jae, DNA from the crime scene helped catch the culprit, which proved the innocence of the wrongfully accused Mr. Yoon, didn't it? I think this investigation should be restarted now."

The Gaeguri Sonyeon case involves five elementary school students living in Daegu who went missing in 1991 after leaving home to collect salamander eggs. Their remains were found 11 years later near Waryongsan Mountain close to their village. At the time, the forensic team at Kyungpook National University, which conducted the autopsy, concluded from the skeletal analysis that it was a clear homicide. The culprit has not yet been identified.

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