Yeongam Family Deaths... Father Suspected Poisoning, Family Presumed Stabbed to Death

Head of Household Likely Committed Suicide After Killing Wife and Three Sons

Regarding the case of the death of five family members in Yeongam, Jeollanam-do, the first autopsy results suggest that the father in his 50s is presumed to have killed his wife and three sons and then taken his own life.

The Jeollanam-do Police Agency and Yeongam Police Station, which are investigating the case, announced on the 16th that they received a verbal opinion of the first autopsy results indicating that the cause of death of the head of the family, Mr. A (59), is presumed to be poisoning. The cause of death of Mr. A's wife (56) and his three sons in their 20s was presumed to be due to stab wounds.

On the morning of the 16th, a forensic investigation is being conducted at the scene of a family death incident at a house in Yeongam-eup, Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

During the first on-site investigation conducted on the 15th, there were no signs of external intrusion or any criminal suspicion, and no suicide note was found. The police found pesticide at the scene and plan to confirm through toxicology tests whether Mr. A ingested the pesticide. Also, no traces of a third party were found on the weapon discovered along with the pesticide.

Accordingly, the police are placing weight on the possibility that Mr. A, the head of the family, killed the four family members and then poisoned himself, and are continuing to investigate the facts through nearby closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage and inquiries with related persons.

The deaths of these five family members were revealed by a 112 emergency call from a neighbor who reported seeing what appeared to be bloodstains on the window of Mr. A's house at around 3:54 p.m. the previous day. Upon receiving the report and arriving at the scene, the police found the bodies of Mr. A, his wife, and their three sons in their 20s, totaling five people, inside the house.

Mr. A was a suspect who had been booked on charges of sexual crimes against a woman living in a nearby village on the 4th of this month, and he had failed to appear for a police summons two days ago but was scheduled to appear soon. Mr. A made a living by farming and raising livestock, and his wife was known to have cared for their three sons, all of whom had severe disabilities.

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