Body Discovered in Military Zone: A Cold Case Solved After Three Years

In a recent episode of E Channel's 용감한 형사들4 (Brave Detectives 4), a chilling case from 2002 was revisited when a body was found in a military protection area in Gimpo. Detective Kim Deok-won recounted the story of an unidentified female corpse discovered in April 2002 along the northern banks of the Han River. The remains were in a skeletal state, with little flesh remaining, indicating the victim was a woman based on her petite frame, underwear, and watch.

In July of that year, DNA was extracted from the hip bone of the remains. A female officer from the Missing Persons Center dedicated six months to the case, ultimately identifying a woman in her twenties who had been reported missing three months prior at the Mapo Police Station. A unique identifying mark, known only to the family, was found on the remains, leading to a reunion with her relatives.

The victim disappeared on January 16, 2002. According to her sister, the young woman had moved to Seoul to help care for her nieces and was excited about a job interview she had that day. After the interview, she was supposed to meet her boss for a handover.

That night at 10 PM, the victim called her sister, sounding anxious. She mentioned being in a live cafe that seemed suspicious and that her boss had asked her to get into a car with him. This was the last contact her family had with her. When her sister tried to reach the office listed in the job advertisement the next day, a man answered, claiming he was neither the boss nor associated with the construction permit office, which turned out to be a lie. The suspect vanished, and the young woman remained missing for three years.

After three years, the perpetrator was finally apprehended. Detective Kim revealed that upon capture, the suspect confessed to planning to use the victim's personal information to create a credit card and facilitate illegal loans. The victim had expressed uncertainty about the job, prompting the suspect to lure her back under the pretense of a handover.

The suspect took her to a live cafe in Misari, where, upon hearing she was considering other job offers, he decided to kill her. He strangled her with a seatbelt, bound her hands and feet with duct tape, and cut her wrist with a utility knife. In court, he claimed he was coerced into confessing while intoxicated, but he was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment.