Chance discovery leads to suspect in 2 murders
Published: 07 Oct. 2009, 08:10
Police at the Gwangjin precinct in eastern Seoul said Monday that a chance search has led them to seek a warrant to detain a male suspect identified only as Lee, 37, on charges of murdering two women in 1995 and 2001.
Police said that in September 2001 Lee allegedly intruded into a residence of a 31-year-old woman surnamed Jeong who was sleeping and killed her after a sexual assault.
Lee allegedly burned her house in order to destroy evidence after stealing money and other goods.
In October 1995, the suspect allegedly murdered a 58-year-old woman with the surname Kim by smashing her with a blunt instrument after being accused of washing his face with spring water on Mount Acha in Gwangjin, Seoul, according to investigators.
Inspectors said Lee’s alleged crimes were detected after an unscheduled search on Sept. 26 after he was seen wandering around a residential street in Gwangjin.
Investigators discovered that Lee was carrying other people’s identification cards and cell phone numbers.
During the probe, police discovered a computer hard disk in Lee’s car. There were some 20 photo files that were attached to identification cards saved in the disk.
One of those depicted Jeong, police said.
Though a team was established to investigate further, the case remained stalled due to lack of evidence.
However, investigators were eventually able to obtain Lee’s confession, authorities said.
Police said Lee had symptoms of sexual perversion that included inflicting severe damage on the bodies of his victims.
Lee has a criminal record for exposing himself by opening an overcoat. Over 1,000 pornographic CDs and a number of stolen women’s underwear and knives were found in his house.
“My sense of sexuality changed badly since a man molested me near Mount Acha when I was in second grade in elementary school,” police quoted Lee as saying.
As a result of profiling, Lee has an antisocial personality stemming from the earlier incident and a troubled family background, investigators said.
“Lee describes himself as an uncontrollable psycho,” said an officer who declined to be named. “We will further investigate the case to see whether he committed additional crimes.”
By Lee Jin-joo, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]
Police said that in September 2001 Lee allegedly intruded into a residence of a 31-year-old woman surnamed Jeong who was sleeping and killed her after a sexual assault.
Lee allegedly burned her house in order to destroy evidence after stealing money and other goods.
In October 1995, the suspect allegedly murdered a 58-year-old woman with the surname Kim by smashing her with a blunt instrument after being accused of washing his face with spring water on Mount Acha in Gwangjin, Seoul, according to investigators.
Inspectors said Lee’s alleged crimes were detected after an unscheduled search on Sept. 26 after he was seen wandering around a residential street in Gwangjin.
Investigators discovered that Lee was carrying other people’s identification cards and cell phone numbers.
During the probe, police discovered a computer hard disk in Lee’s car. There were some 20 photo files that were attached to identification cards saved in the disk.
One of those depicted Jeong, police said.
Though a team was established to investigate further, the case remained stalled due to lack of evidence.
However, investigators were eventually able to obtain Lee’s confession, authorities said.
Police said Lee had symptoms of sexual perversion that included inflicting severe damage on the bodies of his victims.
Lee has a criminal record for exposing himself by opening an overcoat. Over 1,000 pornographic CDs and a number of stolen women’s underwear and knives were found in his house.
“My sense of sexuality changed badly since a man molested me near Mount Acha when I was in second grade in elementary school,” police quoted Lee as saying.
As a result of profiling, Lee has an antisocial personality stemming from the earlier incident and a troubled family background, investigators said.
“Lee describes himself as an uncontrollable psycho,” said an officer who declined to be named. “We will further investigate the case to see whether he committed additional crimes.”
By Lee Jin-joo, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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