Senior police official charged with killing mother

A high-ranking police official in Daejoen was arrested by police yesterday for allegedly killing his mother. The motive, police believe, was money.

The suspect, surnamed Lee, 40, who heads the violent crime department at the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency, is suspected of killing his mother surnamed Yoon, 68, on Jan. 21 at the mother’s apartment in Tanbang-dong, western Daejeon.

Lee had frequently stopped by her home to check in on her, letting himself in. However, on the day of the attack, police say, Lee showed up wearing a motorbike helmet and hiking boots.

Lee covered two nephews living there with a blanket, telling them not to move, and then started kicking his mother, police said. Six of Yoon’s ribs were broken; she died six hours later. Lee left the house about midnight.

According to results of an autopsy from the Scientific, Criminal and Investigation Laboratory, Yoon died of shock from severe internal bleeding in the chest. The time of death is presumed to be 4 or 5 the next morning.

About 30 minutes after he left his mother’s home, Lee, who had his own home, went back to her home and spent the night there, police said. He told police that his mother had called him while he was working overtime but he only heard a groan over the phone. He said when he got to the house, he found his mother’s hands and feet tied up but, because his mother said she was all right, he went to bed without reporting the attack. “Calming her down was the first priority,” Lee told police.

The police began investigating the case based on testimony from the two nephews, who said the suspect was wearing a motorbike helmet. It was unclear why the nephews themselves hadn’t called 119 after the attack.

The investigation found that Lee had purchased a helmet at a nearby motorcycle store a day earlier. But Lee told police he had bought the helmet as a gift for a relative.

After analyzing 1,304 CCTV files from the neighborhood, however, the police pegged Lee as the prime suspect.

“The walking posture in the CCTV files was very much like Lee’s, and the crime scene had four footprints of Lee’s hiking boots,” said Yook Jong-meong, the investigator in charge of the case.

The police suspect Lee committed the crime to get at his mother’s assets because he had lost money from gambling and bad investments. The mother had 700 million won ($628,427) as well as real estate. Lee denied this, saying that “there’s no reason for me to kill my mother.”

By Kim Bang-hyeon [enational@joongang.co.kr]

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용의자 이씨, 어머니 명의 통장서 4억여원 빼 써

2002년에 개봉한 영화 ‘공공의 적 1’에는 충격적인 장면이 나온다. 펀드매니저인 주인공(이성재 분)이 부모를 살해하는 게 그것이다. 주인공은 폭우가 내리는 여름날 비옷으로 얼굴을 가린 채 부모 집을 찾아가 흉기를 휘둘렀다. 부모의 재산을 노린 범행이었다. 이 장면과 비슷한 사건이 대전에서 발생했다. 용의자가 펀드매니저에서 경찰로 바뀐 게 영화와의 차이다. 이 경찰은 경찰대를 나온 엘리트다.

21일 오후 11시27분 대전시 서구 탄방동 윤모(68)씨 아파트. 검은색 오토바이 헬멧을 쓰고 등산화를 신은 괴한이 침입했다. 그는 할머니와 함께 있던 어린 외손자 2명에게 “움직이지 마라”고 겁을 줬다. 그리고 바로 등산화를 신은 발로 윤씨를 무자비하게 걷어찼다. 얻어맞은 윤씨는 갈비뼈 6개가 부러지는 등 크게 다쳤다. 범인은 22분 뒤인 오후 11시49분쯤 아파트를 빠져 나왔다. 범인이 아파트에 들어갔다 나오는 모습은 CCTV(폐쇄회로TV)에 고스란히 잡혔다.

이어 22일 0시18분쯤 윤씨의 큰아들 이모(40)씨가 어머니의 집을 찾았다. 경찰대(10기) 출신인 이씨는 현재 대전경찰청 강력계장이다. 그는 경찰에서 “야근 중에 어머니에게 전화를 걸었더니 신음소리가 들려 이상한 생각에 곧바로 어머니 집을 찾아갔다”고 말했다. 그의 진술은 이어진다. “집에 도착해 보니 어머니는 테이프로 손과 발이 묶여 있었다. 풀어 줬더니 어머니가 ‘괜찮다’고 해 안정이 우선이라고 판단해 신고하지 않고 함께 잠을 잤다.” 하지만 어머니 윤씨는 22일 오전 4시쯤 숨을 거뒀다. 가슴속 과다출혈에 의한 쇼크사였다. …

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