Murderer of missing woman commits suicide

The mystery over a missing woman in South Gyeonsang was partly solved Thursday when her killer committed suicide and left a note admitting he murdered the woman in a moment of uncontrollable rage.

But the note didn’t say what he did with his victim’s body.

A 46-year-old businesswoman surnamed Lee from Geochang, South Gyeongsang, went missing Sept. 21 after she told her family she had an appointment with a 63-year-old business partner surnamed Kim.

Police said that Lee had loaned about 40 million won ($35,500) to Kim and that she had gone to meet him to be repaid.

For weeks, police searched for both Lee and Kim to no avail. After struggling to find leads, police found last Friday Lee’s Hyundai Sante Fe SUV buried five meters (16 feet) under the ground in Kim’s front yard.

They questioned Kim’s 32-year old son, and on Tuesday, he jumped to his death from the 13th floor of an apartment building. He left behind a suicide note that read, “The police are exerting pressure in order to make my family my father’s accomplices.”

During the son’s wake, the elder Kim returned to the family’s empty residence and slit his wrists. A friend of Kim’s son found him dead in front of a bathroom in his house in Wicheon Township at 4:40 p.m. Thursday.

Police found a suicide note that read, “For the deceased one who lost her life because of my sudden, wild and uncontrollable rage, I take my life in atonement. This was a crime I committed by myself unintentionally.”

By Hwang Sun-yoon [sarahkim@joongang.co.kr]