Teen who killed child has schizophrenia: police

The 17-year-old teenager in Incheon who allegedly killed an 8-year-old neighbor and dismembered her last week acted alone and was suffering from schizophrenia, local police concluded Sunday.

Based on a review of her medical records, police said that the suspect had been seeing a doctor since 2015 for depression and was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia, though she was not hospitalized during the treatment.

The high school drop-out admitted she killed the victim but has yet to explain why, saying she “can’t remember.” Both live in the same apartment complex in Incheon, but in different buildings. It appears they did not know each other, said police.

CCTV footage retrieved from the crime scene indicated the suspect did not have any accomplices, officers added. A first-trial autopsy on the victim showed she was strangled to death, according to a report from local forensic officials.

The suspect admitted to police during questioning that she strangled the young girl with a wire cable from home.

The case will likely be sent to the prosecution within this week for further investigation. Police said they will not force the suspect to reenact the alleged murder in light of the fact that she is underage.

The suspect was arrested last Wednesday night on charges of kidnapping an 8-year-old girl from a playground earlier that day around 1 p.m., killing her and then cutting off some of the body parts. The remains were put into two plastic bags and left on the roof of an apartment building where the suspect lived.

Police declined to reveal precisely how the body was dismembered, citing “respect for the victim’s parents.”

The victim’s mother reported to police that her daughter was missing at around 4:30 p.m. Police searched the neighborhood and found the plastic bags. Blood stains and tools were discovered inside the suspect’s home. The teenager was arrested at a park nearby.

BY KIM MIN-WOOK [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]