Arrest warrants requested for Gangnam murder suspects

A vehicle used for the alleged kidnapping and murder of a woman in her 40s stops in front of an apartment complex in Yeoksam-dong in Gangnam District, southern Seoul on Wednesday night. [NEWS1]

Police on Saturday requested arrest warrants for three suspects accused of murdering a woman in her 40s after abducting her near an apartment complex in Gangnam, southern Seoul.

According to Suseo Police Precinct, three suspects, all in their 30s, allegedly kidnapped the woman last Wednesday at around 11:46 p.m. in front of an apartment complex in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam District in southern Seoul. They are suspected of killing the woman and abandoning her body near Daecheong Dam in Daejeon, 160 kilometers (90 miles) away from Seoul.

CCTV footage on Wednesday night shows a man physically assaulting and dragging a woman into a vehicle, forcing her into the back seat of the car. The woman appears to fight back as she's dragged to the car. Another man comes out from the apartment complex, sits in the driver’s seat and drives away.

A witness reported to the police soon after, saying that “two men physically assaulted a woman and took her in a vehicle.” A police car arrived at the crime scene at around 11:53 p.m., but the suspects were no longer there.

The victim’s family also alerted police on Thursday after she failed to return home or show up for work.

All three suspects were detained on Friday after the police found a 36-year-old surnamed Hwang and a 30-year-old surnamed Yeon in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, as well as a 35-year-old surnamed Lee in Nonhyeon-dong in Gangnam District.

“The suspects are believed to have followed the victim for two to three months and prepared some tools beforehand for the alleged crime,” an official from the Suseo Police Precinct said in a press briefing on Saturday.

The victim’s body was found near the dam in Daejeon on Friday after the suspects confessed that they had allegedly dumped the body near the dam after being arrested.

The exact time of her death has yet to be determined but the police suspect she was killed before or after 6 a.m. on Thursday. Suffocation is the suspected cause of death following an autopsy, though police are awaiting the results of forensic toxicology testing before making a final determination.

The suspects allegedly drove from Seoul to Daejeon and switched to a rental car in Daedeok District, Daejeon at around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, ditching the vehicle they drove from Seoul.

Police found the vehicle 30 minutes later with traces of blood, along with a pickaxe, a shovel, a cable tie and tape.

The three then drove to Cheongju in North Chungcheong, abandoned the rental car and took separate cabs to Seongnam, Gyeonggi.

A taxi driver who took one of the suspects from Cheongju told MBC that the man was patient and did not look like someone who committed a crime. According to the taxi driver, the suspect had dirt on his clothes.

The police are investigating the motives behind the killing, with one suspect confessing to having committed the crime to obtain the victim's cryptocurrency assets, worth billions of won.

Police plan to expand the investigation, believing the murder could have also been a contract killing, and that others may be involved.

Seoul Central District Court will review the arrest warrants for the accused on Monday.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]