More deaths discovered as 'ghost baby' probe continues

Social Affairs

Published: 06 Jul. 2023, 18:13 Updated: 06 Jul. 2023, 19:48

More deaths discovered as 'ghost baby' probe continues

A woman on Thursday leaves a vegetable garden in Gimpo, Gyeonggi where she allegedly dumped the body of her one-day-old daughter in 2016. [YONHAP]

Police are investigating a woman suspected of killing her newborn and dumping the body in a vegetable garden in Gimpo, Gyeonggi seven years ago.

Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency said Thursday they detained the 40-something-year-old mother living in Michuhol District, Incheon initially on suspicion of abandoning a body.

The woman told police she buried the baby girl’s body in a vegetable garden owned by her mother in August 2016.

She claimed the baby died at home a day after she was born in a hospital in Incheon.

The woman was detained Wednesday afternoon. Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency sought an arrest warrant after finding further evidence of murder.

Police allege the crimes took place while the woman was separated from her now ex-husband.

They will also question the ex-husband regarding the cause of death and whether he was aware of the body dump.

The case surfaced after Michuhol District Office asked the police to determine the whereabouts of the child as documents indicated she had been born but not registered.

Police are searching for the baby's body based on the woman's testimony.

During Thursday's search, police found bones suspected to be the baby’s in a vegetable garden in Gimpo and have asked the National Forensic Service to examine them.

Police in Yongin, Gyeonggi on Thursday also detained a father and grandmother suspected of murdering a newborn and abandoning the baby’s body in 2015.

The 40-something-year-old father is accused of killing his baby boy in March 2015 and burying the body on a hill in Yongin.

Police did not specify how the father allegedly killed his son, who reportedly suffered from Down’s syndrome.

Officers immediately detained the father Thursday afternoon after questioning him.

Police apprehended the baby’s grandmother the same day after the father testified to her involvement.

The suspects confessed their crimes, police said.

Police are investigating whether the baby’s mother was also involved.

The mother reportedly testified she knew of neither the murder nor the body dump.

The father told police he lied to his wife that their son died of natural causes as he was born unhealthy.

Police on Thursday search for the body of a baby boy suspected to have been buried on a hill in Yongin, Gyeonggi in 2015. [GYEONGGI NAMBU PROVINCIAL POLICE]

Police are investigating a surging number of unregistered newborns, or "ghost babies," as local governments conduct a sweeping inspection regarding the undocumented children.

The National Police Agency said Thursday it has received 664 reports, 598 of which were under investigation as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Police announced they were investigating 400 ghost baby cases a day earlier.

Police have so far tracked down the whereabouts of 101 babies. Of them, 23 have been confirmed dead.

Multiple police agencies, including the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police and Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency, are investigating 10 of the 23 deaths.

Police concluded investigations on 11 cases and referred the remaining two to the prosecution.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police referred a woman to the prosecution last Friday on suspicion of murdering two newborns and keeping them in her freezer in Suwon, Gyeonggi since 2018.

Ghost baby cases have been surfacing in Korea since last month after the Board of Audit and Inspection announced some 2,236 newborns were unregistered at birth.

The government will conduct a complete inspection of 2,123 of them through Friday, with a final report expected early next week.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, SHIM SEOK-YONG [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]