Army officer awaiting promotion admits to killing woman, dismembering corpse

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Army officer awaiting promotion admits to killing woman, dismembering corpse

Published: 04 Nov. 2024, 16:25

An Army officer who allegedly killed and mutilated his coworker is being moved to Gangwon Provincial Police Agency on Monday for further investigations. [YONHAP]

The man suspected of killing a woman and dismembering her body before dumping it into a river turned out to be an Army officer who was soon to be promoted.

Police arrested the murderer in his late 30s on Sunday without a warrant inside an underpass connected to Ilwon Station in Seoul's Gangnam District, southern Seoul, a day after body parts were found floating in the Bukhan River in Hwacheon County, Gangwon. The man immediately admitted to the murder charge after his arrest.

According to the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency on Monday, investigations revealed that the killer was an officer stationed at the Cyber Operations Command in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi. He was expected to be promoted to lieutenant colonel.

The victim was a 33-year-old civilian employee working in the same unit as the officer.

"The two individuals worked in the same office and had been close, but a recent conflict is believed to have led to the crime," said a police official. "We will uncover the exact motive through further investigation."

The Bukhan River [YONHAP]

The officer choked the victim to death on Oct. 25 around 3 p.m. in his car at a parking lot in the Cyber Operations Command grounds after losing his temper in an argument.

The murderer then hid the body under some clothes and resumed his post until 9 p.m. the same day, when he proceeded to take the corpse to a nearby construction site and dismembered it. The tool used to dismember the corpse had not been identified as of Monday, and the walls and floor of the construction site were demolished by the time police arrested the officer.

After placing the body parts into separate plastic bags, the officer dumped them into the Bukhan River after driving to Hwacheon County, where he was stationed around a decade ago. Rocks were placed inside the bags to keep them from floating to the surface.

An Army officer who allegedly killed and mutilated his coworker is being moved to Gangwon Provincial Police Agency on Monday for further investigations. [YONHAP]

The officer had transferred to a subordinate division in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on Oct. 28. He showed up to work after the crime, showing no signs of remorse, according to local media reports.

Police managed to identify the killer by looking through the victim’s phone records and conducting forensics of the body parts, revealing trace DNA. Police also found fingerprints on the tape used to seal the plastic bags.

All of the body parts were found on Monday after a three-day search that involved 200 police officers, 21 divers, 10 boats, eight search dogs and two drones.

Police plan to apply for an arrest warrant for the murderer on charges of murder, mutilation and concealment of a corpse while conducting further investigations. It will also conduct a forensic investigation of the officer's phone to determine whether the crime was planned beforehand.

Police are also considering making the officer's personal information available to the public.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [[email protected]]