Home > National > Social Affairs

Man who killed wife, hid body in trunk gets 17 years in prison

Published: 12 Jun. 2025, 15:44

Police crime criminal investigation illustration [YONHAP]

A man who murdered his wife and concealed her body in the trunk of a car for more than two months has been sentenced to prison for 17 years.

The Suwon District Court on Thursday sentenced a man in his 40s after finding him guilty of murder and concealment of a corpse. All charges were acknowledged by the court.

The man was indicted in March on charges of killing his wife, a woman also in her 40s, by striking her multiple times in the head and strangling her at their home in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on Nov. 26 of last year.

After the murder, he wrapped her body in a blanket and hid it in the trunk of a car parked in a nearby public lot. Following a missing persons report filed by an acquaintance of the victim, police launched an investigation. They escalated the case to a violent crime probe and arrested the man on Feb. 19.

He admitted to the crime during the trial. However, he gave inconsistent and vague explanations for his motive, stating he was under financial strain due to a voice phishing scam, that his wife suffered from depression and that she had physically grabbed him first during the incident.

During a hearing on May 8, prosecutors sought a 30-year prison term, arguing that “the motive for the killing is unclear, and the defendant has attempted to shift the blame onto the victim, showing a lack of remorse.”

The Suwon District Court in Suwon, Gyeonggi [YONHAP]

“The defendant was married to the victim for 11 years, but struck and killed her during a dispute over financial matters,” the court said Thursday. “The physical and mental pain the victim suffered as she died at the hands of her spouse in their own home is beyond what the court can measure.”

The court also noted, “After hiding the body in the car trunk, the defendant sent text messages to acquaintances pretending the victim was still alive and filed a false runaway report with authorities, resulting in her body being discovered three months after her death.”

It continued, “His testimony about the circumstances and motive of the crime frequently changed from the investigation to the courtroom, and he attempted to minimize his responsibility, casting doubt on whether he is truly remorseful.”

The court concluded, “The trauma that the couple’s young child will face is incalculable, and the victim’s other family members have also suffered severe psychological harm. Given that the defendant has not been forgiven by them, a severe sentence is inevitable.”

However, the court also stated that it had considered “the fact that the crime was committed impulsively and that the defendant is showing signs of remorse” when determining the sentence.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY CHOI MO-RAN [[email protected]]