Serial killings: Police finding more evidence

Continuing their investigation in the case of Yoo Yeong-cheol, a serial murder suspect, police said yesterday that they believe Mr. Yoo killed at least one more person in addition to the 19 victims already identified. And, they said, more deaths may be uncovered.
The investigators said Mr. Yoo had confessed yesterday to killing a 45-year-old street vendor from a market in the Jongno district of Seoul on April 14. Directed by the suspect, police located a body near Incheon and confirmed the murder.
“I told him I was a cop and then killed him,” Mr. Yoo said yesterday at the crime scene.
Mr. Yoo, who told police he had targeted wealthy senior citizens and young women, refused to say why he killed the vendor.
Police are expanding their investigation as Mr. Yoo stated he killed a total of 26. When asked whether he was involved with another series of murders, taking place in the southwestern part of Seoul, he remained silent.
Mr. Yoo remained mostly calm yesterday but was at times impertinent.
At Yeongdeungpo prison, he asked guards: “Did I look good on television news?”
Also, he told police officers, “I know that the National Assembly is discussing the abolition of the death penalty.” Police took the comment as a boast from Mr. Yoo that he would never be executed.
In January, during his alleged murder spree, Mr. Yoo had been arrested and held briefly on a minor theft charge. At the time, police investigated him for two days but failed to connect him to the series of killings and released him.
After the release, Mr. Yoo resumed his attacks on young women, who mostly worked for massage parlors.

by Min Seong-jae, Im Jang-hyuk