Jang Yun-gi, 23, who is accused of murdering a high school girl he had never met in downtown Gwangju late at night, was originally motivated by sexual assault, supplementary prosecutorial investigation revealed.
The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office's Criminal Division 3, headed by Chief Prosecutor Kim Jin-hee, indicted Jang on Tuesday on charges including violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (rape-murder) and attempted murder, with him held in custody.
Jang is accused of stabbing and killing the late Lee Chae-won, 16, with a knife on a road near a university in Wolgye-dong, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, at around 12:11 a.m. on the 5th of last month.
After taking custody of Jang from police, prosecutors extended his detention period and, through supplementary investigation, concluded that he had planned to abduct and sexually assault the high school student.
Additional charges were also applied for repeatedly stalking a foreign woman, identified as B, and confining her at her home for more than 10 hours and sexually assaulting her two days before the murder.
According to the prosecutors' investigation, after committing the sex crime against B, Jang wandered around the Gwangju area to evade investigators and randomly chose the high school student as his next target.
Jang attempted to abduct the student and drag her to a secluded area to sexually assault her, but when she fiercely resisted, he pulled out a knife and killed her.
Jang had initially claimed that he had decided to commit suicide and killed Lee impulsively.
However, prosecutors determined that there was a high possibility of sexual motivation behind Jang's crime, based on the fact that the modus operandi was identical to the rape he committed two days before the high school girl's murder, and that multiple sex toys, including a sex doll, were found at his home.
The prosecutorial investigation also uncovered illegal filming crimes by Jang. While serving as a public service worker between June and July last year, Jang secretly filmed parts of others' bodies a total of seven times. Prosecutors added charges of violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (filming using cameras) against Jang.
Meanwhile, the parents of the late Lee Chae-won publicly disclosed their daughter's name and personal information and, through a statement, pleaded for severe punishment of Jang.
