At 9:45 a.m. on July 15, 2015 — 11 years ago today — the body of a 22-year-old female college student surnamed Kim was found near a drainage channel in Jinwi-myeon, Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. It was about 33 hours after she had vanished without a trace from a busy district near Suwon Station in the early hours of the previous day.
Kim, who had been drinking the night before, sat down by the roadside near Suwon Station with her boyfriend to rest and fell asleep there. A man in his 40s surnamed Yoon (45) then approached and woke the boyfriend. Yoon said, "Your girlfriend seems to have thrown up, so I'll look after her — go buy some wet wipes." After retrieving his wallet, which he had left at a bar, and buying the wet wipes, the boyfriend returned to find only an empty spot. Both his girlfriend Kim and the stranger who had offered to help were gone.
The boyfriend ran around the Suwon Station area for more than an hour searching for Kim but failed to find her, and reported her missing to police. Police, giving weight to the possibility of an abduction rather than a simple runaway case, launched a large-scale investigation.
CCTV Reveals the Crime: A Struggle in a Company Restroom
The investigation quickly took shape through closed-circuit television (CCTV) and on-site forensic analysis. In the early hours of the day after the disappearance, Kim's wallet and mobile phone were found one after another, and police obtained footage from nearby CCTV showing Yoon taking Kim to his vehicle. Footage also confirmed that Yoon dragged Kim into the building of the construction company where he worked, and shortly afterward moved Kim, who had been in the passenger seat, into the vehicle's trunk.
Kim's shoes and a hand mirror were found in the men's restroom on the third floor of the building. The interior bore clear traces of a struggle, with tiles cracked and the toilet damaged.
Police concluded that Yoon strangled Kim to death after she strongly resisted his attempt to sexually assault her there. An autopsy by the National Forensic Service found the cause of Kim's death to be asphyxiation from compression of the neck, and scratch wounds presumed to have been inflicted as the victim resisted were found on Yoon's body. DNA subsequently obtained and vehicle forensic results also supported the investigation's findings.
Body in Pyeongtaek, Suspect in Wonju: Case Closed With "No Right to Prosecute"
Yoon was found to have loaded Kim's body into his vehicle's trunk immediately after the crime and dumped it near a drainage channel in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. The location was an area where the construction company he worked for had carried out work.
Yoon then stopped by his home to change clothes and left a text message to his family saying he was "sorry." After telling his workplace he intended to return his corporate card, he moved to Wonju, Gangwon Province, where he was found hanged in a wooded hill that morning. And just minutes later, Kim's body was discovered in Pyeongtaek, revealing the full account of the case.
With the suspect taking his own life, the case was closed as "no right to prosecute." Police, however, effectively concluded that Yoon was the perpetrator based on evidence including CCTV, DNA, and vehicle forensic results.
Although no criminal trial could be held, the case continued in civil court. The victim's bereaved family filed a damages suit against Yoon's heirs, and the court, weighing the investigation records, police testimony, and DNA analysis results, recognized Yoon's unlawful act and ordered a total of 500 million won to be paid in damages to the family.
After the incident, the victim's boyfriend wept in an interview on MBC's "Real Story Eye," which covered the case, saying, "If it hadn't been for me, this wouldn't have happened, and I'm so sorry." The mother, too, added to the sorrow by confessing that she was ultimately unable to throw away the samgyetang chicken soup she had prepared to feed her daughter on Chobok, one of the hottest days of summer.
