 The brother of Lee Hye-jin, 11, carrying her photo, enters her classroom at Myonghak Elementary School in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, where her funeral ceremony was held Monday. / Korea Times Photo by Hong In-ki |
Staff Reporter
A 39-year-old man, detained Sunday night as a suspect in the kidnapping and murder two missing children, confessed to the crime Monday, police reported.
The Gyeonggi Province Police Agency said the suspect, identified by his surname Jung, confessed that he kidnapped and killed Lee Hye-jin, 11, and Woo Yae-seul, 8, who went missing Dec. 25.
The confession came after 16 hours of questioning. Jung lived alone in the neighborhood of the two girls, only 130 meters away from Lee's house.
The two girls went missing after they were last seen around 5 p.m. on Christmas Day by the owner of a supermarket near Anyang Culture and Arts Center.
However, last Tuesday a police search team found Lee's dead body dismembered on a mountain in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, 77 days after she went missing.
The police also secured records of rental car services in Anyang on the day the two girls went missing and discovered blood traces of the two girls in the trunk of the sedan rented by Jung. They arrested him at his mother's house in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, around 9 p.m., Sunday, after he went on the run.
Even after the confession, however, Jung kept reversing his statements about the crime, which caused police difficulty in finding Woo's body and the reason behind his behavior, a police officer said in a news briefing.
Police dispatched search teams to Sihwa Lake where Jung said he dumped Woo's body, while continuing their interrogation.
Jung made a living as a substitute driver and had no previous convictions. He also had no record of mental illness, police said.
Meanwhile, a funeral for Lee was held on Monday at Myonghak Elementary School, where the two girls studied. About 900 students and 200 Anyang residents gathered to mourn the victim.
e3dward@koreatimes.co.kr
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