By Kim Rahn
Arrest warrants have been sought for a woman and her son for allegedly killing her daughter “because she was possessed with the evil spirit of their dead pet.”
The Siheung Police Station in Gyeonggi Province said Sunday that it requested the prosecution to seek the warrant for the mother, surnamed Kim, 54, and her son, also Kim, 26, on suspicions of murdering her daughter, 25, at their home at around 6:40 a.m. on Friday.
According to police, the three had talked all night long and as their pet dog barked repeatedly in the morning, they thought the dog was possessed by a demon. They then allegedly killed the dog and then murdered the daughter.
“The woman told us that after killing the dog, the daughter showed strange behavior, such as shaky hands and trying to strangle the mother, so the woman thought the demon moved from the dog to the girl. So she allegedly stabbed the girl in the neck multiple times in the bathroom of their home,” a police officer said.
The son had a similar testimony, saying his sister was possessed with a demon and he beat her chest with a baseball bat while his mother stabbed her.
After, the son talked to his father about the event over the phone. A friend of the father visited the home on his request, found the body and reported it to the police. The mother and the son fled but were caught later that day.
The mother told police that her grandmother was a shaman and she herself had once been possessed by a spirit. She and her son had no record of mental illness, police said, adding they will further investigate the motive of the killing.