By Park Si-soo
Layers of mystery covering the eerie “factory water tank” homicide are peeling off as the police investigation gains traction with fresh evidence.
Police said Wednesday human bones found in a factory's water purifying tank in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, early April are those of a Filipino man who had worked at a factory in the city and vanished in January 2016. Investigators said they reached the conclusion after matching DNA from the man's bones and with that of his family in the Philippines.
Police said the victim arrived in South Korea in 2014, worked at a paint factory in Hwaseong and vanished in January 2016. They did not give further details.
Police identified four foreigners ― all Filipino ― as suspects and are tracing their whereabouts.
“Three (of the four) have left the country and are believed to be in the Philippines,” an investigator said. “The one left is in the country.”
Workers found the bones inside a jacket while cleaning the tank on April 3. Police said the skeleton's left side was crushed, indicating something had hit the victim. Investigators believe this happened when the man was alive.
Police also believe the victim was killed elsewhere and the body dumped in the tank.