Perp of ‘octopus murder’ gets life

Court relies on circumstantial evidence to convict lover

The former boyfriend of a 23-year-old woman murdered in 2010 was given a life sentence at Incheon District Court, Thursday, after concluding that circumstantial evidence showed the man killed his former lover to obtain 200 million won in insurance money.

“It seems clear that Yun died from breathing difficulty and suffocation. If she was in such a condition, it is very likely that she would have messed up the room while struggling, but the room was tidy. We believe Kim smothered her, covering her nose and mouth with a towel that was found in the room,” the court said.

The man sentenced, surnamed Kim, claimed that his girlfriend, with the family name Yun, choked to death while eating a live octopus.

The father did not believe his daughter’s death was an accident but that she was murdered, after he made the discovery that Yun was insured for 200 million won a month before the death and that Kim was the beneficiary.

On April 19 in 2010, Kim and Yun checked into a motel in Incheon at 3 a.m., bringing four live octopuses — two cut into pieces and two intact. About an hour later, Kim asked a worker of the motel to call the police, saying Yun passed out while eating them and was not breathing.

She was transferred to a hospital, but died 16 days later. The bereaved family cremated the body but by then, the physical evidence from the motel room had gone.

After the family found out that Kim received the insurance money and never contacted the family, the father went to the motel in search of evidence, consulted doctors about the cause of death, and talked with 17 lawyers nationwide. He then filed a petition which propelled the police to reopen the case five months later. During two years of investigation, he made some 50 trips between Incheon and Ulsan where he lives.

The court’s decision supported the findings of the father. It said despite a lack of physical evidence, circumstances show Kim was guilty.

In its summation, the court observed that, “Kim also changed his testimony, first saying Yun ate the entire octopus but then changing this to say that she only ate the legs. Even though she was drunk, it is unlikely that Yun, who had weak teeth, ate the intact octopus.”

The court said it also considered the fact that Kim didn’t call the police himself but asked for help from the motel worker and that he dated other girls while Yun was hospitalized, unconscious.

“Yun didn’t have a specific reason to be insured for that much money. Kim, who was a credit defaulter, had financial difficulties but continued to spend quite a lot of money at that time. He had good reason to kill her to claim the insurance,” it said.

But the court didn’t acknowledge the family’s claim that Kim fabricated the insurance document to have him become the beneficiary.

After the ruling, the father said, “I think people’s attention to the case has been drawn by the life sentence. I believe this sentence will relieve the grief of my girl.”

Both Yun’s parents said that her daughter appears in their dreams. ”In my dream, my girl told me she feels pain in her abdomen, holding her belly. In my wife’s dream last year, my wife told her to come, then my daughter said she couldn’t. She then came to my wife’s bedside and shed tears, my wife said,” stated the father. <The Korea Times/Kim Rahn>

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