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소아쌤

Suspect in decades-old murders booked, case to be sent to prosecutors

By Kim Arin

Published : Oct. 15, 2019 - 14:58

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SUWON, Gyeonggi Province -- Police said Tuesday that Lee Chun-jae, 56, has been booked in connection with a series of rape-murders in the 1980s and early '90s and his case will be referred to prosecutors despite the expired statute of limitations.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency confirmed in a press briefing Tuesday morning that Lee’s status was changed from “suspect” to “accused” as of Monday, after authorities judged that his account of the crimes in question had “substantial credibility.” Forensic DNA testing has matched Lee to those found in five of the murders, with more tests still underway.

Lee’s change in status is a critical turning point in the investigation, police said, which means that written interrogatories now need to be lodged in accordance with the criminal procedure law. From this point on, police interviews with Lee will have to be recorded in the form of official documents to be signed by Lee. The police agency said its committee of judicial experts had affirmed the legal grounds of the decision.


Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency (Kim Arin/The Korea Herald) Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency (Kim Arin/The Korea Herald)

Police said 10 of the 14 murders Lee has confessed to are part of an unsolved series of rapes and killings that occurred between 1986 and 1991 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.

Police specified the other four as the December 1987 murder of a 17-year-old girl in Suwon, a Gyeonggi city neighboring Hwaseong; the July 1989 disappearance of an 8-year-old girl in Hwaseong; the January 1991 murder of a high school girl in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province; and the March 1991 murder of a 26-year-old woman in Cheongju.

Lee told police he had disposed of the missing 8-year-old’s body near where he killed her.

Police said all 14 murders reflected Lee’s modus operandi. The 14 counts of murder leave out the 1994 rape and murder of his sister-in-law, for which Lee is serving a life term in a Busan Prison.

In a bombshell announcement Oct. 9, Lee claimed he was responsible for the 1988 rape-murder of a 13-year-old for which a different man, surnamed Yun, had been convicted and served almost two decades in jail. A lawyer representing Yun said last week that his client would take legal action against the state for the wrongful conviction.

Ban Ki-soo, the agency’s superintendent general, said police were examining the veracity of Lee and Yun’s claims. Ban said police were also in close consultations with the officers in charge of the case at the time.

About the 30 rapes and other sexual assaults for which Lee has also confessed guilt, police said they had yet to identify the specific cases.

Police said they would also review the matter of officially disclosing Lee’s full identity.

While protocol dictates that all records are to be discarded after the statute of limitations has expired, Gyeonggi police said they preserved key documents and samples in the hope of eventually solving this cold case.

“We believe this may be our last chance at cracking the decades-old cold case,” Ban said. “Our intention is to leave not a single drop of doubt unaddressed. This includes the possible errors made by police officers in the past.”

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)

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