Girl’s family says suspect’s former partner manipulated her into committing crimes
Seoul police questioned a 59-year-old man Thursday on suspicion of killing a 15-year-old girl whose parents had filed a statutory rape complaint against his son. Police planned to seek a warrant that morning to keep the man in custody on suspicion of murder.
Officers from Seoul’s Seongbuk Police Station arrested the man at around 1:40 a.m. Wednesday at a short-term rental in Jeongneung-dong, Seongbuk-gu.
The girl was already dead when police arrived in response to an emergency call earlier that morning.
The man was heavily intoxicated at the time of his arrest and declined to answer questions during his first interview Wednesday.
The rental had been booked by a woman in her 20s who had been the suspect’s common-law partner, according to local reports.
Officers found what appeared to be a suicide note and an unlit charcoal briquette at the scene. Police also recovered the girl’s phone, which they suspect the man discarded after the killing, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The statutory rape case dates to an alleged incident in January. After receiving the complaint from the girl’s parents, Nowon police referred the case against the man’s 20-year-old son to prosecutors in March.
The case was still under investigation when the girl was killed. The son is currently in custody in a separate theft case.
Police are investigating whether the killing was retaliation over the statutory rape complaint. They are also looking at a possible connection to a separate investigation into a suspected scheme in which men were allegedly lured with offers of paid sex and robbed.
Nowon police had been investigating the girl, the son and the woman over suspected theft, fraud and receipt of stolen property.
Nowon police had sought a detention warrant for the woman on suspicion of instigating theft, among other offenses.
The girl’s family reportedly alleged that the woman had manipulated her into committing offenses.
The girl was out of school and had been staying in youth shelters since earlier this year. She had contacted police several times over problems at home, and police helped connect her with shelter services.
She subsequently moved between several shelters, including some outside Seoul, according to local reports.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
