The news of that day has passed, but its meaning remains with us today. "That Day, Today" reads the present through the records of the past. — Editor's note
On this day four years ago, Oct. 14, 2022, a woman in her 40s was sentenced to life in prison for killing a doctor who had demanded the return of his stock investment money, burying his body in the ground and digging it up the next day to press his thumbprint onto a document.
Behind the crime was her fear that her husband would divorce her if he discovered her debts. Despite her efforts to meticulously cover her tracks, she was caught through a trace of red ink paste left on the victim's body and a persistent police investigation.
Posing as a 'Stock Market Lawyer' While Diverting Investment Funds
The woman, identified as A, first met the doctor, identified as B, in late 2013. The two, who had been exchanging investment information in an online stock community, set up an office in a studio apartment in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, and began investing in stocks together. B handed over the money and A managed it.
A introduced herself as a lawyer specializing in stocks, and investigators found that when returns were strong, she paid B several million won a month in profits even after deducting her fees.
But as market conditions worsened, the investments began to fail. A diverted about 100 million won of the money she had received from B to cover living expenses. When B found out, he demanded on March 28, 2022, that she repay the diverted funds, warning that he would tell her family about the investments if she did not.
A, who had suffered heavy losses from stock investments in the past, had promised her husband that she would never touch stocks again. Gripped by the thought that her family would learn of the debt, leading to divorce and separation from her son, she decided to kill B rather than repay the money.
She Said She Would Plant Trees. Instead, She Dug a Pit in Advance
The preparations were thorough. A borrowed land from an acquaintance in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, saying she would plant trees there, then called in an excavator operator to dig a pit about 1.2 meters deep and 2.5 meters wide. She also borrowed a vehicle from an acquaintance to move the body and planned to attach fake license plates made from sheets of A4 paper to evade police tracking. On the day of the killing she wore a wig and changed out of the clothes she had left home in, trying to conceal her identity and movements.
At around 9 p.m. on April 6, 2022, in a parking lot in Busan's Geumjeong District, A tried to persuade B inside her car not to tell her family, offering to pay him 1 million to 1.5 million won a month. When he refused, she strangled him with a cord she had prepared in advance. She then drove to Yangsan and, to avoid location tracking, discarded B's powered-off mobile phone at a nearby bus stop. She placed the body in the pit she had dug earlier, covered it with soil and left the scene.
The crime did not end there. The next morning, A realized that B's wife suspected something about the two of them and their stock investments.
To make it appear that their partnership and debts had already been settled, A drew up a false stock contract and returned to the burial site. She then dug up the ground, pulled out the body's left arm, coated the thumb in ink paste and pressed a thumbprint onto the document — a grotesque act.
Life Sentence Reduced to 30 Years on Appeal
The police investigation gained momentum when B's wife reported him missing. Using closed-circuit television footage and other evidence, officers found that the vehicle A had used had lingered near a field in Yangsan.
An oxidized can found near the site also provided a lead. Police believed the can had been buried in the ground long enough to oxidize and had surfaced only recently. Focusing on the possibility that someone had recently dug there, they searched the surrounding area and found B's body. The trace of red ink paste remaining on the left thumb also became decisive evidence.
Early in the investigation, police looked intensively into whether A had an accomplice, on the assumption that a woman would have had difficulty committing the killing and disposing of the body alone, but no evidence emerged. A eventually confessed.
On Oct. 14, 2022, the fifth criminal division of the Busan District Court sentenced A to life in prison on charges including murder and concealment of a body. The punishment was heavier than the 28-year prison term sought by prosecutors. The court said severe punishment was warranted because she had prepared the crime meticulously in advance and had gone as far as forging a private document using the victim's fingerprint.
On appeal in 2023, however, the sentence was reduced to 30 years. The appeals court said the nature of the crime was extremely serious and the suffering of the bereaved family was great, but added that it was "difficult to conclude that the method rose to the level of cruelty and brutality."
A appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the sentence, saying that "even taking various circumstances into account, it cannot be said that the lower court's imposition of a 30-year prison term was grossly unjust."
Another Robbery-Murder by a U.S. Serviceman in Okinawa: 6,409 Cases Over 54 Years ⚡
A Japanese woman was killed by a U.S. Marine in Okinawa. A 20-year-old corporal was arrested on charges of robbery-murder. The U.S. military responded with a full ban on drinking and a one-month curfew after midnight.
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