Kim Sung-woo, 26, accused of killing his mother-in-law and abducting his wife in Seoul's Songpa district, has been referred to prosecutors while in custody. Police have obtained a statement that Kim used a private investigation firm and are examining whether anyone connected to it broke the law.
Songpa Police Station said on the 20th that it had referred Kim in custody to the Seoul Eastern District Prosecution Service on charges including retaliatory murder and retaliatory confinement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, special assault and violation of the Stalking Punishment Act.
During the investigation, police obtained a statement from Kim indicating that he had used a private investigation firm. They also confirmed that he paid for the service and are now looking into whether anyone at the firm committed any illegal acts. So far, however, there is no indication that the firm knew of his plans and assisted him.
Police found that between Sept. 16 and Oct. 11, the day of the attack, Kim loitered near his in-laws' home in Munjeong-dong, Songpa district, a total of 18 times, waiting for his wife, identified only as A. Nine of those visits took place while a court-ordered temporary restraining order was in effect. A was not aware that Kim had been coming near her residence until the attack, according to the investigation.
On Sept. 21, about three weeks before the attack, he bought the paring knife used in the killing near his in-laws' home and kept it in his car. He would guess when his wife typically came home and wait near the house, and on the night before the attack he stayed in the area from around 11 p.m. until the early hours of the following morning.
During questioning, Kim argued that the killing of his mother-in-law was impulsive and that he had put his wife in the car only to talk with her. Police, however, concluded that the crime was committed for the purpose of retaliation, citing the fact that he had bought and stored the knife in advance and had repeatedly loitered near the in-laws' home for nearly a month.
Police also pointed to a suit seeking annulment of the marriage, filed after his wife reported him for domestic violence, and to the fact that the attack came a day after he postponed a scheduled police interview. Concluding that he acted to retaliate for the report or to pressure her into withdrawing it, police applied charges of retaliatory murder and retaliatory confinement instead of the earlier charges of murder of a lineal ascendant and special confinement.
A search of his residence turned up a laptop computer, which was sent for digital forensic analysis, with police reviewing search and access records. They declined to disclose detailed findings, citing the ongoing investigation and upcoming trial.
The attack occurred at around 5:35 a.m. on Oct. 11 at the in-laws' home in Songpa. Kim is accused of trying to drag his wife away, stabbing his mother-in-law, a woman in her 50s, to death with a paring knife as she tried to stop him, then forcing his wife into his car and driving as far as Yangyang County in Gangwon State. He is also believed to have struck her in the face during the drive.
A tried three times to call the emergency line 112 from inside the car and was rescued by police at around 10:30 a.m. the same day. Kim was caught about two hours later, at around 12:35 p.m., on a wooded hill in Yangyang.
He also faces charges of ramming a highway patrol car during the chase, injuring two officers who each required two weeks of treatment and damaging the patrol car. A further charge was added for ramming a car parked near a beach in Yangyang.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency convened a committee on the disclosure of personal information the previous day and released Kim's name, age and photograph. The committee said it had weighed the gravity of the harm, the cruelty of the means used, the sufficiency of evidence proving the crime and the public interest in preventing further offenses.
Police said they will continue investigating the remaining issues, including the allegations involving the private investigation firm, even after the referral. "We will work closely with the prosecution service to respond firmly to violent crimes that threaten people's lives, and we will do our utmost to protect and support the victim and the bereaved family," a police official said.