Two murder suspects have drunk poison just before police caught them, in killings a day apart. In both cases, a man killed a woman after being reported to police repeatedly for stalking or domestic violence. The poisonings have disrupted the investigations, and critics say the repeated reports and protective orders failed to prevent the attacks.
According to the Jeonbuk State Police Agency and the Jeonju Deokjin Police Station on the 15th, a man in his 70s, identified only as A, who fled after killing his wife in Jeonju, Jeonbuk State, drank poison before officers detained him and is being treated at a hospital. A had already taken the poison when he was apprehended in Seocheon, South Chungcheong Province, on the 14th, and was then transferred to a general hospital in Jeonbuk State. "He is conscious and his life is not in danger," a police official said.
A is accused of stabbing his wife to death at an apartment complex in Jeonju's Deokjin District on the afternoon of the 13th and then fleeing. Before the killing, he had been placed under stalking provisional measures No. 1 through 3, including a no-contact order, on suspicion of stalking his wife. Police had also received several domestic violence reports involving him in the past. Investigators are looking into how the killing and the poisoning occurred.
A similar case occurred in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. According to the Jeju Western Police Station, a man in his 60s, identified only as B, who is accused of killing a woman in her 40s after she reported him for stalking and sexual violence, is believed to have drunk pesticide shortly before his arrest and is receiving hospital treatment. Police believe B drank the pesticide inside a vehicle between 1:38 a.m. on the 12th, when he fled after the killing, and 5:08 a.m., when he was apprehended.
B was arrested without a warrant on the morning of the 12th and placed in a holding cell, but complained of health problems and was taken for medical treatment at about 11:45 a.m. that day before being returned to custody. At about 1 p.m. on the 14th, he again complained of health problems and was transferred to a hospital, where his condition deteriorated sharply during treatment and he was admitted.
Police determined that although B's condition was stable, he was unlikely to recover within 48 hours of his arrest, so they canceled the detention warrant they had requested and released him. Under current law, a suspect arrested without a warrant must have a detention warrant requested within 48 hours or be released. Police said they have assigned detectives around the clock during his hospitalization to prevent him from fleeing or harming himself, and plan to seek a detention warrant again once he recovers.
B is accused of stabbing a woman in her 40s, believed to be a former romantic partner, to death on a street near a hotel in Yeon-dong, Jeju City, on the morning of the 12th. Investigators found that the woman had reported B four times between October last year and May this year for stalking, sexual violence and dating violence.
