A flight attendant was killed while returning home... The culprit was a taxi driver who disposed of the body in a snowplow container [Yonghyeong 5] [Comprehensive]

*This content was translated by AI.

'Brave Detectives 5' covered a shocking murder case.

In the ninth episode of TV Cast E Channel's 'Brave Detectives 5', which aired on the 22nd, Detective Kim Soon-cheol of the Gyeonggi Southern National Police Agency's Metropolitan Investigation Team, Detective Kang Dong-guk, head of the Criminal Investigation Team 1 at Namwon Police Station, and Detective Kim In-gu, head of the Criminal Investigation Team 2 at Namwon Police Station, appeared.

The broadcast introduced a case where the same perpetrator had to be caught twice. A detective explained, "After hearing the first-instance sentence, he escaped while awaiting transfer. We eventually caught him again after 11 hours of pursuit." Yoon Doo-joon, who introduced the case, also said, "The perpetrator showed no remorse even after being caught twice and made the excuse that he turned himself in after wanting to meet a loved one."

The case began in 2005 when a mother reported that her daughter had not returned after going out to meet friends. The daughter was a 25-year-old flight attendant who had a flight schedule to Spain the following afternoon but had not returned and was unreachable. According to acquaintances who were with her at a drinking party the previous night, they parted ways around 1 a.m., and the missing person boarded a taxi while heavily intoxicated and having lost all memory of the trip.

Although the missing person lived in a house just a five-minute drive away, about five hours after boarding the taxi, 1.01 million won was withdrawn, followed by another 4.36 million won the next evening, raising further suspicion. ATM CCTV captured a man wearing a hat and mask withdrawing cash. On the fifth day of the missing person report, the victim's body was found in a roadside snowplow container. No signs of beating or self-inflicted wounds were found on the body, but a ligature mark around the neck was confirmed.

Especially, the location where the body was found was an area with many snowplow containers and rare vehicle traffic, leading to the suspicion that the culprit was a taxi driver familiar with the terrain. As a result of inquiries near the location where the victim last boarded a taxi, a witness appeared who claimed the victim had taken a white mid-size taxi. After narrowing down the drivers of white mid-size taxis to those with prior criminal records, 38-year-old taxi driver Min (pseudonym) emerged as a prime suspect, as his GPS movement path included both the body disposal site and the cash withdrawal location. A check of the taximeter, which records driving time and distance, revealed that the taxi was stationary during the time of the cash withdrawal. Min had six prior convictions for armed robbery since he was 22 years old and was a repeat offender with nine prior convictions, having been released from prison only seven months earlier. Detectives tracked Min's location using GPS and arrested him.

As a result of the taxi inspection by the forensic team, one of the victim's black high-heeled shoes and a shoelace were found under the front passenger seat. Initially denying the crime, Min admitted to it only after evidence surfaced, stating, "At first, I strangled her with my hands, but when she woke up, I strangled her again with a shoelace." In response, Kwak Sun-young expressed anger, saying, "He has no sense of guilt."

Min claimed that the victim vomited in the taxi, and when he only got annoyed, he tried to take her money and killed her because he was afraid she would report him. It was later confirmed that he used the victim's card to withdraw cash and then enjoyed entertainment with his lover using the victim's money. In particular, DNA sampling results revealed that Min was also suspected of rape, adding to the shock. Ultimately, Min was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The second case introduced next began in the early hours of 2002, when a report was received that a woman was bleeding from a knife wound in an alley. In a dead-end alley, a young woman was found collapsed, bleeding, with a knife lying beside her. The woman had been stabbed multiple times in her abdomen and chest and was already dead.

The victim was a 30-year-old woman who lived alone nearby and operated a pub in the city. She was presumed to have been attacked while returning home late at night after finishing her shift. The victim's bag was missing, and at the scene, only an umbrella and a red women's bicycle that did not belong to the victim were left behind.

On the third day of the investigation, the victim's bag was found in the restroom of a local adult entertainment arcade. While the investigation team was investigating not only the adult arcade but also a list of nearby businesses, they confirmed the existence of a 24-year-old man who had been hospitalized after ingesting pesticide shortly after the incident. He was a railway administration official who had been married for only a short time and claimed the pesticide ingestion was an accident. In fact, scars remained on his body.

Then, on the 42nd day after the incident, a report was received that an elementary school girl had been kidnapped and nearly sexually assaulted. A car suddenly stopped on her way home from school and approached her, saying, "I'll take you home." As soon as the girl got into the car, the door was locked, and the perpetrator pulled out a knife and attempted sexual assault. The child managed to escape and remembered the perpetrator's red car and its interior items.

A similar vehicle was found at the police station near the report site, and the place where the car was parked was an office used by railway administration employees. It turned out that the man who had been hospitalized for pesticide ingestion, Min (pseudonym), was the owner of the vehicle. In particular, the knife thrust at the child was found to be identical to the knife handle discovered at the murder scene. When Min was urgently arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, he did not resist and, after intense questioning by detectives, shed tears and admitted to the crime. Later, a knife set found in Min's home had two empty slots, and the remaining three knives raised suspicion of further crimes.

Min claimed that the motive for the crime was "money." His older brother had used a card in his name and then disappeared, and when he was pressured to repay a debt worth 10 million won, he thought he should commit robbery to pay it off. In response, Ahn Jung-hwan expressed anger, saying, "He is making up such ridiculous stories."

Min testified that he decided to target the victim because she appeared to have a lot of money, threatened her with a knife, but when she screamed, he killed her and took 20,000 won in cash. He then attempted suicide by ingesting pesticide but vomited it up due to the strong smell, and circumstances were also found suggesting he went to an adult entertainment arcade. Min was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first instance and 15 years in the second instance. This was the result of reaching an agreement with the victim's family and the court accepting his claim of diminished mental capacity due to glue inhalation at the time of the crime.

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*This content was translated by AI.