'Brave Detective' revealed a tenacious investigative account that solved a baffling case.
On the 6th episode broadcast on T-cast E Channel 'Brave Detective 4' (directed by Lee Ji-sun), episode 70 featured Namyangju Nambu Police Station Detective Team 3 chief Sgt. Lee Sang-gyu, Detective Team 3 Det. Park Kwang-min, narcotics investigation team Det. Kim Nam-gwon, Sgt. Hong Seong-hyun, voice phishing team Senior Const. Kwon Ga-ha, former commissioner general Yoon Oe-chul of the forensic investigation unit (KCSI), and Sgt. Kim Jin Soo, who appeared and disclosed investigation logs. Continuing from the previous broadcast, entertainer Eom Ji-yoon joined as a guest and showed witty contributions.
The first case introduced that day began with a report that a friend had been threatened with murder with a knife while arguing with her boyfriend. At the scene, a woman appearing to be in her 30s was found dead on the bed covered in blood, and a woman estimated to be in her 60s was also found dead on the floor. It was confirmed that the two were mother and daughter. The victims were Chinese nationals, and it was reported that about a month earlier the mother had arrived in Korea to stay at her daughter's home to settle in.
Above all, the first person detectives needed to find was not the daughter's cohabiting partner Mr. Choi (alias). The daughter had a five-year-old child from a previous marriage who was not at the scene. The daycare the child attended believed Mr. Choi was the father, and it was confirmed that he had taken the child home early saying the child's grandfather had suddenly died. CCTV showed that Mr. Choi is presumed to have left the scene with the child after killing the mother and daughter.
Detectives secured SNS photos based on Mr. Choi's phone number and, while checking 20 to 30 people nationwide with the same name and age, identified one individual. He turned out to be Mr. Choi, and it emerged that a few days earlier he had contacted his biological younger brother asking him to find a job. It was also confirmed that he left the child at the mother's house in another region and then went missing. Fortunately, the child was safe. Detectives tracked communication records one by one to intensify the investigation and found the taxi driver who had taken Mr. Choi to the mother's house. It turned out the taxi driver was a longtime friend of Mr. Choi and testified there was nothing unusual. Detectives staked out, considering Mr. Choi might use a taxi again, and as expected he hailed a taxi and was arrested.
At first, Mr. Choi claimed he killed the victims impulsively because they looked down on him. Later he said he had been suspicious of the victims and that he had conflicts with the victim's mother over child-rearing. The victim's mother had briefly taken refuge when the daughter and Mr. Choi argued, then heard her daughter's screams, came out, and was killed along with her daughter.
At Mr. Choi's mother's house, expensive watches, Japanese yen, and about 20 pieces of jewelry were found, and it was confirmed that the victim's missing gold necklace had also been stolen by Mr. Choi. It also emerged that on the day of the incident a diamond appraisal had been requested for the victim. Regarding why he took the child, he claimed, "Because we lived together for a long time, I took the child to the mother's house to look after them," which left everyone bewildered. Ultimately, Mr. Choi was sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder, theft and abduction of a minor.
The case introduced by KCSI began with a shocking report that human bones were found while cleaning a septic tank at a row house. While cleaning the septic tank, a long bone got caught in the hose and a total of seven human bones were found. Based on the size of the bones, the victim was presumed to be a small-built person about 150 cm tall. Because there was a car near the septic tank spot, accidental death by slipping was considered unlikely.
While obtaining and checking missing persons lists from the nearby area covering the past 10 years one by one, suspicion fell on the very row house where the skeletal remains were found. During inquiries, the man who lived in the house initially said he only had a wife and children, but it was later revealed that his mother in her 80s, who had run away five years earlier, had been living there.
The runaway report had been filed not by the grandmother's son but by a grandson, and the man's wife told family members that the grandmother had run away and even claimed neighbors had seen a large truck come to take the grandmother's belongings. However, there were no witnesses. A DNA comparison between the grandmother's daughter and the discovered skeletal remains confirmed a mother-daughter relationship.
When the wife and husband were questioned separately, the husband said he worked away from home and occasionally came home, and that he returned after hearing from his wife that his mother had run away. When asked who the neighbor was who witnessed the runaway, the wife could not answer; at first she said the mother-in-law had already been dead, then later changed her statement to say she pushed her in anger and later found her dead. She refused to disclose the cause of death.
The wife claimed that when she returned home the house was a mess with feces and urine, and that the grandmother had cursed her, accusing her of having an affair. She also claimed that during disposal she slipped while carrying the grandmother's body out on a rainy day and by accident the septic tank lid opened and the body fell in, but witness statements showed the grandmother had medical records related to dementia and was not in a condition unable to control bowel movements.
In the end, because decisive evidence about the killing process could not be secured, the wife was sentenced to three years in prison. Watching this, Ahn Jung-hwan said in anger, "I'm so angry that the image will remain for days."
'Brave Detective 4' airs every Friday at 9:50 p.m., and is also available on major OTT platforms such as Netflix, TVing and Wavve. Live updates and videos about the program can be found on E Channel's official YouTube and Instagram. Meanwhile, the E Channel original web variety series 'Hyeongsuda,' which expands the world of 'Brave Detective,' covers detectives' investigation backstories, behind-the-scenes of major cases, and true stories of South Korean death row inmates whose sentences were actually carried out, and is released every Friday at 7 p.m. on the YouTube channel 'Detectives' Talk'.<
[Photo] E Channel
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