The chilling truth was revealed about a mother who tried to collect insurance money by falsely declaring her living son dead, and a babysitter who colluded with the ex-husband to take the child.
In Channel A Detectives' Trade Secrets' segment "Detective 24 Hours" broadcast on the 13th, a desperate request to "find a son who went missing 20 years ago" ended heavily with the conclusion that the son refused to meet his mother. The client had pleaded that after her husband ran off with gambling debts, the son she raised alone left home as soon as he turned 20 and she wanted to know at least whether he was alive or dead. But once the detectives began their investigation the atmosphere took a sudden turn. The client's daughter and the son's sister-in-law exposed the client's continued verbal abuse and violence since childhood, saying "she was not a mother but a devil." Then the son, who dramatically reappeared after 20 years, added shock by giving a similar testimony, saying "my mother beat me so hard a broom broke, and my sister was threatened with a knife." The client explained it was discipline to prevent him from falling into gambling like his father, but even more cruel facts later emerged.
The client's son said, "After I left home I once spoke to my mother on the phone," and "my mother knew I was alive yet filed a death report," shocking everyone. Actual investigation found the client used the "declaration of disappearance" system, which deems a missing person dead if their life or death cannot be confirmed for five years, to claim the son's death benefit from an insurer. It was further revealed she had previously received her husband's death benefit using the same method. The client insisted she filed for the death benefit because she had no way to find her son, but the court rejected that, noting she changed the beneficiary of a whole life insurance policy to herself after reporting the son's runaway and even took out an additional whole life policy. It turned out the client had been sentenced to prison for insurance fraud. Finally, the client's son said he was afraid his mother would come looking for him and refused to meet, disappearing again. Defconn, Yoon In-na and other cast members watching were speechless, calling it "the most shocking case in 'Detectives' Trade Secrets' history."
In the following "case notebook," a female client asked the detectives to investigate, saying, "My ex-husband, who I divorced, is unreachable every time it's time for visitation with our child," and "it seems he is meeting a new woman with the child." The client, a researcher at a pharmaceutical company, had been scouted to a provincial area and hired a live-in babysitter to look after her two-year-old son while she and her husband lived as a weekend couple. She later discovered her husband had incurred hundreds of millions of won in gambling debts and they divorced. The babysitter followed the client to the province and lived with her, caring for the child. But the detectives' investigation found the woman the ex-husband was seeing was the babysitter, and the two had been having an affair even before the divorce. Even more shocking, the babysitter was exposing the client's child on social media as if he were her own son, using the child for sponsored posts and sales to make money. It was revealed the ex-husband actively participated in this after promising to repay the gambling debts.
Defconn said, "This should involve the police," accusing child abuse, and comedian Lee Eun-hyung, enraged, said, "If I saw such a scene in real life my blood would boil." The babysitter did not stop there; she maintained a close relationship with the client, exploited weaknesses and attempted to seize custody. After experiencing two miscarriages, the babysitter became obsessed with the child and repeatedly said, "This child is now my son," displaying distorted maternal feelings that sent chills. Watching this, Defconn reacted that it was "like the scariest horror movie case."
[Photo] Channel A Detectives' Trade Secrets broadcast capture
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