A woman in her 50s, identified as A and booked as a suspect in the so-called "Busan locked-room murder case," faces a crucial decision on her detention today.
The Busan District Court Dongbu Branch will hold a hearing on the 30th to review an arrest warrant for A, who is accused of murder. Earlier, the Busan Gijang Police Station sought an arrest warrant, saying A killed her younger brother to collect insurance money.
The case drew renewed attention when SBS "Unanswered Questions" covered the Busan locked-room murder case on the 28th. It began on Aug. 29, when B, A's younger sibling, was found dead of strangulation in the living room of an apartment while A was out.
At the time, only husband C was at home, so C was identified as the prime suspect, but C denied the crime, saying, "I have sleepwalking and do not remember," and was found dead in C's car 13 days after the incident, leaving a note saying C was "wronged."
The case seemed to be closed as a murder by the brother-in-law followed by suicide, but it took a turn three months later. An autopsy found in B's body components of a sleeping pill that A, the older sister, regularly took. Police booked A as a suspect based on the fact that A reported the body only 40 minutes after discovery and contacted an insurance planner before dialing 112. In particular, investigators also found an insurance payout worth about 200 million won with A as the beneficiary.
A, however, argues that the sibling often mixed A's prescribed medication into coffee, and that it was likely the work of husband C. A is appealing, saying, "Please investigate fairly without prejudice against North Korean defectors." But acquaintances of the deceased husband C counter, saying, "If C were the culprit, it would be unnatural to take one's life based only on the suspicions of those around."
Depending on today's warrant review, the truth behind the tragedy of a family of North Korean defector siblings who settled in Korea 10 years ago is expected to enter a new phase. Experts noted, "Because this is a clear strangulation in a locked-room murder, there is a high possibility the narrative will form that the remaining person is the culprit, but delayed evidence collection could make it very difficult to determine guilt or innocence."