A couple in their 20s accused of beating their mother-in-law to death, putting the body in a suitcase, and dumping it in Daegu's Sincheon has been arrested.
According to legal sources on the 2nd, Senior Judge Son Bong-gi of the Daegu District Court in charge of warrants issued arrest warrants after holding a pretrial detention review for the son-in-law, a person surnamed Cho (27), accused of parricide and abandoning a body, and for the victim's daughter, a person surnamed Choi (26), accused of abandoning a body.
Judge Son determined for both that "there is a risk of flight." He cited as reasons for issuing the warrant the "seriousness of the crime of causing death by committing prolonged assaults" for the son-in-law Cho, and for the daughter Choi, that she "condoned her husband's continuous and prolonged assault (on her mother), leading to the grave consequence of death, and was arrested after maintaining everyday life with her husband even after taking part in the crime."
Cho is accused of repeatedly assaulting his mother-in-law since February and, after she died, putting the body in a suitcase on the 18th of last month and dumping it along the Sincheon. Choi helped put her mother's body in the suitcase and also accompanied the body disposal process, it was found.
They were urgently arrested on the 31st of last month after a suitcase containing the body was found near Chilseonggyo in Buk-gu, Daegu. Cho told police that he committed the crime because "the mother-in-law was usually noisy and did not put things away."
Appearing for the warrant review that day, Cho and Choi did not answer questions from reporters such as, "Why did you assault her when the mother-in-law helped with housework?" Cho was also said to have glared at reporters before boarding the transport vehicle.
Police plan to investigate the specific details of the crime after the arrests.