A police probe found that the lead investigator ignored a series of updates related to sex crimes during the investigation into the case of "high school girl killer" Jang Yun-gi.
The Special Investigation Team of the Korean National Police Agency National Office of Investigation (NOI) held a briefing on the 15th and announced interim findings that Park, an inspector who was then the violent crimes team leader at Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station, told team members, "Don't steer this in a sexual direction."
According to the Special Investigation Team, Inspector Park omitted from the case file a forensic interview report that said the possibility of a sexual motive should be examined and ordered edits to the analysis of a car dashcam that captured the subduing of the victim. He also told investigators to remove certain content from the stalking case report on Jang Yun-gi and, when attaching other analytical reports, to exclude content related to a sexual motive.
Police believe that, on Park's orders, key evidence such as cable ties and a sex doll was returned to the family immediately after the incident, and that subsequent instructions to supplement the investigative report and to preserve videos from the scene examination were not followed.
The Special Investigation Team sent Park to prosecutors in custody on charges of destruction of evidence, dereliction of duty, and abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights. The then chief of Gwangsan Police Station and the head of the criminal division have also been booked on charges of abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights and are currently investigating.
Park argued, "I determined that evidence such as cable ties and a sex doll was not key evidence of the murder," but is said to have testified that there were "orders from higher-ups" behind the lack of consolidation between the stalking and murder acts.
The Special Investigation Team plans to continue investigating whether there were orders from superiors or outside influence peddling during the shoddy investigation of the Jang Yun-gi case and why the sex crime and murder cases were investigated separately.