A Jeju police officer who first received the missing-person report for Jang (woman in her 30s) admitted to closing the case falsely without speaking with Jang.
According to the Jeju Provincial Police Agency on the 28th, Sergeant Bu (man in his 30s) of the missing persons team at the Jeju Western Police Station said during questioning the day before that his previous statement that he had currency with Jang was a lie.
Bu had claimed that, in connection with how he closed Jang's missing-person case, he had been in direct contact with Jang. Police reportedly presented carrier currency lookup results showing there were no call records between the two. They also pressed Bu by presenting autopsy findings indicating Jang was presumed to have died in the early hours of May 12–13, before the first missing-person report was filed.
However, considering the possibility of a retraction, police did not disclose exactly what charges Bu admitted to.
When Jang's missing-person report was filed on May 15, Bu allegedly told the caller that he had reached Jang, then closed the case and, on his own, deleted Jang-related entries from the missing-person profiling system's management list. He is also suspected of falsely closing, in the same manner, a case involving a missing person in their 60s.
Police are investigating Bu's motive and the specific circumstances by deploying profilers and conducting forensic analysis. They plan to announce the results of the investigation when referring the case to prosecutors next week.
Jang left the accommodation where she had been staying long-term on the night of May 12 and then lost contact, and she was found dead on the 24th near the lodging, about three months after the missing-person report.