The woman in her 60s who was found dead in a freezer warehouse at a large cafe in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, reportedly told her family before leaving home, "I have something to take care of because of a large sum of money." Police are pursuing the full circumstances of the case, considering the possibility that the victim met with foul play after becoming involved in a gift certificate transaction worth tens of billions of won.
According to materials the office of Lim Ho-seon of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, received from police on the 9th, at about 12:06 a.m. on the 4th the victim's family reported to police, "They went out saying they were going to resolve something because of a large sum of money and then lost contact."
The victim, a woman in her 60s identified as A, was later found dead in a freezer container next to a large cafe in Munsan-eup, Paju. Police believe B, a person in their 30s who runs the cafe, is suspected of killing A and arrested B on the 6th.
◇ Determined to have visited to broker gift certificates
A and B reportedly met for the first time on the 3rd for a department store gift certificate transaction.
According to police and others, A is believed to have gone to the cafe at the request to play an "intermediary role," such as verifying the authenticity of gift certificates, in a transaction where a third party would purchase gift certificates held by B. B is said to have also been buying and selling gift certificates to make a margin while operating the cafe.
A had reportedly never met B before nor visited the cafe.
Closed-circuit (CC)TV inside the cafe captured A entering the freezer container with B and then only B coming out alone.
Police are investigating with the possibility in mind that when A realized the potential counterfeiting of the gift certificates, B confined A in the freezer warehouse and killed the victim to conceal it.
A large number of gift certificates suspected to be counterfeit were found inside the freezer warehouse. The face value of the gift certificates is reportedly about 50 billion won.
Police are appraising whether the gift certificates were actually counterfeited while tracking the production and distribution routes and the transaction process. However, their position is that additional legal review is needed to make a final determination on whether the gift certificates are counterfeit.
◇ Freezer at minus 25 C—was it installed in advance for the crime?
Police are also examining whether the freezer warehouse where A was found was a space prepared in advance with the crime in mind.
In a recent interview, B reportedly said to the effect that they "built the freezer warehouse to avoid being caught for counterfeiting." Investigators are looking into whether the plan exploited the fact that in a cold freezer it is difficult to stay for long periods and meticulously verify the authenticity of gift certificates.
Based on surrounding statements that the cafe did not have a freezer warehouse until just a few weeks before the time of the crime, police are checking whether B intentionally installed the freezer warehouse for this crime.
On the day B met A, B reportedly told employees not to come to work and did not open the cafe. Online, B posted a notice that the cafe would be closed for just that day and resume normal operations the next day.
Some of the closed-circuit (CC)TV installed inside the cafe was also reportedly out of order. Residents said, "We had not seen a freezer warehouse at least until the end of August."
The set temperature of the freezer warehouse was minus 25 C, and the actual internal temperature was reportedly around minus 18 C. The freezer warehouse was a horizontally long container about 30 square meters in size, installed right next to the building of the cafe operated by B.
◇ After confining the victim in the freezer, went to and from the cafe multiple times… also investigating the man who brought the victim
B was confirmed through CCTV and other means to have gone to and from the cafe multiple times even after confining A in the freezer warehouse. Police are also examining whether B tried to remove traces of the crime or destroy evidence in the process.
Police are currently investigating whether C, a man who gave A a ride in a passenger car and brought the victim to B on the 3rd, was an accomplice.
To determine A's exact cause of death, an autopsy was requested from the National Forensic Service. Paju Police Station has formed an investigative team of 17 people, including three violent crime teams in the criminal division, and is looking into the motive, alleged fraud related to the gift certificates, and whether there were accomplices.
A police official said, "It is true that an investigation into accomplices is underway, but if related details become known externally, it could hinder the investigation," and added, "Please refrain from speculation about unconfirmed accomplice relationships."