The cafe owner, who was arrested on charges of confining a woman in her 60s in a freezer at a cafe in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, leading to her death, is said to have asked artificial intelligence (AI) a question right after the confinement along the lines of, "What happens if there is a person in a freezer?"
The suspect claims the storage door was closed impulsively, but police are also looking into the possibility of a premeditated crime based on factors such as blocking the cellphone and the timing of the freezer's installation.
According to MBC on the 9th, A, a cafe owner in their 30s, is said to have asked AI around 11 a.m. on the 3rd a question along the lines of, "What happens if there is a person in a freezer?" after confining the victim in the freezer.
Police believe A tried to find out specific changes in the victim's condition after being locked in the freezer and are investigating the related circumstances. A was found to have gone to and from the freezer multiple times around the time the victim was confined.
The freezer was installed on the 27th of last month, a week before the victim died. Closed-circuit (CC) TV captured a large cargo truck carrying the freezer arriving at the cafe around 4:30 a.m. that day, unloading the unit, and leaving about five hours later.
The victim was locked in the freezer exactly one week after that. The inside of the freezer was around minus 18 degrees Celsius, and it was reportedly structured so the door could not be opened from the inside.
An initial verbal autopsy opinion by the National Forensic Service reportedly found no particular external injuries on the victim's body. Police are therefore checking whether the low-temperature environment of the freezer may have influenced the death.
Earlier, police received a report early on the 4th that the victim was missing and began a search. Later the same day, they found the victim's body in a freezer container next to a large bread cafe in Munsan-eup, Paju, and arrested A as the prime suspect. A was detained on charges including murder.
Police are investigating the exact circumstances of the crime and whether there were accomplices, considering the possibility that A, along with three people suspected as accomplices, lured the victim with the bait of a gift certificate transaction.
In a police interview, A asserted the act was impulsive, stating along the lines of, "I had to proceed with a gift certificate transaction, but I panicked because it seemed likely to fall through, and I closed the freezer door in the moment."
However, as the police investigation proceeds, indications of a premeditated crime are also being confirmed one after another.
On the morning of the crime, A was found to have lured the victim to the freezer while saying, "Let's leave our cellphones outside." Police also confirmed indications that A made the victim turn off the cellphone and place it on the car's dashboard to prevent contact with the outside.
Police are focusing on whether A's crime was planned in advance.