10th Trial Prosecutors Release Goyu-jeong's Voice Recording
Raised Voice Indicating Intent to Kill Stepson of Current Husband
Past Phone Recordings and Notes Essentially Document 'Crime Circumstances'
Disadvantageous in Court... 'Perfect Crime' Collapses
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] In the final hearing before the verdict for Ko Yoo-jeong (37), who is on trial for the murder of her ex-husband (36 at the time of death) and stepson (5 at the time of death), a recorded phone conversation in which Ko Yoo-jeong argued with her current husband (38) was revealed.
According to the disclosed phone conversation, Ko Yoo-jeong mentioned her stepson and expressed an intention to kill him. Previously, various pieces of circumstantial evidence related to the crime, either recorded or documented by Ko Yoo-jeong herself, had also been made public.
The prosecution viewed these series of actions as Ko Yoo-jeong’s habitual behavior. Habitual behavior refers to certain actions, habits, or tendencies that repeatedly occur unconsciously.
In summary, these habits have ultimately worked against Ko Yoo-jeong by enabling investigators to infer the timing of the crime and other details.
On the 6th, the Jeju District Court Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Jeong Bong-gi) held the 10th hearing for the defendant Ko Yoo-jeong, who was detained and indicted on charges of murder and corpse mutilation and concealment.
On this day, the prosecution presented recorded evidence suggesting that Ko Yoo-jeong had planned the murder of her stepson.
According to the disclosed recording, about a week before the death of her stepson A, on February 22 of last year at 1:52 p.m., Ko Yoo-jeong was arguing with her current husband and said, "Should I just kill him (A)?"
The prosecution stated, "One hour before making this statement, Ko Yoo-jeong searched online for news articles about a murder case that occurred four years ago."
The murder case in the article involved a man in his 50s who suffocated his mother, who had dementia, by pressing her face into a pillow in 2015. The prosecution argued that there were many similarities to Ko Yoo-jeong’s case.
The prosecution also viewed Ko Yoo-jeong’s social media post stating that "my husband has a habit of pressing people next to him while sleeping" as a calculated attempt to implicate her current husband as the prime suspect in the stepson’s murder.
Ko Yoo-jeong (37), who was arrested on charges of murdering her ex-husband, was seen stopping by a store in Incheon at around 3:30 PM on June 29 last year. / Yonhap News
These records, which can be seen as a kind of crime log, had previously been disclosed and thwarted Ko Yoo-jeong’s plan for a perfect crime.
Earlier, on July 3 of last year, the Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office held a press conference stating that the estimated time Ko Yoo-jeong committed the crime against her ex-husband Kang (full name withheld) at a pension in Jocheon-eup, Jeju City, on May 25 of the same year was between 8:10 p.m. and 9:50 p.m.
The decisive reason for this estimate was based on three photos left on Ko Yoo-jeong’s mobile phone. She used a camera application that does not make a shutter sound to take the photos.
According to the prosecution: △ A photo taken at 8:10 p.m. shows a wall clock indicating the time of the crime. △ In the same photo, Kang’s shoes are visible in the lower right corner. △ Another photo shows a kitchen sink area with an empty plate of curry rice, a container of instant rice, and a pink pouch that had contained zolpidem.
After the crime, Ko Yoo-jeong fled Jeju and on May 28 at 8:54 p.m., she took a photo on the fifth deck of a ferry bound for Wando, showing a travel bag that appeared to contain the mutilated victim’s body.
According to the police, from 9:29 p.m. to 9:43 p.m., Ko Yoo-jeong took a black bag, presumed to contain the body, out of the travel bag and disposed of it over five minutes. The prosecution said Ko Yoo-jeong refused to explain why she took such photos.
Regarding this, the prosecution explained, "There is testimony from the current husband that Ko Yoo-jeong has a habit of recording her own actions," and "These three photos have been identified as significant evidence."
Meanwhile, at the hearing, the prosecution argued based on statements and opinions from the director of the National Forensic Service, the president of the Sleep Science Society, and Professor Lee Jeong-bin of Gachon University that it was unlikely the victim died at the hands of his father.
Additionally, evidence showed that Ko Yoo-jeong was awake on the early morning of March 2 last year, the day her stepson died, using a computer to search the internet, deleting contacts stored on her phone, and playing recorded audio at her home in Cheongju.
Ko Yoo-jeong faces two murder charges. According to the prosecution’s indictment, she is accused of killing her stepson by pressing the back of his head strongly between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. on March 2 last year while he was sleeping with his father.
Her ex-husband is accused of killing her in an unmanned motel in Jeju and concealing the body.
The scheduled witness examination of Ko Yoo-jeong’s younger sibling was withdrawn on this day. Ko Yoo-jeong’s defense attorney explained, "We judged that it is appropriate to impeach the evidence in this case through documentary or physical evidence, so the witness examination has been withdrawn."
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