[Seocho-dong Legal Story] 'Lack of Evidence'... Ultimately Remains an 'Unsolved Case' of the 'Jeju Version of Memories of Murder'

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] "The Supreme Court confirmed the original ruling that found the defendant not guilty of the charges that he attempted to rape the victim but failed due to the victim's resistance, and in the process, murdered the victim." (October 28, Supreme Court)

This case, known as the "Jeju Edition of Memories of Murder," was reopened in 2016 after the statute of limitations for murder was abolished under the so-called "Taewan Act." The prime suspect, taxi driver Park, was caught nine years after the incident and stood trial. However, the case ultimately remained permanently unsolved. Despite nationwide attention, the victim and the victim's family were unable to clear their grievances.

Park was prosecuted on charges of attempting to sexually assault A (then 27 years old), a childcare teacher who boarded his taxi in the early morning of February 1, 2009. After the attempt failed, he allegedly murdered her and abandoned the body in a drainage ditch along a farm road in Aewol-eup, Jeju. The body was discovered only eight days after the missing person report was filed, and the time of death was mistakenly estimated as "within 24 hours before discovery," turning the case into a long-term cold case.

However, in 2016, the police formed a dedicated cold case investigation team and resumed the investigation. Park was arrested in May 2018 in Yeongju, Gyeongbuk, nine years after the incident.

The main issue in court was whether murder could be proven based on indirect evidence. Given the passage of time, CCTV footage showing the taxi's route was a key piece of evidence. When Park was arrested, police found numerous fibers similar to the clothes A was wearing at the time of death in the driver's seat, trunk, and clothing. They secured evidence using micro-evidence amplification technology. Ultimately, the dispute centered on the value of this evidence.

Notably, during the reinvestigation, the police conducted animal experiments by dressing pigs and dogs in the same mustang coat that Lee wore at the same time and place. It was confirmed that due to the unique environment around the drainage ditch, the temperature of the animal carcasses dropped below the ambient temperature and then rose again, causing delayed decomposition. Based on this, they concluded that A's time of death could be considered as the time of disappearance on February 1, 2009, and Park was detained and indicted in January 2019.

However, the court's judgment differed. The first trial court stated, "Although the defendant's claims or excuses are somewhat contradictory or unclear, and there are circumstances that raise suspicion of the defendant committing the crime, such as deleting call records, the evidence submitted alone cannot prove the crime beyond a reasonable doubt," and acquitted him.

The second trial court also upheld this. The court said that the evidence submitted by the prosecution, including animal hair, microfiber evidence, CCTV footage, and its analysis, did not prove that the defendant murdered the victim. Regarding the animal experiments, the court pointed out, "Scientific experimental results may have errors, so a sufficient amount of data must be collected to verify accuracy." The animal experiment results in this case were based on only a single experiment, making it difficult to verify the accuracy of the results.

The Supreme Court also upheld the original ruling. It confirmed the ruling that found the defendant not guilty of the charges that he attempted to rape the victim but failed due to the victim's resistance, and in the process, murdered the victim. The Supreme Court stated, "There is no error in the original court's judgment that did not exceed the limits of free evaluation of evidence or misinterpret the law regarding the exclusion of illegally obtained evidence and its exceptions."