Lee Gi-yeong Suddenly Reverses Statement Before Prosecution Transfer
"Reversed Statement Judging It Would Be Disadvantageous in Trial"
"May Have Felt Superiority to Manipulate Police Investigation"
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Doubts are growing over the location where the body was disposed of as Lee Gi-young, who was arrested on charges of murdering a taxi driver and his cohabiting woman and disposing of the bodies, reversed his statement.
Previously, Lee Gi-young testified that he had disposed of the body of his cohabiting woman, Ms. A, whom he killed in August last year, by dumping it along the Gongneung Stream in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. However, on the day before his transfer to the prosecution, the 3rd, he suddenly changed his story, claiming that he did not dump the body by the stream but instead dug a hole and buried it, specifying a particular location. The newly indicated site is about 3 km away from the originally stated disposal location.
It is generally known that psychopaths often reverse their statements. On the 4th, Professor Lee Soo-jung of the Department of Criminal Psychology at Kyonggi University appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "In my experience, criminals, especially violent offenders, do not always tell the truth 100%."
Professor Lee explained, "Lee Gi-young seems to have quite a psychopathic tendency. Such people habitually lie and keep reversing their statements." Currently, the police are analyzing whether Lee Gi-young has psychopathic traits by comprehensively examining his whereabouts and criminal facts.
On the morning of the 4th, Ki-young Lee (31), who was arrested on charges of killing his cohabiting partner and a taxi driver at the Ilsan Dongbu Police Station in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, is being transferred to the prosecution. Photo by Yonhap News
However, experts believe that the recent statement Lee Gi-young made before being transferred to the prosecution is likely to be true. Professor Lee analyzed, "The location of the body burial he is currently mentioning is presumed to be accurate," adding, "There seems to be no room for further changes regarding the body’s location." It is explained that Lee Gi-young likely judged that reversing his statement on major criminal facts after being transferred to the prosecution would put him at a disadvantage in court.
Professor Lee Woong-hyuk of the Department of Police Science at Konkuk University also predicted on SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' that "The sudden reversal of the statement before transfer suggests that the investigation team's strategy worked, leading him to confess the specific location himself."
He explained, "I interpret this as an unofficial agreement that revealing the specific (disposal) location would be more advantageous for future sentencing and investigation direction." He also said, "He might have given false testimony in a desperate situation to prevent the body from being found."
However, there are also opinions that this statement cannot be trusted until the body is found. It is possible that he lied to take control of the investigation and feel superior during the process.
Professor Oh Yoon-sung of the Department of Police Administration at Soonchunhyang University appeared on YTN's 'The News' and said, "Although temporary, he might have manipulated and controlled the police investigation process," adding, "Considering that he said, 'There are no more victims. This is the last gift to the police,' when he was transferred to the prosecution, it can be inferred that he felt a sense of superiority by holding and shaking the police investigation."
Meanwhile, on the morning of the same day, the police applied charges of robbery-murder, murder, corpse concealment, theft, fraud, and violation of the Specialized Credit Finance Act against Lee Gi-young and transferred the case to the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office Goyang Branch.
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