Victim of Valley Murder Who Adopted Lee Eunhae's Daughter... Bereaved Family Wins Lawsuit to Nullify Adoption

"Adopted with the intention of marriage but no marital life occurred"

The court ruled that the adoption of the daughter of perpetrator Lee Eun-hae by victim Yoon Mo, in the so-called 'Valley Murder Case,' is invalid.

On the 28th, the Suwon Family Court Family Division 4 (Presiding Judge Yang Woo-jin) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the adoption invalidation lawsuit filed by the family of Yoon (who was 39 years old at the time of death) against Lee Eun-hae's daughter, Ms. A, stating, "The adoption reported to the Yeongtong District Office of Suwon City in July 2018 is invalid."

In April 2022, Lee Eun-hae entering the courthouse to attend the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant review). [Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, in May 2022, the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office indicted Lee Eun-hae on murder charges and filed a lawsuit claiming that the adoption of Lee Eun-hae's daughter, who was born to her, as the adopted child of victim Yoon was invalid. At that time, the prosecution stated, "We received a request from the bereaved family to organize the family relationship registration related to Lee Eun-hae's daughter, who was adopted as the victim's adopted child." Subsequently, the bereaved family filed the adoption invalidation lawsuit independently from the prosecution.

Lee Eun-hae married Yoon in March 2017 and in June of the following year adopted her daughter (born in 2011) as Yoon's adopted child.

The bereaved family explained the reason for the lawsuit, saying, "The adoption of Ms. A was based on the premise of marriage, but as revealed during the trial of Lee Eun-hae's murder case, Lee Eun-hae had no intention of marrying the deceased, and there is no evidence that they lived a marital life in practice," adding, "The purpose is to legally clarify the relationship between the deceased and Lee Eun-hae."

On the day of the hearing, no one appeared on the defendant's side, and Yoon's brother-in-law, Mr. Park, attended the court.

Meeting with reporters, Mr. Park said, "I think the mother-in-law and my wife, who are the actual parties involved, will be very pleased with today's ruling," adding, "My father-in-law suffered a lot of stress after losing his son and developed cancer. He was waiting for the verdict but recently passed away. I will visit him over the weekend to inform him of the news." He continued, "Regarding Lee Eun-hae's daughter, I hope each of them lives their own life and finds a happy path."

It was revealed that Yoon prepared a newlywed home in Incheon with Lee Eun-hae in 2016, but until his death, he lived alone in a basement room of a row house in Suwon.

Meanwhile, the Valley Murder Case involves Lee Eun-hae and her accomplice, her lover Jo Hyun-soo, who on June 30, 2019, at 8:24 p.m., at Yongsogye Valley in Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province, forced Yoon, who could not swim, to jump from a 4-meter-high rock into a 3-meter-deep valley pool without rescue equipment, resulting in his murder.