Autopsy on 70-Year-Old Father's Body Stored in Freezer... "No Suspicion of Crime"

National Forensic Service "Possibility of Heart Attack Seems Likely"
Son Who Turned Himself In "Needs to Delay Death Report, So Keeping It"

Police are investigating a man in his 40s who turned himself in after storing his 70-year-old father's body in a home freezer. An autopsy report has revealed no signs of homicide on the body.

On the 4th, Yonhap News reported that the Icheon Police Station in Gyeonggi Province received a preliminary autopsy opinion from the National Forensic Service (hereafter 'NFS') regarding the deceased, Mr. A. The NFS stated that no external injuries leading to death (such as skull fractures or organ damage) were found on Mr. A's body, and that physical bruises were difficult to identify. They added that severe coronary artery sclerosis (progressive calcification) suggested the possibility of death due to heart attack or acute cardiac arrest, and that the kidneys showed signs of hydronephrosis with atrophied condition.

Exterior view of Icheon Police Station, Gyeonggi Province [Photo by Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency, Yonhap News]

However, the NFS noted that this cannot be conclusively determined as the cause of death, and a precise conclusion will be reached after detailed examination. In this regard, the police said, "No signs of homicide or criminal suspicion were found in the initial verbal opinion, but further tests such as toxicology, alcohol analysis, and DNA examination will be conducted to clearly determine the cause of death."

Earlier, Mr. B, the 40-year-old only son of Mr. A, visited the police station with a lawyer on the 1st and confessed, saying, "I wrapped my father's body in plastic and stored it in the freezer at his house." It is reported that Mr. B stated he discovered his father deceased when he visited his father’s house, where he lived alone, in September last year, but delayed reporting the death for his own reasons. Mr. B had kept his father's body in the home freezer for 14 months. The police have booked Mr. B without detention on charges of corpse concealment.

Since Mr. A was virtually socially isolated, a missing person report was only filed by relatives last month, 13 months after his death. When the police began a full-scale missing person investigation, Mr. B, after consulting with his wife who knew about his father's death and the concealment of the body, decided to turn himself in.

The police are investigating the truth of Mr. B's statement that he was involved in a lawsuit with other family members over property issues. A police official told Yonhap News, "The suspect revealed his motive for the crime when he turned himself in, but since it is only a statement at this point, we cannot provide detailed information."