Former Classmate Who Damaged Lee Yoonhee's Cutout Says, "Severe Stress from Being Treated as Suspect"

Police: "Crime Captured on CCTV, Charges Clearly Substantiated"
Suspect: "Severe Stress from Being Treated as the Perpetrator of the Missing Person Case"

A man in his 40s has been handed over to the prosecution for damaging a life-size cutout set up by the family of Lee Yoonhee, a veterinary student at Jeonbuk National University who went missing 19 years ago. Although he admitted to the act, it is reported that he also expressed a sense of injustice.

A's act of damaging Lee's life-size cutout. Official YouTube channel of the Yoonhee Lee disappearance case

According to Yonhap News on August 19, A, who was recently referred to the prosecution on charges of property damage, stated during the police investigation, "I was angry about being suspected as the perpetrator of the missing person case." It was also found that he testified to having suffered from severe stress related to the case for a long time.

The scene of A's crime was released through the YouTube channel "Official Channel of the Yoonhee Lee Missing Case," operated by Lee's family. In the video, A is seen wearing a mask and surgical gloves, lingering around the cutout. When the area became quiet, he cut the cable ties with a knife and toppled the cutout. He later returned, broke the cutout with both arms, and then left the scene.

Subsequent prosecution investigations revealed that A had been a student in the same department as the missing Lee in the past. Lee's family had been suspicious of A's whereabouts since the early days of the disappearance and, more recently, had placed Lee's life-size cutout along A's route to work and near his home. In response, A filed a counter-complaint against Lee's family for violating the Act on Punishment of Stalking Crimes.

A police official explained, "The suspect fully admitted to the property damage charge, and the act was clearly captured on CCTV, so the charge is clearly substantiated."

Lee went missing on June 5, 2006, while she was a veterinary student at Jeonbuk National University. She attended an end-of-term gathering with about 40 professors and classmates, and after returning to her studio apartment from the gathering in the early morning, she disappeared. At the time, police failed to preserve the scene of the disappearance, allowed Lee's friends to clean her studio, and did not identify who accessed her computer a week later.

Lee's parents made flyers themselves and offered a reward in their search for their daughter, but even after 19 years, her whereabouts remain unknown.