"Unbelievable": 80-Year-Old Grandmother Detained and Assaulted by Family?Full Story Revealed After Her Escape

Conflict Over Land Transaction, Psychological Manipulation
Attempt to Evade Investigation with Staged Disappearance and Suicide Exposed by CCTV

A family and a shaman who detained and assaulted their grandmother in her 80s for a week, and then staged a fake suicide incident to evade investigation, have been sentenced to prison.

On January 11, Yonhap News Agency reported that the 11th Criminal Division of the Uijeongbu District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Oh Changseop, sentenced a man in his 30s, referred to as Mr. A, to three years in prison on charges including aggravated unlawful detention resulting in injury, aggravated unlawful detention of an ascendant resulting in injury, and obstruction of official duties by deception. Mr. A’s younger sister, Ms. B, was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended, while the shaman, Ms. C, who orchestrated the crime, received a six-year prison term.

According to the investigation, on April 2 last year, Mr. A detained his grandmother, Ms. D (in her 80s), at his home in Hwaseong, after picking her up in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi Province. He confiscated her mobile phone, installed a location-tracking application to monitor her, disrupted her sleep, and assaulted her. Six days later, on the night of April 8, Ms. D escaped while Mr. A was asleep and reported the incident to the police.

Yonhap News Agency

The investigation revealed that the mastermind behind the crime was Ms. C, a shaman in her 40s. In 2023, Ms. C gained the family's trust by living in a separate building in the yard of Ms. D’s son, Mr. E, and involving herself in the family’s land and employment issues. It was found that Mr. A and his younger sister Ms. B frequently communicated with Ms. C and became psychologically dependent on her.

However, Ms. C later had a conflict with Mr. E over a land transaction. She reported Mr. E for domestic violence after an incident in which he hit his son, Mr. A, which led to Mr. A’s forced eviction. When Mr. E responded with legal action and by cutting off utilities, Ms. C decided to retaliate.

Ms. C repeatedly told Mr. A that “your biological mother died because of your grandmother,” inciting him to detain and assault Ms. D, the eldest family member. She also threatened Ms. D by placing a weapon in front of her and urging her to take her own life, and was found to have threatened to “bury the grandmother in the ground” during a phone call with an acquaintance.

After Ms. D escaped and an investigation began, Ms. C involved granddaughter Ms. B as well. She instructed Ms. B, who was being questioned as a witness, to send a message to her family in the form of a suicide note, stating that she was “afraid and did not want to live because of coercive police questioning.” She also asked a journalist acquaintance to write an article about the alleged coercive investigation, and directed Mr. A to file a missing person report for his sister.

Police and fire authorities received reports of a suspected suicide and conducted two search operations on April 19 and 21 last year. However, CCTV analysis revealed footage of Ms. C driving away with Ms. B and an acquaintance, exposing the fabrication.

The court stated, “The defendants committed inhumane crimes by confining the victim in the house, forcing her to kneel and apologize, threatening her with a knife, and assaulting her. The victim was detained for more than six days, suffering significant psychological distress and injuries requiring more than four weeks of treatment.” The court further noted, “The false missing person report resulted in a waste and obstruction of public resources.”