Suitcase With Woman's Body Stayed Hidden for 16 Years

Maintenance worker make gruesome find in South Korea building; cops suspect old boyfriend
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 24, 2024 12:24 PM CDT
Building Maintenance Work Reveals 16-Year-Old Murder
Authorities released this partially obscured photo of the concrete.   (Geoje Police)

The body of a woman who disappeared in South Korea some 16 years ago was discovered by chance last month during maintenance work on an apartment building, leading authorities to her alleged killer. The man in his 50s, identified as Mr. A, told police he'd been living with his girlfriend in a studio apartment in Geoje for five years before killing her during an argument in October 2008, the BBC reports. The man said he hit her in the head with a blunt object, put her body in a suitcase, then concealed the suitcase in cement on his third-floor balcony. No one inspected the concrete until last month when a maintenance worker drilled into it.

The body of the woman, identified as B, was discovered partially preserved inside the suitcase and identified through fingerprint analysis, per the Korea Times. She was in her 30s when she died. Family members had reported her missing in 2011 after they went to find her in Geoje and were told she'd split with Mr. A and left the city. Mr. A left the studio apartment in 2017, per the Times. It was never occupied again, but instead used by the building owner's as a storage space, the BBC reports.

The owner had called in workers to repair a leak on the balcony when the discovery was made. "The concrete structure was located on a balcony separate from the rooftop room, making it difficult to notice from inside the room," a police officer is quoted as saying, per the Independent. Mr. A was suspected in the woman's disappearance early on. Given the new evidence, he was arrested Thursday in the city of Yangsan. He confessed to the killing and to throwing the murder weapon and his girlfriend's phone into the sea, per the Times. (More murder stories.)

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