In the fall of 1988, a 13-year-old girl was raped and killed in her bed. Crime would shock anyone, but in Hwaseong, then a rural area of Seoul, South Korea, such crimes occurred regularly. She was the eighth girl killed in a period of 2 years.
About a year after the crime, police arrived at the home of a 22-year-old mechanical mechanic who was about to eat dinner. "What is this for?" asked Yoon, whose full name is not known because of South Korean law protecting the privacy of people suspected of crimes. "We will not last long," police officers replied.
Officers took Yoon to a small room where they interrogated her for three days. After hours of questioning, they recorded a confession. Yoon told police that on the night of the murder he managed to get some fresh air. During the walk, he had to stop several times because the polio had damaged his limbs. At midnight, Yoon saw a light on in a house and, referring to his confession, "felt an urgent need for rape." According to the transcripts of the confession, he overcame the window and raped the girl even though she knew her parents were sleeping in the adjoining room.
After that, he burned his clothes and went home. No information is known about the girl and her family, who did not prefer to talk to the media. Yoon's story is strange: He confessed to the crime, was sentenced to life in prison, and was released 20 years later. The problem with all of this is the fact that Yoon never killed or raped anyone.
Prior to 1986, Hwaseong was a place where everyone knew each other and no crime of this magnitude occurred. But this year a lot has changed. In September, a series of assassinations began and in all cases, the girls and women were raped earlier. The victims were housewives, students and workers. The youngest were teenagers, while the oldest was a 71-year-old.
No one was sure. Crimes were on the rise, and the people of Hwaseong became increasingly fearful.
After the shocking events, the responsibility fell on the local police. But as events unfolded, the help of investigators from other cities was needed. "In the eighth murder, the police saw that the case was serious. There was a lot of media coverage and the residents were scared, "said Detective Ha, one of the leaders in the investigation. Police were sure he was looking for a serial killer, but there was little clue.
At the time, there were no security cameras, no DNA testing, and the police had to find more "creative" ways to find the killer. Despite the efforts, the authorities could not find anything. No trace.
In September 2019, one of the last officials charged with investigating multiple murders in Hwaseong, made a shocking announcement. In July, police sent evidence kept in the file for 30 years and tested the DNA. DNA tests showed that three of the murders were committed by a person identified as Lee Chun-jae. He was sentenced to life in prison for raping and killing his sister-in-law in 1994. A month later, it was revealed that Lee Chun-jae was responsible for four other unsolved murders.
He made one of the most shocking stories in South Korea. Lee confessed to being the perpetrator of 10 murders, including that of a 13-year-old girl. So Yoon spent 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. But in the face of this, the police had another enigma: Yoon admitted to being the killer. Why?
When questioned by police, Yoon was left sleepless for three days. Staying awake was a practice used extensively by the police in South Korea in order to obtain confessions. Yoon knew nothing about the law, had not even finished primary school, so to escape the death penalty, frightened, he signed 3 letters declaring himself the perpetrator of the murder.
"It was a nightmare," he said. "When you don't sleep for three days in a row, you don't know what to say anymore. He doesn't remember anything. He doesn't think for a reason. Ask yourself if you committed the crime or not. ? In the end, Yoon signed and spent 20 years in prison, until the real killer made the shocking confession.
- Adapted from CNN
