Police have apprehended a true crime enthusiast who confessed to the gruesome murder and dismemberment of a female tutor, driven by curiosity and an obsession with murder portrayed in TV shows and books.
The suspect, 23-year-old Jung Yoo-Jung, was arrested in Busan, Korea on Wednesday, May 31. She was formally charged with murder on Friday, June 2.
Authorities claim that Jung meticulously planned the crime, motivated by her desire to kill someone, after becoming fixated on murder through various media sources. The victim, a freelance tutor found online, remains unidentified.
Reportedly, Jung assumed the identity of a concerned mother seeking an English tutor for her ninth-grade daughter. Investigators revealed that Jung searched for tips online on concealing a corpse three months before the incident, as evidenced by her phone records. She also borrowed books from a library and studied true crime shows to gain knowledge about committing murder.
Equipped with the acquired information on fatal stabbing techniques, Jung selected her victim through a tutoring app. Two days before the fatal encounter, she contacted the tutor and arranged a consultation at her residence, posing as a student’s mother. Jung appeared at the victim’s doorstep dressed in a school uniform she had purchased online, which likely deceived the victim into assuming she was a middle-school student.
Taking advantage of this misconception, Jung entered the tutor’s home and allegedly attacked her with a knife, causing fatal injuries. Following the gruesome act, she dismembered the victim and used bleach and garbage bags to conceal the remains. Jung then took a taxi to a wooded area near the Nakdong River, where she abandoned the bag containing the body parts to create the illusion of disappearance.
However, the taxi driver alerted the police, who discovered additional evidence, including the remaining part of the victim’s body, at Jung’s residence and in the garbage bags.
Initially, Jung claimed that the murder resulted from an argument with the victim. However, inconsistencies in her statement and pressure from her family prompted her to confess to the crime.
