Gapyeong murder case probe resumes as suspects turn themselves in

Murder suspects Lee Eun-hye, right, and Cho Hyun-soo, left, are escorted out of Goyang Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, April 16, where they were questioned after turning themselves in earlier the day. Yonhap

By Ko Dong-hwan

Two suspects in a high-profile murder case that occurred in Gapyeong in 2019 turned themselves in on Saturday, weeks after the prosecution opened a search for them. Lee Eun-hye, 31, and Cho Hyun-soo, 30, allegedly encouraged Lee's husband who couldn't swim to dive from a cliff and then left him to drown in hopes of receiving a payout from the victim's life insurance worth 800 million won ($650,000), according to Incheon District Prosecutors' Office. The two have been charged with nonfeasance.

Incheon police who investigated the case said Lee's father, who is a police officer, called and said Lee wishes to surrender and gave the police the address of an officetel in Goyang where she was living. Police apprehended Lee and Cho on April 16 at the officetel. They sent the suspects to Incheon District Prosecutors' Office later that day.

Incheon District Prosecutors' Office plans to seek an arrest warrant for the suspects before Tuesday and conduct further investigation. The authorities will also investigate other allegations against the suspects of attempted murder. Four months before the victim's death, the suspects allegedly put blowfish poison into his food and, three months later, tried to push him into a fishing pond but were caught in the act by an acquaintance.

Yongso Valley in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, where Lee Eun-hye and Cho Hyun-soo allegedly left Lee's husband to die in 2019 after he plunged into the water / Yonhap

The authorities will also investigate a case from 2014 in which suspect Lee's ex-boyfriend died while the couple was snorkeling together in Thailand. The local police concluded it was an accidental death after failing to find any clear cause. Incheon prosecutors said they will receive data from Thai police regarding the case and investigate whether Lee had any criminal involvement in the man's death.

Meanwhile, a man claiming to be an older brother of the deceased from the 2014 case recently posted an online comment saying what he heard from Lee regarding his younger brother's death differed from what recent news reports featuring comments from Korean investigators.

Lee and Cho fled last December a day after they were first questioned. They fled believing the evidence the prosecution had against them was sure to confirm their guilt, according to authorities. They fled before they could be questioned further.

Gapyeong police, which opened investigations into the murder case in 2019, concluded the case was an accidental death. The case, however, was reopened after an acquaintance of the victim's family members made a report to Ilsan police station about Lee and Cho's alleged involvement in the case. The police then charged the suspects with murder and infringement of the Special Act on Insurance Fraud Prevention and sent them to prosecutors in December 2020.

Incheon prosecutors took the case and resumed the investigation in February 2021. For the ensuing nine months, the authorities combed through the suspects' residences and conducted a further search of the crime scene at Yongso Valley in Gapyeong, questioned 30 people linked to the suspects and searched the suspects' bank transactions and phone records.

After the suspect fled, the prosecutors on March 30 released details of the case to the public along with the suspects' identities and photographs. The prosecutors formed a coalition force with police on April 6 to track down the suspects.

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