The perpetrator who brutally took the life of a young child in a peach orchard was the victim's father.
On February 28, 'Brave Detectives 4' aired on T-Cast, featuring former Commissioner Yoon Wae-chul and Inspector Kim Jin-soo from the Scientific Investigation Team (KCSI) as they uncovered the truth behind a case of arson and murder that began in a peach orchard in Cheongdo.
The small body was discovered thanks to a report from an elderly person out for a walk. The clothes the child was wearing were burned and stuck to the skin, and the body was charred, with the legs bound at the knees and calves, leaving the child in a curled-up position.
The cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation due to neck compression, suggesting that someone strangled the child before committing arson in the Cheongdo peach orchard. The child, estimated to be between 140-150 cm tall and with a shoe size of 200 mm, appeared to be in the upper grades of elementary school or just entered middle school, with all baby teeth missing. While fingerprints could be collected, identification was not possible due to the child's minor status.
The investigation team expanded their search area to include Daegu, near Cheongdo. They created and distributed flyers featuring the child's clothing and a computer-generated reconstruction of the child's face, but no one came forward claiming to know the child.
Utilizing the fact that the incident occurred during vacation, the investigation team requested that over a hundred elementary and middle schools in the Cheongdo and Daegu areas check for students who had not reported to emergency roll call and could not be contacted.
After hundreds of requests for investigative cooperation, the team identified one child who seemed to require further investigation. This student had already been absent for an extended period before the vacation and was confirmed to have been late on the day the body was discovered.
The fingerprints found on the school supplies used by the student matched those on the body. However, the forensic examination revealed that the DNA from the toothbrushes of the father, mother, and victim did not match.
In the midst of this confusion, the investigation team captured footage from a tunnel CCTV showing a man riding a motorcycle heading from Daegu to Cheongdo, leading to the emergency arrest of the student's father.
The couple had adopted the victim, who was an infant 14 years ago, and had been living as a family after registering the birth. The man denied all charges from the beginning, but after his wife's visit, he confessed everything to the detectives.
The man stated, "My wife had been suffering from mental illness since before our marriage, but I tried to maintain a happy family from the start. We adopted the child hoping my wife's condition would improve."
Regarding the motive for the crime, he provided nonsensical reasons such as "the child played computer games all day" and "talked back." Despite the brutal nature of the crime, the perpetrator was recognized for his dedication to family and ultimately sentenced to 12 years in prison.
[Lee Da-gyeom, Star Today Reporter]
