A son-in-law and his daughter, both in their 20s, have been arrested and are being held on charges that they killed and disposed of the mother-in-law.
On the 2nd, Son Bong-gi, the judge in charge of warrants at the Daegu District Court, issued pretrial detention warrants for Jo (27), who faces charges of killing a family member and disposing of a body, and for Choi (26), who faces a charge of disposing of a body, citing concerns they might flee.
Police say Jo assaulted his mother-in-law, in her 50s, in the early hours of the 18th of last month. After she died, investigators allege he placed her body in a travel suitcase and left it along a riverbank. Choi is accused of helping her husband with the disposal.
Investigators determined the couple dumped the body in broad daylight that same day. From the officetel where the incident occurred, they walked roughly 20 minutes and abandoned the suitcase on the Sincheon riverside near Chilsung Bridge in Buk-gu.
The case came to light 13 days later, on the 31st of last month, when a resident reported a suitcase floating near the Sincheon submerged bridge in Chilsung-dong, Buk-gu, Daegu — less than 100 meters (about 328 feet) from where the couple had left it.
Responding officers recovered the suitcase, analyzed fingerprints and DNA, and reviewed nearby CCTV footage; they arrested the suspect couple later that day.
Police say the victim had left home last year amid conflicts with her husband and had been living with her daughter and son-in-law, during which time she was reportedly subjected to repeated assaults by the son-in-law.
During questioning, Jo told police he attacked his mother-in-law because she was noisy and did not keep her belongings organized. Police also say Jo assaulted his wife.
Now in custody, the couple are being held in the Daegu Northern Police Station lockup pending further investigation. Police said they are probing the full circumstances of the crime and will consider whether to release the suspects' identities publicly.
