Gyeongsan Police Station in North Gyeongsang Province confirms details through CCTV analysis

A suspect believed to have killed a Chinese female student in her 20s is escorted to the Gyeongsan Police Station in North Gyeongsang Province late Tuesday. [Yonhap]
A suspect believed to have killed a Chinese female student in her 20s is escorted to the Gyeongsan Police Station in North Gyeongsang Province late Tuesday. [Yonhap]

A Chinese man in his 30s arrested on suspicion of murdering a Chinese female student in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, disguised himself as a woman and traveled to Dongdaegu Station with his face concealed immediately after the killing, police confirmed.

Investigators believe he did so deliberately to throw off the investigation.

According to the Gyeongsan Police Station in North Gyeongsang Province, CCTV footage confirmed that the suspect, identified by his surname Jeong, entered his residence in Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan, together with the victim, identified only as A, around 2 a.m. Thursday.

The CCTV analysis did not show Jeong forcibly dragging the victim, police said.

According to the investigation, Jeong left the residence alone dressed in women's clothing with his face hidden under a hat, then made his way to Dongdaegu Station, where he turned off the victim's mobile phone at some point. He changed clothes in a restroom near the station before returning to his residence.

The following day, around 7 p.m., Jeong filed a missing persons report with police, identifying himself as the victim's boyfriend and saying she had told him she was heading to Daegu but had stopped responding to his messages.

When police analyzed location data from the victim's phone in response to the report, they traced her movements to two locations — a convenience store near the graduate school she attended and an area around Dongdaegu Station.

Police believe Jeong staged these movements to create confusion in the investigation.

As police questioned Jeong — initially as a witness, since he had filed the missing persons report — they noticed inconsistencies in his account and arrested him near his residence at around 7:29 p.m. Tuesday. That same day, five days after the missing persons report was filed, officers found the victim's body inside Jeong's residence.

"Given that he deceived police in the early stages of the case, we plan to apply charges of obstruction of justice," a police official said.

The victim was a student at a graduate school in Gyeongsan who had returned to China for the school break before re-entering South Korea on Aug. 14 to attend her graduation ceremony. She lost contact with family and acquaintances late Thursday, the day of the ceremony.

Jeong is a Chinese national employed at a company.


jshan@heraldcorp.com