Cord belonging to Jang found at scene; no signs of struggle

No additional falsely closed cases found beyond two known

Police preserve the scene at a palm tree farm in Hallim-eup, Jeju, on Wednesday, where the body of Jang Mi-ran was found, as the fallout from the falsely closed missing-persons cases continues. [Newsis]
Police preserve the scene at a palm tree farm in Hallim-eup, Jeju, on Wednesday, where the body of Jang Mi-ran was found, as the fallout from the falsely closed missing-persons cases continues. [Newsis]

Jang Mi-ran, 37, who had been a long-term missing person in Jeju, is believed to have died in the early hours of May 13, the day after she left her lodging on May 12.

The Jeju Provincial Police Agency told reporters at a background briefing Wednesday that Jang left her long-term lodging at around 10:15 p.m. on May 12, and that no changes in her phone's location data or additional calls were recorded before the device was switched off. "Based on these facts, we believe it is highly likely that Jang died in the early hours as the date turned from May 12 to May 13," police said.

Officer A, a junior patrolman detained on charges of falsely closing missing-persons reports including Jang's, had told the person who filed the report on the afternoon of May 15 — the day Jang was reported missing — that she had been reached by phone but did not want to disclose her whereabouts, and closed the case.

However, no phone records confirming a call between the two have been found, and police believe Jang had already died before that date.

On the possibility that Jang was the victim of a crime, police reaffirmed their earlier position, saying the body's posture and location when found, along with the medical examiner's verbal assessment, suggested foul play was unlikely.

Police added that the medical examiner had verbally indicated Jang appeared to have died by hanging, and that forensic examination of the scene found a cord belonging to Jang on a protruding branch at the top of a palm tree.

No signs of resistance or struggle were found at the scene, police said, and Jang was still wearing the clothes, slippers, gold bracelet and ring she had on when she went out.

However, no suicide note has been found, and there is no confirmed record of Jang receiving treatment for depression or being prescribed related medication, police added.

"We are conducting a forensic examination of Jang's mobile phone and are keeping all possibilities open in our investigation," police said.

It also emerged that when Officer A deleted data from the missing-persons profiling system, he had entered a code classifying Jang as a "traffic accident casualty" and a 60-something man identified as B as "location confirmed."

The phone number Officer A recorded when he claimed to have "spoken directly with the missing person" while closing B's case also turned out not to be the number B had been using.

Police said they are conducting a comprehensive review of all 298 missing-persons reports that Officer A handled and closed, but declined to say how many had been examined so far.

However, no additional falsely closed cases beyond those of Jang and B have been found yet, police added.


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