A white refrigerated container sits in the parking lot of a cafe in Munsan-eup, Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The body of a woman in her 60s was found here on Friday.
A white refrigerated container sits in the parking lot of a cafe in Munsan-eup, Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The body of a woman in her 60s was found here on Friday.

A cafe owner in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, allegedly locked a woman in her 60s inside a freezer container at his cafe, causing her death. Right after, he asked an AI chatbot what happens to a person trapped in a freezer.

According to an MBC report Wednesday, the cafe owner, identified as A, locked the woman inside the freezer container around 11 a.m. on Sept. 3, then asked the AI chatbot what would happen to a person left inside a freezer.

Police found that A visited the freezer container several times before and after the confinement. Police believe he was trying to check on specific changes in the victim's condition immediately after locking her inside.

The freezer container was installed on Aug. 27. Closed-circuit TV footage showed a large truck carrying the container arriving around 4:30 a.m., unloading it, and leaving five hours later.

The woman, identified as B, was locked inside a week after the container was installed. The freezer reportedly maintained a temperature of around minus 18 degrees Celsius, and its structure made it impossible to open the door from inside.

The National Forensic Service's initial verbal opinion following the autopsy found no significant signs of trauma, suggesting that conditions inside the freezer were the likely cause of death.

A sign outside the cafe reads that it is closed due to internal matters.
A sign outside the cafe reads that it is closed due to internal matters.

Earlier, the Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station launched a search early Friday after receiving a report from the victim's family that the woman was missing.

Police tracked B's location to Paju, Gyeonggi Province, using her cellphone signal. They found her body inside a freezer container at a large bakery cafe in Munsan-eup, Paju, at 2 p.m. that day — 14 hours after the missing person report was filed.

A first met B at his cafe on the morning of Sept. 3, telling her he would show her gift certificates to sell, and led her to the freezer container. Police believe he killed her after she realized the certificates were forged.

Police also found forged department store gift certificates inside the freezer container, reportedly valued in the hundreds of billions of won.

Police believe A, working with three accomplices, lured the victim using the pretext of selling gift certificates. They are investigating the exact circumstances of the crime and whether anyone else was involved.


bbo@heraldcorp.com