[Herald DB]
[Herald DB]

A man in his 20s who strangled his girlfriend to death had planned the killing in advance to steal her severance pay, investigators have found.

The Cheongju District Prosecutors Office indicted the man, identified only as A, on charges of robbery-murder and other offenses Tuesday.

A is accused of killing his live-in girlfriend, identified as B, at their home in Jincheon-eup, Jincheon-gun, North Chungcheong Province, on Sept. 15.

Police had initially arrested and referred him to prosecutors on a simple murder charge, based on his statement that he attacked B after she insulted his parents during an argument.

A forensic examination of A's mobile phone revealed evidence that he had been under pressure from a loan shark and had planned the killing to take B's money.

Prosecutors confronted A with the findings and obtained a confession in which he admitted he had killed B to get her severance pay.

After the killing, A visited a mobile carrier store to ask whether B's phone could be unlocked — apparently to transfer her severance pay into his own account — and also used her bank card to make purchases.

Police reclassified the case as robbery-murder and referred it back to prosecutors. The charge carries a penalty of death or life imprisonment, significantly heavier than the minimum five-year sentence for simple murder.


choigo@heraldcorp.com