Two faces of professors specializing in crime? Killing his wife by seducing his mistress with "1.4 Billion Lottery."

[YTN Radio lawyer Lee Won-hwa's case X file]

■ Broadcasting: FM 94.5 (06:40~06:55, 12:40~12:55, 19:40~19:55)
■ Broadcast Date: October 2, 2024 (Mon)
■ Host: Lee Won-hwa Lawyer
■ Dialogue: Lawyer Kwon Myeon-cheol

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.
◇ Lawyer Lee Won-hwa (hereinafter referred to as Lee Won-hwa): Maybe it's a battle between a spear and a shield. In the event of a murder, the police must prove the charges of the suspect they identified. On the other hand, the suspect is often in a position to prove his innocence. It is not easy to conclude which of the two is right, but what is certain is that there can be no two truths under the same sky. Let's take a closer look at this case today in Case X file. Hello. <Lawyer Lee Won-hwa's Case X File> This is Won-hwa Lee. Today, we are also with lawyer Kwon Myeon-cheol of Law Firm, Roel. Welcome, lawyer.

◆ Lawyer Kwon Myeon-cheol (hereinafter referred to as Kwon Myeon-cheol): Hello, I'm Kwon Myeon-cheol, a lawyer at LOEL Law Firm.

◇ Yi Won-hwa: Usually, when there is a murder case, isn't there a prime suspect pointed out by the police? But I don't have any evidence. And even this suspect is vehemently denying it. It's a really difficult situation. Lawyer.

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: Yes, that's right.

◇ Lee Won-hwa: Of course, the police wouldn't have identified anyone as a suspect, but that doesn't mean there's no evidence, so the suspect is 100% a killer. Isn't this also a difficult part to be sure of?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: Yes, that's right.

◇ Lee Won-hwa: This case, which we're going to deal with today, is also a case where the suspect denied his charges more actively than anyone else. First, let's talk about Mr. A, who has been named a suspect. He was a very famous university professor and even a crime expert.

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: Yes. A, who was identified as a suspect, graduated from the nation's most prestigious university and graduate school and was hired as a university professor as soon as he obtained his master's degree, and A's thesis was necessary for anyone in the same field to read it. Mr. A also served as the president of the Korea Computer Crime Research Association in 2005 and was also a crime expert who served as an advisor to the police and prosecution's cybercrime investigation.

◇ Binaryization: I see. In terms of social status and his work, he was walking more solid than anyone else, but I don't think his personal life was like that because he got divorced several times and was filing for divorce at the time.

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: Mr. A got married for the fourth time in 2010, hiding the fact even though he had been married and divorced three times. Mr. A's wife was a wealthy man who earned a considerable fortune by running an academy, and it was revealed that Mr. A had been persistent in courtship with his wife for nine years before marriage, and rumors were circulating that the man approached the woman with money. Since the beginning of their marriage, the two have frequently argued over differences in personality and financial issues, and A's wife filed for a consensual divorce, asking A to return about 400 million won in the name of marriage dowry. However, both of them were not present on the scheduled date, so I thought it would be over, but this time, A filed for divorce in January 2011.

◇ [Dualization] So there was a money problem. Anyway, in the meantime, one day, my wife was reported missing. Who made this report?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: A's wife's younger brother reported missing to the police on April 5, 2011, saying, "My sister went out to meet her brother-in-law, but she hasn't been coming in for four days." The police who received the report were CCTV footage of A visiting Eulsukdo Bridge on April 1, a taxi driver's statement that A's wife was supposed to meet someone at Haeundae at around 10:04 p.m. on April 2, but she said it was too late and told her to go quickly. Let's meet around 1 p.m. on the 2nd. Based on the results of forensics that they contacted A, A was identified as a strong suspect.

◇ Lee Won-hwa: You explained the economic problems between the two couples earlier. So I can't be sure, but even from our perspective, there seems to be something suspicious about my husband. Anyway, the police would have called for an investigation, what did Mr. A say? Did you admit to the crime?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: A denied not only the crime but also the fact that he met his wife on the day of the incident.

◇ [Dualization] You made an alibi claim.

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: When the police asked Mr. A if he had spoken to his wife before she disappeared, he replied that he had not. In response, the police strongly questioned the two, saying, "Why are you lying?" but rather, A asked if he laughed and talked on the phone, not if he texted. Instead, he argued logically that calls and text messages are different, and when asked by the police whether the mobile phone base station identified immediately after his wife got out of the taxi was in the same jurisdiction as A, he answered that the base station covers a wide radius of more than 1km and may misrecognize the location if neighboring base stations overlap, and his wife will even appear within three months. He even got angry, asking what he was doing without looking for his wife.

◇ [Dualization] I think I was familiar with the investigation at this point.

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: Yes. In fact, blood and hairpins of A's wife were found in A's car, and even a record of searching for a murder without a body on A's computer appeared, but there was no direct evidence, so it must have been frustrating for the police. In any case, the investigation continued for more than a month because proving the charges was not as simple as I thought.

◇ Binaryization: That's right. In fact, if the body does not come out, the murder itself will not be established in the first place, so Mr. A seems to have run away from his wife and will return soon. You said you talked about this. And if the investigation has been sluggish for more than a month, has there been any contact from your wife?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: I haven't heard from my wife. Therefore, his wife's family put up a picture and photos of A's wife on local newspapers and social media on May 13 with the feeling of catching straws, and at the same time, they promised a 100 million won reward, and the disappearance of his wife became such an issue that it was widely broadcast live on national broadcasters, perhaps because of the high reward.

◇ [Dualization] I think I remember that too. So did you get any results back then?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: Yes. May 21, eight days after the commercial was released. The traces of my wife were found in a very unexpected place.

◇ [Dualization] Where and how was it discovered?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: A body wrapped in a chain and folded in a bag was found on the Nakdong River near Eulsukdo Island in Busan by volunteers at the time.

◇ Lee Won-hwa: First of all, it's confirmed that it's a murder case. But it's been a while, and I think the body must have been in a mess because it was in the water. Did you have any evidence from the autopsy?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: As you said, the decomposition of the body was very serious, so even through detailed examination, we found no meaningful evidence other than that the body was the body of the missing A's wife and that he was strangled to death.

◇ [Dualization] Anyway, the point of murder was clearly revealed through an autopsy.

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: Yes, that's right.

◇ [Voiceover] That's a relief. Then, even if you found the body, you might not have made much progress in your investigation.

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: In fact, on the day of the incident, A informed the club members that he had a drink near Haeundae Beach after hiking and then drank alone at the pub in front of his house, and the investigation was still struggling because he even presented the receipt for payment at the pub in front of his house. But at this time, the police found decisive evidence. It was a Kakao Talk message. And the other person in the Kakao Talk message is important here, and it was Mr. A's mistress.

◇ Lee Won-hwa: Did you have a mistress?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: Yes. To avoid this, A, who predicted that he would be suspected of being a suspect before the crime, first met as a customer in 2004 and proposed the crime to a proxy driver and an affair woman who had been in a relationship, and said he would buy each child's house and set up a coffee shop so that you could manage it.

◇ [Dualization] It's very meticulous. It's really funny that she became an affair with a chauffeur.

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: Yes, that's right. However, after a thorough investigation by the police, the whole story of the incident began to emerge gradually. The police secured CCTV footage of A purchasing a bag used for abandonment of a dead body at an outdoor store in Deokcheon-dong, Busan, and in particular, a Kakao Talk message in which A and a mistress conspired to commit the crime was revealed through the police forensics results. But in fact, if I had done forensics a little later, this case would have been left unsolved. As I said earlier, Mr. A was a computer expert and a crime expert. Through forensics, Mr. A went to the headquarters of Kakao Talk in person to ask for the deletion of the message record of him and his mistress, whether he was concerned that the conspiracy between him and his mistress would be discovered. Mr. A denied the crime until then, but confessed all the crimes when his mistress, who had fled abroad, was arrested on the way back home, and the motive and crime of Mr. A were clearly revealed, so Mr. A also admitted the charges.

◇ Binaryization: Why on earth did you do that? I didn't get angry while fighting. I should prepare thoroughly and kill him. Isn't there a reason why you decided to do it?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: In response, A stated that he wanted to kill his wife and hide his body to end up with a simple disappearance case because he was worried that his social prestige as a professor would be damaged and he would lose a large amount of alimony during the divorce proceedings.

◇ I'm sure he's put on trial. Of course?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: Yes, Mr. A was charged with murder and concealment of the body, and the prosecution asked Mr. A to serve life in prison.

◇ Dualization: What was the result?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: The first trial court sentenced A to 30 years in prison, but the second trial was reduced to 22 years in prison following A's appeal, and it was confirmed as the Supreme Court cited the appeals court's ruling.

◇ Dualization: Is there a reason for the reduction of the sentence?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: It was because Mr. A had no criminal history and the sentence of the lower court was too heavy. The angry bereaved families filed a lawsuit against A for damages, and the court ordered him to pay 115.4 million won to his wife's bereaved families.

◇ Lee Won-hwa: What happened to the mistress who helped you with the crime?

◆ Kwon Myeon-cheol: The mistress was also charged with murder and concealment, and the prosecutor demanded 15 years in prison, but the first trial sentenced her to 10 years in prison. In the second trial, she was reduced to 5 years in prison by applying only the crime of aiding murder and concealing the body, not murder, saying she had no criminal history and no evidence to recognize her as an accomplice directly involved in the killing.

◇ Lee Won-hwa: <Case X File> Today, we took a look at the murder of a university professor who conspired with a mistress to kill his wealthy wife. Professor A, who is a self-proclaimed crime expert, has often told his acquaintances that he would not be caught if he was able to do so. By the way, there is no perfect crime in the world. There are only people who dream of it in vain and with a crooked mind. That's all we've prepared. You all deserve to be defended. Thank you, everyone.