It has been revealed that 24-year-old Jung Jae-hwan, the suspect in the brutal murder of his middle school classmate in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, known as the "naked murder case," attempted to take a high-end luxury watch right after the crime.
According to friends who arrived at the scene first after receiving a call from the victim before death in the early hours of the 4th, Jung wandered around the neighborhood in a naked state after the crime, returned home, and encountered friends who were already at the scene around 4:40 a.m.
Shortly after, one of the friends punched Jung, and another pulled him out and seated him in the hallway, whereupon Jung shed tears and said, "I am sorry."
While shedding tears, Jung suddenly said, "I need to grab the watch now," went back into the apartment where the victim's body was left unattended, retrieved a Rolex watch from the room, and reportedly tried to hand it over to another friend who was at the scene.
At that time, Jung told the friend, "You are the only person I can ask," adding, "Please deliver the Rolex watch and the 20 million won in cash inside the vehicle to my mother."
During the process of retrieving the watch, Jung reportedly passed by the victim's body and even slipped and fell after stepping on the blood-pooled living room floor.
According to the friend, police subsequently arrived and subdued Jung, during which time the friend likely dropped the handed-over watch on the hallway floor out of panic. It was further reported that several days after the incident, Jung's mother personally called the friend and said, "Where did the Rolex watch go? If you had hidden it somewhere, we could have sold it."
Jung has reportedly failed to give a proper explanation regarding how he regularly came to possess a luxury watch and a large sum of cash, or has claimed that he "won it through gambling."
Following the completion of additional investigations into Jung, prosecutors plan to formally indict him in custody on charges of brutally murdering his middle school classmate and attempting to desecrate the body.
Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Choi Gang-san | Graphics by Lee Su-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
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