Found as Skeleton Despite Claims She Was Alive... 'Unanswered Questions' Tracks Jeju Police Officer's Disappearance Cover-up

SBS 'Unanswered Questions' is set to reveal the shocking reality of an active-duty police officer who intentionally and falsely closed and covered up a missing persons case.

Airting at 11:10 PM on Saturday, the 19th, the upcoming episode of SBS 'Unanswered Questions' titled "104 Days Under the Palm Tree Forest - The Secret Burial Case of Police Officer Bu in Jeju" will shed light on the suspicions surrounding Officer Bu, who manipulated the investigation into the missing person, and uncover the truth behind her tragic death.

Thirty-six-year-old Chang Mi-ran went missing after leaving home on the night of May 12. Although her boyfriend and family reported her missing, no activity or trace of her whereabouts could be found. Mi-ran was eventually discovered as a skeleton 104 days later in a palm tree forest in Hallim-eup, Jeju City. It was just 400 meters away from her accommodation.

Police Officer Bu of the Jeju Seobu Police Station's missing persons investigation team, who was in charge at the time the missing person report was filed, notified the family 2 hours and 30 minutes after receiving the report that he had "gotten in touch with her, and she asked not to disclose her location to the reporter," thereby closing the case. However, this turned out to be entirely false. There were no phone records, and Officer Bu had deleted the case from the internal police system by marking the deceased as dead.

This was not the only instance of Officer Bu falsely closing a case. In June, when a missing person report was filed for a man in his 60s, he again falsely closed the case by claiming he "had contacted the missing person." Circumstances have emerged showing that he habitually manipulated or falsely closed a staggering 25 missing persons reports, leaving the bereaved families in utter fury.

On the day Mi-ran's body was discovered, police announced that she appeared to have hanged herself in the early hours of the day after leaving home. Questions are being raised as to why the cause of death was announced hastily before an autopsy was even conducted, especially given that the deceased was found as a skeleton and no proper investigation had been conducted, leaving a scarcity of clues.

The production team of 'Unanswered Questions' will investigate the possibility of homicide through scientific experiments, examining mobile phone cell tower locations, CCTV witness accounts, and whether it is physically possible to hang oneself from a palm tree using a shoelace.

'Unanswered Questions', which will track the habitual manipulation by a police officer sworn to protect citizens' lives and the reality hidden behind it, will air at 11:10 PM on Saturday, the 19th.

Reporter Kang Sun-ae

(SBS E&S, Reporter Kang Sun-ae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.