Exclusive: "He Hired Private Detectives to Tail Us Everywhere"—What the Bereaved Family Says

[Anchor]

A man in his 20s suspected of murdering his mother-in-law and kidnapping his wife claims it was a crime committed on the spur of the moment. However, the bereaved family stated that the man hired private detective agency employees to tail the family starting weeks ago.

Reporter Dong Eunyeong has more.

[Reporter]

This is the man in his 20s, surnamed Kim, who is accused of going to find his wife—with whom he was in the middle of a lawsuit to annul their marriage—murdering her mother, and then kidnapping his wife.

Kim, who was apprehended in an emergency arrest in Gangwon Province, is reportedly stated during police questioning that he went to talk to his wife, got angry, and committed the crime impulsively.

However, the stance of the bereaved family, who met with SBS reporting staff at the funeral parlor, was different.

They claim it was a crime planned from weeks prior.

[Bereaved Family: (While heading toward Gangwon Province) while in the car, (Kim) said that he paid 20 million won to a private detective agency for two weeks, deployed those people all around the older sister's house, and checked all their locations.]

Kim also reportedly told his wife inside the car heading to Gangwon Province that he went there with the intent to harm the family.

[Bereaved Family: (Kim) said, 'I made up my mind to kill everyone,' and that he went with a weapon to kill all the family members and bring only ○○ back out.]

As a result, the mother-in-law fell helpless victim to the attack.

[Bereaved Family: Without even thinking, he brandished a weapon and rushed right at her, just the moment he saw her....]

[Bereaved Family: Collapsed on the street... unable to speak, just gasping for breath....]

Kim's father-in-law was filled with deep regret that he, instead of the mother, had not gone out to meet his daughter as she was leaving work.

The bereaved family also stated that the marriage registration itself was originally a result of coercion by Kim's threats.

[Bereaved Family: He kept threatening through gaslighting, saying, 'If you don't (register the marriage), I will kill you,' and she suffered a lot of physical assault. He even confined her so she couldn't leave....]

The bereaved family expressed their outrage, stating that stronger preventive measures should have been put in place beforehand.

[Bereaved Family: These are things that could have been prevented in advance, all of them. But why is it that every time an incident breaks out... we are truly sick of it, really.]

Also, contrary to the police explanation that they re-applied for temporary protection measures ex officio on October 6 following persuasion by the police, the bereaved family stated that Kim's wife had directly requested the extension to the police.

[Bereaved Family: Because she needed to extend the restraining order, every time she kept requesting an extension, (the police) told her, 'Wait, wait, wait,' so it was finally filed on October 6....]

Police have applied for an arrest warrant for Kim on charges of murdering a lineal ascendant and special confinement.

(Camera: Kim Se-kyung | Video Editing: Kim Ho-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.