Mother Sentenced to 13 Years for Murdering 3-Year-Old Daughter and Abandoning Body

A woman in her 30s who murdered her three-year-old daughter six years ago and conspired with her boyfriend to abandon the body has been sentenced to a heavy prison term.

The Ansan Branch of the Suwon District Court sentenced the defendant, a woman in her 30s, to 13 years in prison today, July 21, on charges including murder and abandonment of a corpse. The court also ordered a 10-year restriction on her employment at child-related institutions.

The defendant's ex-boyfriend, who faces charges including abandonment of a corpse and harboring a criminal for assisting in the disposal of the body, was sentenced to 10 months in prison.

The court stated, "The defendant, as the biological mother of the victim, committed an inhumane crime, forgetting her responsibility to care for her child," adding, "A heavy sentence is inevitable as she concealed the body for six years to evade the consequences of her crime."

The court further added, "Due to the concealment of the body, the victim was unable to receive even the minimum funeral procedures to ensure her final dignity as a human being after death, and remained buried alone in the cold ground for six years, unable to even stretch out her small body."

The defendant was arrested and indicted in April on charges of strangling her then-three-year-old daughter to death at her home in Jeongwang-dong, Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, in March 2020, and conspiring with her boyfriend to abandon the body on a mountain in Ansan.

Investigations revealed that the defendant committed the crime after harboring resentment toward the child while struggling to raise her alone following her divorce from the child's biological father.

To hide the fact that her daughter had died, the defendant applied to postpone the child's elementary school enrollment in 2024, and earlier this year, she even took her boyfriend's niece to school multiple times, pretending the child was her daughter.

The defendant and her boyfriend, who were apprehended following a report from the school, admitted to the charges during the trial.

Regarding the boyfriend, the court explained, "Although he did not participate in the murder, he played a leading role in the crime of concealing the body. However, the sentencing took into account that he committed the act out of concern that the defendant, who suffered from depression, might make an extreme choice if her crime were discovered."

Reported by Kim Taewon | Video by Hong Jin-young | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.