Frozen Body of Missing Woman Found in Paju Cafe Freezer

Police are investigating after the frozen body of a woman in her 60s was discovered inside the walk-in freezer of a cafe in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

Police have arrested and detained a cafe owner in his 30s as a suspect.

At around midnight on September 4, a missing person report was filed in Seoul regarding a woman in her 60s, surnamed A.

Tracing her whereabouts based on her mobile phone's location data, police discovered A's body at around 2:00 p.m. on the same day inside the cafe freezer located in Munsan-eup, Paju.

Police identified the suspect as a man in his 30s, surnamed B, who is the owner of the cafe and was with the victim at the time of her disappearance.

B was arrested in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, around the time the body was discovered.

Police subsequently sought an arrest warrant for B on charges of murder of an abducted person.

The Goyang branch of the Uijeongbu District Court issued the warrant yesterday, September 6.

A and B reportedly met for the first time at the cafe on September 3.

A had met with B, who was involved in cashing gift certificates—a practice colloquially known as gift certificate factoring—to discuss matters related to gift certificates.

It was determined that the two did not know each other prior to this meeting.

Police are investigating after securing circumstances indicating that B lured A into the freezer by telling her that the gift certificates were inside.

A's body was found frozen, suggesting it had been left unattended in the freezer for a considerable period.

The freezer is a container-type structure measuring roughly 30 square meters in width.

Investigations showed that it is located right next to the main building of B's cafe.

However, it has not yet been confirmed whether B murdered A inside the freezer and left her there, or if he locked a living A inside the freezer, leading to her death.

Police stated that the exact cause of death and the details of the crime need to be further verified through an autopsy and other investigative measures.

The cafe is known to be a popular spot, drawing many visitors even from outside Paju.

Investigations revealed that B had told his employees not to come to work starting September 3 and closed the cafe.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.