Café Owner Who Installed Freezer Where Body Was Found Claims It Was for 'Confinement'

[Anchor]

As we reported yesterday (September 7), a frozen body was found inside the freezer of a café in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Police are expanding their investigation, focusing on the possibility that the crime was premeditated, based on the suspect's statement that they installed the freezer with the intent to confine the victim.

Reporter Jeong Jiyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

The café in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, was operated by a man in his 30s, identified as A, who has been arrested on charges of luring and murdering a woman in her 60s.

Located in the parking lot next to the café building is a container-style freezer where the victim's body was discovered on the 4th.

Residents living near the café reportedly said, "We had never seen the freezer there until last week."

The freezer is also absent from a video of the café parking lot posted on social media around mid-August.

Police suspect that café owner A recently installed the freezer for the purpose of carrying out the crime.

Police reportedly confirmed through CCTV footage that A traveled back and forth to the café multiple times even after trapping the victim inside the freezer.

Police also confirmed that an acquaintance accompanied the victim when she visited Paju.

This acquaintance reportedly notified the family after losing contact with the victim, who had visited the café saying she was going there to trade gift certificates.

Police are also known to have secured a statement from A to the effect that "the freezer was built to confine her if she found out about the counterfeit gift certificates."

Based on this statement, police are expanding their investigation while keeping in mind the possibility that the deceased victim was targeted in a premeditated murder linked to a tens of billions of won counterfeit gift certificate scam.

Gift certificates with a face value estimated at 50 billion won, believed to be counterfeit, were discovered inside the freezer.

Police are questioning the detained suspect A to verify the authenticity and distribution channels of the gift certificates, while also checking for any potential accomplices.

(Video reporting: Kim Nam-sung, Video editing: Chae Cheol-ho)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.