Who Was the 9-Year-Old Who Started Elementary School? 'Unanswered Questions' Tracks the Hidden Truth Behind the Siheung Secret Burial Murder Case

SBS's "Unanswered Questions" delves into the shocking full story and mysteries of the Siheung secret burial murder case, which had been covered up for six years.

Airing on the 20th, "Unanswered Questions" (hereinafter "Unanswered") will track the details of the case of Ga-on (pseudonym), who met a tragic death at the tender age of 28 months, under the subtitle "And Then There Was No Child - The Siheung Secret Burial Murder Mystery."

The case began on March 16, when an elementary school teacher in Siheung filed a report with 112. A new student, who had attended school with her mother the day after the entrance ceremony to submit an application for a one-week experiential learning period, failed to show up after the agreed-upon date and continued to be absent without notice. When the mother, her guardian, also became unreachable, the school requested assistance from the police.

The police immediately began tracking her whereabouts, discovering the mother's mobile phone on an apartment emergency staircase. After tracking CCTV footage, they confirmed she had fled to a nearby motel with a man and raided the scene. The man who opened the door was the mother's ex-boyfriend, surnamed Im. When questioned by police about the whereabouts of her 9-year-old daughter, the mother, surnamed Kim, consistently claimed she did not know and was arrested along with Im on charges of child abuse.

In the initial investigation, Kim claimed she had left the child with an acquaintance or sent her for adoption. However, the case took a sudden turn when the accomplice, Im, who was being interrogated separately, made an unexpected confession. A police official described the situation at the time, saying, "The mother's statement was that she 'sent the child for adoption because it was difficult to raise her.' But the accomplice confessed." Im admitted that he had personally abandoned the body of the child, who had already died, on a hillside.

A search of the hillside identified by Im led to the discovery of the child's body, which had been wrapped in a blanket and buried in a black trash bag. However, shockingly, the body unearthed was not that of the 9-year-old elementary student who had attended school with her mother just two weeks prior, but the skeletal remains of Ga-on, who had died six years ago at 28 months old.

The mother, Kim, claims that Ga-on died of suffocation six years ago after getting tangled in a blanket while playing alone. During a prison visit, her ex-boyfriend, Im, stated that his motive for participating was simply to protect the woman he loved, saying, "I think I had a strong desire to protect Kim and save her because I loved her so much."

However, their claims leave many questions unanswered. Why did no one notice Ga-on's death for six years, and who is the true identity of the 9-year-old child who even went as far as to attend an elementary school entrance ceremony under Ga-on's name? Suspicion is mounting.

"Unanswered," which will track the truth behind the death of a child and the lies surrounding it, will air on Saturday, the 20th, at 11:10 p.m.

Reported by Kang Seon-ae

(SBS Entertainment News, Reporter Kang Seon-ae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.