[Anchor]

It has been confirmed through our reporting that the father of Jang Yoon-gi, a suspect in the murder of a high school girl in Gwangju, worked at a police substation under the jurisdiction of the same police station that handled his son's case until last year. The father, identified as Police Inspector Jang, is accused of destroying key evidence related to his son's sex crimes. Despite identifying the suspect's father as a police officer early in the investigation, the police reportedly took no action.

Reporter Kim su-yun has the story.

[Reporter]

The initial investigation into Jang Yoon-gi, who murdered the late Lee Chae-won last May, was conducted by the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station.

The station handled the primary investigation from the arrest of Jang Yoon-gi to his referral to the prosecution.

However, SBS has confirmed that the active-duty police officer who destroyed the "real dolls"—key evidence related to Jang's sex crimes—is his father, Inspector Jang, who was previously stationed at the very same Gwangsan Police Station that investigated his son.

It was found that Inspector Jang worked at a substation under the Gwangsan Police Station until March of last year.

Inspector Jang is currently assigned to a different substation in Gwangju, but he is reportedly on leave and has applied for a leave of absence starting in the middle of this month.

[Police Official: He has not shown up since the incident. We heard he is using his annual leave and then going on a leave of absence.]

After arresting Jang Yoon-gi on the morning of May 5, the Gwangsan Police Station received a statement during questioning that his father was a police officer.

Despite knowing that Jang Yoon-gi resided in Gwangju, the police reportedly did not conduct any further inquiries or investigations beyond asking about his father's occupation.

Consequently, Inspector Jang, who is known to have had investigative experience prior to his work at the substation, destroyed evidence including the real dolls just three days after his son's crime and the day after his arrest. The police were unaware of this fact.

In response, an official from the Gwangsan Police Station told SBS, "We conducted the investigation thoroughly, independent of Inspector Jang," adding, "We did not see the need to physically seize the real dolls as evidence."

Reported by Jung Gyeong-mun | Video by Shin Se-eun | Graphics by Choi Jin-hoe | Produced by SBS Digital News