Man Who Murdered Ex-Wife and Stuffed Body in Suitcase Spent 20 Hours Watching Crime Shows Before Crime

[Voice of the eldest son of the late victim, Ms. Oh: He is not a human being. He is a devil. A devil in human skin. He killed his spouse of nearly 30 years, and when I think of the person called my father, I think he is a psychopath.]

On March 30, a man in his 60s, identified as Lee, was arrested in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, while attempting to dispose of a suitcase containing the body of a woman in her 50s whom he had murdered in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

The victim was Ms. Oh, Lee's ex-wife, whom he had divorced three months prior to the incident.

The couple had been married for 28 years before divorcing by mutual agreement in January. Lee claims that he killed her impulsively during an argument after Ms. Oh filed a lawsuit for property division.

[Voice of Lee, the suspect: The victim confronted me, saying, "Are you crazy, are you determined to kill someone?" and I could not control my anger, so I dragged her into the master bedroom... I lost my reason, and although I am not certain, I continued to press her neck with both hands for about five minutes. Once the sound stopped, I released my hands from her neck...]

The victim's body was found with a plastic bag over her head and a necktie wrapped around her neck.

[Voice of Professor Lee Ho, Department of Forensic Medicine, Chonbuk National University: The fact that there were compression marks from a necktie tied over a scarf indicates that it was tied very tightly. It is difficult to accept the claim that there was no intent to kill when he assaulted her, strangled her, and then covered her with a plastic bag and tied it with a necktie.]

Lee was known to those around him as a dedicated volunteer and was a wealthy individual with assets worth over 10 billion won, owning six officetels in prime locations in Gangnam and two apartments jointly owned with his wife.

However, the testimonies of his two sons painted a different picture.

[Voice of the eldest son of the late victim, Ms. Oh: I always felt anxious when I thought of the person called my father. He would always watch TV, drink at night, watch TV, and drink at night. He would scream, glare, and throw things as if he were really going to kill someone.]

Suspicious circumstances were also discovered in Lee's OTT streaming history.

While he usually enjoyed action or adult content, the proportion of crime-related content he watched increased around the time of the crime.

Notably, he spent 20 hours watching crime shows the day before the incident, and the content included scenes of a perpetrator stuffing a victim killed by assault into a suitcase to dispose of the body.

During the trial, Lee showed an obsession with money rather than remorse. He urged his sons, who were preparing for the property division lawsuit, to stop, calling their actions meaningless, and even instructed them to hire the best criminal defense attorney for him.

[Voice of Lee, the suspect: Do you think things happen in this world without a reason? Hello? Do you think I wanted to come here on purpose? The prosecutor even wrote a complete fiction in the indictment!]

Lee has hired four attorneys and is contesting the charges.

Reported by Lee Se-young | Video by Seo Byeong-uk | Source: Unanswered Questions Episode 1493 | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.