Jung Yoo-jung
Jung Yoo-jung | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1999 Busan, South Korea |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
| Details | |
| Victims | 1 |
Span of crimes | 1999–1999 |
| Country | South Korea |
| State(s) | Yeongnam |
| Imprisoned at | Busan Detention Center |
Jung Yoo-jung (also Jeong Yoo-jeong,[1] Korean: 정유정; born 1999) is a South Korean homicide killer. In May 2023, she lured a home tutor as someone needing English tutorial and killed the tutor at her home in Busan.[2] She had been engrossed in TV shows and books about murders and later claimed her act as "out of curiosity."[3][4] After dismembering the body, she dumped it in the forest by the banks of Nakdong River.[5][6] A taxi driver, who drove her, tipped off the police of the suspicious nature of his passenger. In November 2023, the Busan District Court sentenced Jung to life imprisonment.[7][8] Prosecutors wanted a death penalty and she was retried by the Supreme Court in May 2024, which upheld the conviction of life sentence.[9]
Background
[edit]Jung lived with her grandfather in Busan. She completed her secondary education in 1994 and since then remained unemployed. She developed a hobby in watching crime shows and reading crime stories. Wanting to act out a real-life scenario, she made a scheme to kill. She had learned from internet sources on how to conceal and dispose off bodies. As the Busan police later revealed, she had well-researched on the modus operandi, planning from books she borrowed from a local library.[3][10] Targeting more vulnerable female home tutors, she joined a tutoring app and pretending to be a parent. She approached 54 people posing as a mother of a 9th grade student who needs English tuition. Then, in May 2023, she found a willing tutor.[11]
Murder
[edit]Jung contacted the female tutor who agreed for a home lesson to a fictitious girl. She had bought a school uniform from an online seller.[10] Herself disguised as a school girl, Jung went to the tutor on 26 May 2023. Being of a short stature, she impressed the tutor as a young student and was willingly let in the house.[3] She stabbed the tutor with a knife for over a hundred times. She went to a nearby store to buy garbage bag and a bleach. Returning to the victim's home, she dismembered the body and packed it into a trolley suitcase she brought along.[11] She severed the fingers to make biometric identification difficult and also kept the victim's mobile phone, ID card and wallet, to make a scene of traceless disappearance – "a perfect crime", as the police reported.[3] She took a taxi and dumped the suitcase with its contents in the secluded park near Nakdong River.[10]
Arrest and conviction
[edit]Suspicious of Jung's behaviour and actions, the taxi driver informed the police who immediately met Jung. The police found bloodstained cloths and body parts in Jung's house. She had no remorse or showed no attempt to deny her involvement in the murder. However, she initially said that she took the body only after she found the victim murdered by someone else;[10] but soon changed her story that she had "accidentally killed the victim in an argument."[3] As the police found several irregularities in her account, her family urged her to tell the truth, after which she made the full confession.[11]
Jung was trialed by the Busan District Court. In the court, her motive was described as due to "a feeling of resentment and anger toward her family, helplessness due to continued failures such as college entrance and employment."[11] She pleaded mild sentence claiming that hallucinations and a host of mental health issues compelled her.[10] In November 2023, the court found her guilty of homicide, desecration and abandonment of a corpse.[11] The presiding judge Kim Tae-eob ruled that Jung had not mental illness that prompted the murder and that she "carefully planned and carried out" the ordeal. While the prosecution expected a death penalty, she was given a life sentence.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ Bae, Jong-tae (2023-09-12). "[브레이크뉴스 부산 ] 정유정, 또래 여성 살해 前 '2차례 더 살인 시도'...10대 男 현장에 안 나와 모면해" [Jung Yoo-jung, '2 more murder attempts' before the murder of a woman of the same age]. Break News (in Korean). Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ Mao, Frances (2023-11-24). "Korean true crime fan murdered stranger 'out of curiosity'". BBC. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ a b c d e Steinbuch, Yaron (2023-06-06). "Woman obsessed with crime shows, books killed 'out of curiosity about murder'". New York Post. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ Wilford, Denette (2023-11-27). "True crime fan who killed, dismembered stranger 'out of curiosity' gets life sentence". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ Cho, Jung-woo; Kim, Min-ju (2023-06-04). "Experts stunned by Busan murder suspect's calm behavior during killing". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ Kirschner, Kylie (2023-11-25). "A Korean true crime fan who murdered a stranger 'out of curiosity' is sentenced to life in prison". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ Mao, Frances (2023-11-24). "Korean true crime fan murdered stranger 'out of curiosity'". BBC. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ Farberov, Snejana (2023-11-24). "Jung Yoo-jung, who killed tutor sentenced to life in prison". New York Post. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ "Top court confirms life sentence for Busan psychopathic killer". koreatimes. 2024-06-13. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ a b c d e f Farberov, Snejana (2023-11-24). "Jung Yoo-jung, who killed tutor sentenced to life in prison". New York Post. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ a b c d e Ferrarin, Elena (2024-02-24). "Did an Obsession with True Crime Lead a South Korean Woman to Murder?". A&E. Retrieved 2024-10-09.