On 5/11/2003, 15-year-old Eom Hyun-ah, delighted by an early dismissal from school, spent the afternoon with friends in Songuri village, Pocheon, near the border. They often gathered at a friend's house not far from school.
Engrossed in their activities, Hyun-ah lost track of time. Only when her mother called at 6 pm did she realize how late it was. Eager to be home before dinner, she opted for a shortcut. A friend accompanied her to the back gate of an elementary school near their middle school. As dusk settled, with only a few streetlights illuminating the path, Hyun-ah bid her friend farewell and continued alone.
The shortcut was a narrow, less-traveled road known mainly to locals. At 6:18 pm, Hyun-ah called her mother, saying she was walking home. Her house was only 700 meters from this deserted road, a walk of mere minutes.
This six-second call was the last trace of Hyun-ah alive.
Belongings discarded in the trash
By 9 pm, Hyun-ah hadn't returned and wasn't answering her phone. Her worried family contacted the police, reporting her missing.
Initially, the police didn't consider a child staying out late an emergency. "Wait a day or two," they advised, "they'll come to their senses and return." Days turned into weeks, and still, there was no sign of Hyun-ah.
Her parents launched a desperate search, distributing 150,000 flyers with her photo and description. Posters and banners were displayed throughout the neighborhood.
23 days after her disappearance, Hyun-ah's phone surfaced unexpectedly.
A construction manager in nearby Uijeongbu city found the phone on 14/11, nine days after Hyun-ah vanished. It was about 8 km from where she was last seen. Unaware of the missing person case, he kept the phone for two weeks before handing it to the police on 28/11.
The phone led to the discovery of 13 of Hyun-ah's belongings, including shoes, a backpack, socks, textbooks, a uniform tie, and gloves. They were found in a pile of trash near the road construction site where the phone was discovered.
Upon examining the items, the police noticed the name tags were ripped off. This suggested foul play, not a typical runaway case.
A large-scale search operation ensued, involving personnel from the military base where Hyun-ah's father worked. Months passed with no results.
A naked body in a drainpipe
On 8/2/2004, a police officer noticed a discarded 29-inch TV carton covering the opening of a concrete drainpipe in Pocheon, 6 km from Hyun-ah's home.
Moving the box, the officer glimpsed human feet. Inside the pipe was a naked female body, curled up.
The upper body, especially the face, was severely decomposed. However, Hyun-ah's father identified her by a burn scar on her right arm and an appendectomy scar. 95 days had passed since she vanished on her way home.
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Diagram of where Eom Hyun-ah disappeared and where her body was found. Photo: Korea Herald |
Diagram of where Eom Hyun-ah disappeared and where her body was found. Photo: Korea Herald
Due to the advanced decomposition, the autopsy couldn't pinpoint the cause or time of death. There was no DNA evidence from the body or scene, and no traces of semen.
Hyun-ah's fingernails and toenails were painted red. She never wore nail polish due to school rules. The application was unusual, crude, and uneven.
The search for clues
With no security cameras and a lack of witnesses, the police had few leads. They focused on the nail polish and the TV box.
They suspected a sex offender, possibly familiar with the area and perhaps even the victim. They theorized Hyun-ah was murdered, possibly by strangulation, elsewhere and then hidden in the drainpipe. The killer likely transported her by car after midnight, as nearby businesses were closed and lights off.
The TV box had a serial number, allowing investigators to trace the purchase and delivery. One delivery and installation worker had a prior sex offense but a solid alibi. He claimed to have discarded the box on the roadside. The lead went cold.
According to the police, the red paint on Hyun-ah's nails was likely applied by the perpetrator. It was messy, side to side, not in typical vertical strokes. The perpetrator seemingly took the time to trim her nails after painting them.
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Image of the red painted fingernails and toenails on Eom Hyun-ah's body shown on SBS's investigative program Unanswered Questions. |
The nail polish's origin could be key to identifying the killer.
The police analyzed the red paint's composition, trying to trace its source. Despite meticulously checking over 60 nail polish brands sold locally, including those used by children for dolls, no match was found.
The investigation shifted to interviewing anyone suspicious in the area, particularly those with sexually deviant behavior. While there was no direct evidence of sexual assault, investigators strongly believed in a sexual motive.
Besides the nail polish, the perpetrator trimmed the victim's nails. The missing uniform, underwear, and socks suggested they might have been kept as trophies.
The police investigated local individuals with prior sex offenses and even questioned men with cross-dressing tendencies, but these efforts yielded no significant breakthroughs.
Reaching a dead end, investigators theorized the red paint might be linked to funeral rites in other cultures. They checked local immigrant workers, but to no avail.
Despite investigating over 1,500 potential suspects and pursuing DNA evidence, the case remained unsolved.
New lead from a 'near victim'
15 years later, in early 2019, a woman surnamed Han came forward, believing she might have encountered the killer in October 2003 in the same Pocheon village.
Barely a week before Hyun-ah's disappearance, Han narrowly escaped a driver attempting to abduct her. Later, upon seeing the missing person poster, she instinctively felt it was the same man but was too frightened to contact the police.
Han's near abduction occurred 2 km from the elementary school where Hyun-ah parted ways with her friend on the night she disappeared, near both the middle school and her shortcut route.
According to Han, the abductor appeared pale, as if wearing makeup, with unusually bright, translucent brown eyes. A striking feature was his smooth, white, "glossy," manicured hands with clear nail polish.
After hypnosis, Han recalled the pursuing car came from a local auto repair shop. She remembered three of the four license plate digits and offered two possible options for the missing digit.
Based on Han's recollection, the police sketched the driver: late 20s or early 30s, 1.7 to 1.75 m tall.
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Police sketch of the potential suspect in the Eom Hyun-ah case. Photo: Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency |
Police sketch of the potential suspect in the Eom Hyun-ah case. Photo: Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency
Despite extensive efforts to trace the license plates, the police couldn't identify a suspect.
After Han's story aired on SBS, several callers provided information. Notably, a man who worked at the Pocheon auto repair shop at the time said the sketch resembled a former coworker.
This coworker, a car painter, was described as "timid" and "effeminate," with white, manicured hands and clear nail polish. He was meticulous about cleanliness, washing his hands for 30 minutes after painting each car.
From this report, the police speculated the suspect might have used a car left at the shop for repairs, and the red paint on Hyun-ah's nails might be automotive paint. They discovered this car painter had a criminal record, though not for sex offenses.
However, hopes were dashed when it was revealed the suspect had died 5-6 years after the crime from undisclosed causes, leaving the question of his guilt unresolved.
Kim Bok-jun, the former lead investigator in Eom Hyun-ah's case and now a researcher at the Korean Institute of Criminology, noted striking similarities between Han's recalled sketch and the notorious Hwaseong serial killer. Kim suggested media exposure might have influenced Han's recollection.
To this day, Eom Hyun-ah's abduction and murder remains unsolved.
Tue Anh (according to Korea Herald)
