Anyang student murders

On December 25, 2007, the two girls were seen playing at a playground in Manan-gu with some friends, after they had finished their church services. At around 4:10 PM, they were seen on CCTV at an outdoor concert hall in front of the Anyang Literature Center, disappearing shortly after the owner of a small shop saw them exiting the center at around 5 o'clock.

On the next day, the girls' parents contacted the police, asking that they search for their missing children. When no clues were obtained, the local authorities announced a public investigation and issued an Amber alert.[1] The initial reward of 20 million won was raised to 30 million, but even then, no viable tips came in, stalling the investigation.[2] On March 6, 2008, Commissioner Eo Chung-soo ordered the case to be reopened.

On March 11, a reserve officer training on the hillside near Suwon found a buried body, reporting the finding to police. The unearthed body was sent to the National Institute for Scientific Investigation, where it was determined that the corpse belonged to a young girl, aged 8 to 10 years old. Thinking that it might be a missing child, the coroners asked for a DNA analysis to be conducted, which conclusively proved that the body belonged to Lee Hye-jin.[3]

In the meantime, the police learned that a local resident named Jeong Seong-hyeon, who lived by himself at about 130 meters away from Lee's home, had rented a 2003 Hyundai Sonata on the day the two children had disappeared, returning it the next day. When they examined the vehicle, a blood stain was found in the trunk. After examining it at the institute, authorities were informed that the blood matched the DNA of Lee and Wu.

On March 16, 2008, Jeong was arrested at his mother's house in Anyang and taken to the police station. Initially, he stubbornly denied the accusations, and then claimed to have hidden the children's bodies in shame, after killing them in a traffic accident. However, when the police told him that no signs of a traffic accident were located at the scene, he finally confessed to kidnapping and killing both girls.[4][5]

Two days after Jeong's arrest, a soldier from the military intelligence unit found body parts under a waterway in Siheung. The girl's right arm first, with an additional left arm and right leg found in the following hours. After sending the remains for examination, the Institute determined that they indeed belonged to Wu.[6][7]