Korean Job Discussion Forums

Starperson · Joined: 23 Mar 2003

Did anyone see that 60 Minutes story on the American exchange student who stood trial for murder in Korea and was acquitted but is still waiting to go home? Does anyone know anything about it? It really freaked me out cos I can't figure out whether she did it or not.

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

Saw it yeah. I've stayed in the same yeogwan it happened.
Its weird cos she actually confessed to the murder, possibly stress- induced. But to me its obvious that a guy, probably a G.I, is responsible.

Why couldn't police have found DNA evidence at the scene, and then screen every soldier's profile for a match...
I think there should be security cameras placed around itaewon, London style. I'm sure the place has a higher crime rate than the rest of Seoul.

komtengi · Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Location: Slummin it up in Haebangchon

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=15298

Starperson · Joined: 23 Mar 2003

But how is it obvious that a GI did it?
Anyway there aren't enough details to try to guess who did it.

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

They found a large bloodied boot print at the scene. The girl had been drinking with G.I's earlier. She was heard arguing with a man moments before the supposed time of the attack. A Western guy was seen hurrying away from her room.

That evidence kinda points to a soldier, don't you think? a lot more likely than her friend- who had no blood on her or her clothes, despite the victim's room being covered in blood.
Apparantly the FBI, desperate for a conviction, pressurized and hounded her until she gave varying weird "confessions" which she later withdrew. I can believe the FBI wanting to cover up any G.I crime here, due to the huge adverse publicity this would generate in S.Korea.
You know it makes sense.

Starperson · Joined: 23 Mar 2003

yeah i guess.

was it snider who called the police?
who was there when the police got there?
could snider have changed her clothes?

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

The body was discovered by the yagwon ajumma, who (if i remember rightly) called police first. Snider was waken up and brought in to see the body.
I can't remember all the details but apparently snider slept in a different room nearby and heard nothing, whereas others heard an argument with an English-speaking man, and him saying the words "You're here now, lets go".
FBI officials claimed snider beat her friend to death after rejecting her lesbian advances, or in outrage, as the two friends were supposedly in a lesbian affair, yet the victim had been flirting with soldiers.
The case rests on one or two confused, differing and dubious confessions from snider, after FBI "hypno- regression" etc.

The whole thing could've been solved easier if it'd taken place in the U.S i believe, as I don't think Korean forensics or detectives are quite up to the mark, probably less so when investigating foreigners- can you imagine the basic miscommunications, for example.

Starperson · Joined: 23 Mar 2003

Yeah, I can imagine.

So, supposing she did do it...then surely the two GIs would have come forward to confirm that they were with the two girls on that night?

Supposing she didn't do it, then the guilty GI would have either a) come forward but proclaimed his innocence or b) not come forward.

So did they speak to the GIs that they were with on the night?

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

This is where my brief knowledge on the subject runs out. apparently investigations with the G.I's led to a "dead end".
The whole investigation seems to have been pretty much bungled.

All i know is that seedy yeogwans like that one in Itaewon are filled with all sorts of characters roaming around the corridors.. If i was a woman spending the night in one of those rooms, i'd lock my door and not let anybody in, except maybe a close friend.

Starperson · Joined: 23 Mar 2003

Yeah, bungled seems like the right word. If it was on CSI they would've figured it all out by now.
I've stayed in a yeogwan once by myself...it was a bit scary.

Zed · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Shakedown Street

Well, I don't think staying in yeogwons is scary, even in Itaewon. But if your yeogwon is up on the hill .......and you're really pissed ...........and you don't have much in the way of common sense.........then things may be a little dodgy.

jajdude · Joined: 18 Jan 2003

Yes, I saw that show the other day. I doubt very much the girl did it. Strange how she signed those confessions though or that the authorities met her in some motel in the US and said something like, "We know you did it...." and seemed to convince her she did. Then she went back to the motel in Itaewon and realized she didn't. But still the dead girl's family believed she did kill their daughter!

Strange story. When did it happen again? March 2001? Any updates?