A woman in South Korea who was obsessed with true crime books and TV shows devised an alarming plan to carry out a real-life murder “out of curiosity” of taking a life herself, according to authorities.
On May 31, the Busan police said 23-year-old Jung Yoo-jung confessed to the killing, The Chosun Ilbo reported.
Officials said Jung “feels sorry for what she did” and authorities are “conducting tests to see if she is a psychopath.”
According to The Chosun Ilbo, “Jung was found to have premeditated the crime driven by a desire to kill someone after she became obsessed with murder from TV programs and books.”
In the months leading up to the attack, investigators said Jung took out books on crime from the library and watched true crime TV shows. She also allegedly searched online for how to hide a body.
Jung used an app designed to connect parents with school tutors to find her victim, police said. She allegedly posed as the mother of a ninth-grader who needed help learning English.
She then arranged to send “her daughter” to the home of the victim, identified as a female college student and freelance tutor in her 20s, for a consultation, The Chosun Ilbo reported.
Jung bought a school uniform and went to the tutor’s house in Busan herself on May 26, JoongAng Daily reported. Posing as a school student, Jung entered the victim’s home and allegedly stabbed her to death with a knife, police said.
After killing the tutor, Jung allegedly went to a store and bought bleach and trash bags. She then returned to the victim’s house and dismembered the body, authorities said.
After calling for a taxi, Jung is accused of taking some of the victim’s body parts in a suitcase to a remote woodland area by the Nakdong River.
However, a suspicious taxi driver contacted police after Jung went into the bushes with the suitcase after midnight, according to officials.
Jung attempted to make it appear like the victim disappeared by keeping the victim’s mobile phone, ID card and wallet, police said, adding she was trying to “commit a perfect crime.”
Detectives said they questioned Jung and she initially told claimed she accidentally killed the victim in an argument.
They said she later confessed after investigators found inconsistencies in her story and her family encouraged her to come clean.
Police said they also found more remains of the victim’s body at Jung’s house.