"Send an elderly person" ... Café Owner Who Killed a Woman in Her 50s: The Full Story of a Horrific Premeditated Crime

[Financial News] A café owner in his 30s has been indicted for luring a victim with counterfeit department-store gift certificates worth 50 billion won, locking her in a freezer warehouse kept at minus 25 degrees Celsius, and causing her death. The prosecution's investigation found that after killing the victim, the owner also attempted to extort tens of billions of won in penalties from the buyer's side by falsely claiming, "The person who verified the gift certificates disappeared with them."
The Criminal Division 2 of the Goyang Branch of the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office, headed by Chief Prosecutor Hong Sang-cheol, said on the 1st that it had indicted café owner A, 39, while in custody on charges of murder by luring a victim and the forgery and use of forged securities.
According to prosecutors, A devised a detailed plan to sell approximately 50 billion won worth of counterfeit department-store gift certificates to repay massive debts incurred through operating the café and other activities. Prosecutors said that if the deal succeeded, A intended to pocket the sale proceeds. If it fell through, A planned to kill and hide the person who came to inspect the gift certificates, then shift the blame to the buyer's side by claiming, "The person who verified the gift certificates ran away with them," in an attempt to extort tens of billions of won in fees and penalties.
To target someone with limited ability to resist, A had asked the buyer's side in advance to "send an elderly person to verify the gift certificates." Accordingly, at 11:13 a.m. on the 3rd of last month, B, a woman in her 50s acting at the buyer's request, visited A's café in Munsan-eup, Paju-si, to inspect the gift certificates.
A had already illegally printed 100,000 department-store gift certificates worth 500,000 won each—approximately 50 billion won in total—at a print shop in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul, on August 31. A lured B to a freezer warehouse prepared in advance in the café's parking lot, showed her the counterfeit gift certificates, and locked the door. B was left inside the warehouse, which was operating at minus 25 degrees Celsius, for approximately 27 hours. She was eventually found frozen to death at 2:36 p.m. the following day.
During the investigation, A attempted to downplay the allegations, saying, "I did not intend to kill her" and claiming, "This was not a solo crime; there was an accomplice."
However, the prosecution's follow-up investigation found that these claims were false. Before even meeting the people A identified as accomplices, prosecutors obtained a recording in which A specifically discussed a plan to "kill the person who came to verify the gift certificates" during a phone call with a third party. A forensic examination of A's mobile phone and laptop also showed that A had made meticulous preparations, including searching for a place to print counterfeit gift certificates and installing and operating the freezer warehouse beginning a month before the crime. Prosecutors concluded that the people A identified as accomplices had known nothing about the murder plan.
A prosecution official said, "Considering the structure and temperature settings of the freezer warehouse at the crime scene, along with objective digital forensic evidence, the charge of premeditated murder by luring the victim has been sufficiently established. We will do our utmost to maintain the prosecution so that the defendant receives a severe sentence commensurate with the crime."
[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter