Police: Lee Chun-jae is behind '8th Hwaseong murder'

SUWON, Nov. 15 (Yonhap) -- Police said Friday they have reached a provisional conclusion that Lee Chun-jae, the key suspect in serial murders that took place in Hwaseong, is responsible for the most disputed of the 10 killings.

Lee, who is serving a life sentence for another murder, in October admitted his involvement in 10 crimes linked to the serial murder case after DNA tests identified him as the key suspect in at least five of the cases.

Ten women were killed in a rural area of Hwaseong, south of Seoul, between 1986 and 1991 in the country's worst serial murder case. The crimes, targeting females aged 13 to 71, became notorious for their brutality and police's inability to find the murderer.

Police have been trying to verify Lee's confession after it raised suspicions that police wrongfully charged an innocent man, surnamed Yoon, as the culprit behind a 1988 case that was considered the eighth of the 10 murders in chronological order.

"Lee Chun-jae's confession (to the eight murder) mostly coincides with circumstances at the scene," an official at Gyeonggi South Provincial Police Agency told a press briefing in Suwon, south of Seoul.

Police said they reached the tentative conclusion based on a confession by Lee that elaborately and coherently described the circumstances of the scene and the victim.

Yoon, despite denying any involvement in the case, was charged with the 1988 murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and spent 20 years in prison until he was released on parole in 2009.

Following news reports that Lee, had claimed responsibility for the eighth crime, Yoon, 52, filed for a re-trial of the case at a Suwon district court on Wednesday.

mlee@yna.co.kr
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