"I'm sorry."
On July 7, 2017, Sim Cheon-woo (then 31), the main perpetrator of the "Changwon golf range 40-something housewife kidnapping and murder case," muttered these words in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, his head bowed toward reporters during a police reenactment at the crime scene. It was his first and last public apology to the bereaved family.
That day, the Changwon Seobu Police Station in South Gyeongsang Province conducted a crime reenactment involving Sim Cheon-woo and his accomplice Kang Jung-im (then 36) at an abandoned gas station in Goseong, South Gyeongsang, about 80 kilometers from the crime scene golf range in Changwon, and around the Jinsu Bridge in Jinju. About 10 family members and citizens gathered at the scene, fiercely protesting and demanding harsh punishment for the suspects.
On the second floor of the abandoned gas station where the victim, identified as A (then 47), was killed, Sim Cheon-woo calmly reenacted the circumstances of the crime using a mannequin. When Sim finished the indoor reenactment and came outside holding a burlap sack to reenact the disposal of the body, the scene instantly descended into chaos.
Shouts and curses poured from the bereaved family, including "You're not even human" and "Raise your head. Let's see your face." The victim's brother-in-law charged at Sim Cheon-woo before being restrained by police. At the subsequent reenactment at the Jinsu Bridge, they impassively continued to mime pulling a burlap sack from a car trunk and throwing it into the reservoir below the bridge.
◇"Let's shake down someone rich"...A targeted kidnapping planned amid mounting debt=Their motive was simple. Money. Sim Cheon-woo, who was suffering from tens of millions of won in credit card debt at the time, was even using a credit card in his mother's name.
Sim Cheon-woo planned the crime together with Kang Jung-im, whom he had met while working as a caddie at a golf course and with whom he developed a romantic relationship, and his second cousin Sim (then 29), saying "Let's shake down someone rich." They scouted for women driving luxury foreign cars at a golf range in Changwon, and ultimately targeted and kidnapped A, who was driving an Audi A8.
Sim Cheon-woo gagged the victim's mouth with a sock, bound her hands and feet, then took 100,000 won in cash along with her credit and check cards. He then moved to the abandoned gas station in Goseong, South Gyeongsang, and obtained the card PINs.
He called Kang Jung-im and had her check the card balance. Once he confirmed the PINs were correct, he strangled the victim to death. It was around 3 a.m. on the 25th, about six hours after the kidnapping.
Immediately after the killing, they additionally robbed the victim of a watch worth about 4 million won and a gold necklace worth about 500,000 won that she was wearing.
At trial, Sim Cheon-woo claimed, "The victim insulted my parents, so I committed the crime in a moment of rage," but this was not accepted. The court judged it to be a premeditated crime, based on the fact that duct tape, a weapon, and burlap sacks had been prepared in advance, and on the testimony of the accomplices.
◇"Am I an acquired psychopath?"...A brazen escape following the crime=The body was placed in a burlap sack along with stones and dumped into a reservoir in Jinju. The three were revealed to have exchanged conversations utterly devoid of any guilt immediately after the crime, adding to the shock. When Sim Cheon-woo said, "I feel nothing at all. Am I an acquired psychopath?" Kang Jung-im shot back, "Aren't you a sociopath?"
Afterward, they attached a stolen license plate to the car and traveled through Gwangju, Suncheon, and Haman, withdrawing 4.1 million won using the victim's cards to use as getaway funds. They calmly went about their daily lives while on the run—getting haircuts at a salon and shopping for clothes—until they were traced after the accomplice second cousin was caught first.
Sim Cheon-woo and Kang Jung-im, who had fled into the mountains to evade the investigation, were finally arrested on July 3, nine days after the crime, at a motel in Myeonmok-dong, Jungnang-gu, Seoul. Police who had been staking out the location acted on a report that "there is a suspicious man and woman staying long-term."
The investigation also revealed Sim Cheon-woo's past crimes. He was also the perpetrator of a long-unsolved cold case—a 2011 jewelry store robbery committed together with his high school classmates.
◇A past jewelry store robbery too...Court says "no remorse"=The court strongly rebuked all three, saying they had faithfully carried out their respective roles during the crime and had shown no remorse, evading responsibility even after the crime. In particular, the court gravely weighed the fact that Sim Cheon-woo, who stands 175 centimeters tall and weighs 97 kilograms, killed the slight-framed victim (46 kilograms) while she was incapacitated after being bound.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty for the main perpetrator Sim Cheon-woo, and 30 years in prison each for accomplices Kang Jung-im and Sim. However, the court sentenced Sim Cheon-woo to life imprisonment on charges of robbery and murder and ordered him to wear a location-tracking electronic anklet for 20 years. Kang Jung-im and the second cousin Sim, who participated in the crime and aided the escape, were each sentenced to 15 years in prison. This verdict was upheld as is by the Supreme Court.
Immediately after the incident, the victim A's husband B told police during questioning, "My wife devoted herself entirely to her family, and she was killed just when things had eased up a little, and it breaks my heart," conveying the family's sense of loss by adding, "Our daughter and son talk to their mother's memorial portrait for more than five hours." His words left those around him in solemn silence.
He then cried out, "I hope the world becomes one where violent criminals are punished harshly, so that they have no place to stand on this land."
