A Chinese university lecturer detained on charges of killing and dismembering a Chinese exchange student in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, has told police he will not take a psychopathy assessment. Police are pressing the search for the victim's body separately from the psychological analysis.
Gyeongsan Police Station deployed two profilers the previous day to conduct the psychopathy assessment on the 31-year-old suspect, identified only as A, police said on the 28th. The test did not go ahead after A refused to take it.
A had initially indicated he would agree to the test proposed by police. But he abruptly reversed his position and declined once the profilers arrived to carry it out.
A psychopathy assessment cannot be administered without the suspect's consent. Police said they will decide whether to conduct the test again if A agrees. A has retained a lawyer and is receiving legal assistance during police questioning.
Police are searching for the body of the 25-year-old victim, identified only as B, focusing on locations the suspect has said he used to dispose of it. Based on A's statements, closed-circuit television footage and his movements, investigators are searching Gyeongsan, Gyeongju and Gunpo in Gyeonggi Province.
Police are cross-checking A's actual movements one by one in an effort to pinpoint where the body was left. Once the remains are recovered, an autopsy and other examinations will be used to determine the exact cause and time of B's death, which will then be compared with A's account.
"We are focusing on recovering as much of the victim's body as possible," a police official said. "We plan to establish the motive and the detailed circumstances of the crime through objective evidence, not just the suspect's statements."
A is accused of killing B at his home in Gyeongsan on the 20th, then dismembering her body and disposing of it across several locations.
Investigators also found that he disguised B's movements after the crime and filed a missing person report himself. Police detained him on the 27th on charges of murder and obstruction of official duties by deception.
