Suspicions of premeditation are deepening in the Paju cafe freezer killing after it emerged that the suspect, identified only as A, urgently ordered a walk-in freezer from a supplier in Busan, more than 400 kilometers away, about a week before the crime.
According to police on the 12th, A, who is in his or her 30s, ordered the freezer on Aug. 27 — roughly a week before the killing — through a company in Busan rather than a nearby supplier the cafe had regularly dealt with, and had it installed at the cafe. Why A chose a supplier more than 400 kilometers away in a straight line has not yet been established.
A told the company the freezer was for storing food ingredients during a renovation of the cafe and asked in detail how to adjust its temperature. A also told the supplier that the freezer would be collected within a week.
Two days earlier, on Aug. 25, A had pressed another freezer rental company to deliver a unit, saying it should be sent the next day, police found. When that contract fell through, A obtained the unit through the Busan company two days later.
The findings point to a series of hurried efforts to secure a freezer ahead of the crime. Police recently summoned officials from the supplier and obtained statements about how A placed the order and what was requested at the time, according to reports.
A has reversed statements on whether the killing was planned. In early questioning, A indicated that the freezer had been brought in for the purpose of murder, but later changed accounts to say the victim was confined in the freezer on impulse after discovering counterfeit gift certificates.
With generative AI search records, the earlier attempt to rent a freezer and indications that staff were kept from coming to work on the day of the crime all coming to light, experts increasingly believe the killing was premeditated.
A was arrested on the 3rd on suspicion of confining a woman in her 60s, identified only as B, in a freezer at A's cafe in Munsan-eup, Paju, causing her death. The two had met for the first time that day to discuss a gift certificate transaction.
Counterfeit gift certificates with a face value of 50 billion won, which A had commissioned in July, were also found inside the freezer, and B was reportedly responsible for verifying whether the certificates were genuine. Police plan to send the case to prosecutors on the 14th after compiling forensic results and other findings.
