The Hwaseong serial murders (Korean: 화성 연쇄 살인 사건; Hanja: 華城連鎖殺人事件; RR: hwaseong yeonswae sarin sageon) are a series of 10 rapes and murders that occurred in the South Korean city of Hwaseong between September 15, 1986 and April 3, 1991.^[1] In each case, a female body was found bound, raped and murdered. The murders are considered to be the most infamous in the modern history of South Korea and have been compared to those committed by the Zodiac Killer.^[2] While one of the murders was determined to be a copycat crime, the others remained unsolved for 30 years, until Lee Choon-jae, who was already serving a life sentence for rape and murder, was identified as the main suspect in 2019. He later confessed to the 9 unsolved murders and 5 others.

Case Study on Serial Killers: A serial killer is a person who has committed several criminal murders (from three and more) in a certain period of time (the period can last weeks, months and even years). Serial killers differ from the similar crimes, like assassination, ritual murder, killing in the war period and mass killing (terroristic act, school shooting, etc). The Hollywood Ripper: How '48 Hours' helped crack the case of convicted serial killer Michaer Gargiulo. Credit: CBS News. Tricia Pacaccio. Tricia Pacaccio, 18, in her high school graduation photo. Ted Bundy, for example, was a true serial killer. Mary Bell did not fit that category, despite the fact that she murdered two children. The fact that she never re-offended means that she could not have fit. I'm being nit-picky, and I apologize, but serial killers (and really, murderers of all kinds) are my area of study.

History[edit]

Murder Case Serial Killers Online

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The case is infamous within Korea for being the first truly identifiable string of murders with a modus operandi.^{[citation needed]} More than 2,000,000 police officers, a record number for a single case, were mobilized to investigate the murders.^[3] Moreover, police officers involved spent 2,000,000 man-days on the case.^[4] The total number of suspects also grew to enormous numbers, eventually ending with a total count of 21,280 individuals.^[5]

On July 27, 1989, hair evidence left in the crime scene lead to the arrest of a 22-year-old male with the surname of Yoon as the culprit in the murder of the eighth victim, which was later deemed as unrelated to the other murders.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, in the tenth case, the evidence obtained from the semen sample was different from the ninth case, and the location and method of crime were different from the other cases, indicating that it was a different culprit.^{[citation needed]} Except for the first crime, which occurred around 6 am, the second through tenth murders occurred mainly between 7 and 11 pm.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004, a female college student was murdered, sparking new interest in the Hwaseong serial murders, though that case also remains unsolved.^[6]

Until it was lifted in July 2015 by the National Assembly, the statute of limitations for murder in South Korea was fifteen years. The statute for the killings had expired in April 2, 2006.^[5] However, evidence and police records were still kept due to the significance of the case.^[7]^[8] With the statute's lifting to 25 years, cold cases have been re-visited.^{[citation needed]}

On September 18, 2019, police announced that 56-year-old Lee Choon-jae [ko] had been identified as a suspect in the serial murders.^[9]^[10] He was identified after DNA from the underwear of one of the victims was matched with his, but he cannot be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has expired.^[11] However, his DNA only matched the DNA evidence found on the fifth, seventh, and ninth victims.^[12] At the time he was identified, he was already serving a life sentence at a prison in Busan for the rape and murder of his sister-in-law in 1994.

Lee initially denied any involvement in the serial murders,^[13]^[14] but on 2 October 2019, police announced that Lee had confessed to killing 14 people, including all 9 unsolved serial murders. He also confessed to more than 30 sex crimes.^[15]^[16]

Victims[edit]

The female victims, whose ages ranged from 13 to 71,^[17] were each found bound, raped and murdered between 1986 and 1991 in the city of Hwaseong in Gyeonggi Province.^[7] Most of the women were strangled to death, many of them with their own clothes.^[8]

Crime	Date	Location	Victim	Remarks
1	September 15, 1986	Hwaseong, Annyeong-ri (Now called Hwasan-dong) pastures	Lee Wan-im (71 years old)	Statute of limitations expired on September 15, 2001, at 12 am.
2	October 20, 1986	Hwaseong, Jinan-ri (Now called Jinan-dong) canal	Park Hyun-sook (25 years old)	Statute of limitations expired on October 19, 2001, at 12 am.
3	December 12, 1986	Hwaseong, Annyeong-ri (Now called Hwasan-dong) embankment	Kwon Jung-bon (25 years old)	Statute of limitations expired on December 11, 2001, at 12 am.
4	December 14, 1986	Jeongnam-myeon, Gwanhang-ri canal	Lee Kye-sook (23 years old)	Statute of limitations expired on December 13, 2001, at 12 am.
5	January 10, 1987	Hwaseong, Hwanggye-ri (Now called Hwasan-dong) rice paddy	Hong Jin-young (19 years old)	Statute of limitations expired on January 9, 2002, at 12 am.
6	May 2, 1987	Hwaseong, Jinan-ri (Now called Jinan-dong) hill	Park Eun-joo (29 years old)	Statute of limitations expired on May 1, 2002, at 12 am.
7	September 7, 1988	Paltan-myeon, Gajae-ri canal	Ahn Gi-soon (54 years old)	Statute of limitations expired on September 6, 2003, at 12 am.
8 (copycat)	September 16, 1988	Hwaseong, Jinan-ri (Now called Jinan-dong) house	Park Sang-hee (14 years old)	On July 27, 1989, Yoon (22-years-old) was arrested.
9	November 15, 1990	Hwaseong, Byeongjeom-dong (Now called Byeongjeom 1(il)-dong) hill	Kim Mi-jung (14 years old)	Statute of limitations expired on November 14, 2005, at 12 am.
10	April 3, 1991	Dongtan-myeon, Bansong-ri (Now called Dongtan 1-dong) hill	Kwon Soon-sang (69 years old)	Statute of limitations expired on April 2, 2006, at 12 am.

Suspect[edit]

A suspect's sketch was drawn based on the memory of the bus driver and bus conductor of the man who got on the bus shortly after the seventh murder on September 7, 1988. The characteristics of the suspect, which were described by the bus driver, were largely in line with the other victims who were sexual assaulted by the culprit. According to the victims' statements, the culprit at the time of the incident was a thin-framed man in his mid-20s, with a height of 165 to 170 centimeters, a short cut sporty-type hair, no double eyelids, and a sharp nose. In addition, he was described as having soft hands.^[18]^[19] Mor