The bodies of two infant boys were discovered in the deep freezer of a French-owned villa in Seorae Village of Seoul’s Banpo-dong.
This whole thing looks very, very weird.
According to police, a 40-year-old Frenchman who lives in the area, identified only as Mr. C, discovered the bodies on Sunday morning, after which he informed local police through a Korean acquaintance. The bodies were in the deep-freezer located on his home’s balcony.
Mr. C testified that he had returned home a couple of days ago from a vacation in France. He was going to put some food he ordered in the freezer when he made the grisly discovery. The bodies, placed in plastic bags, were completely frozen.
Police said because the bodies were too frozen and curled up, they have yet to determine the age or race (!) of the infants, but given how the umbilical cords were still attached and the bodies were covered with meconium, it appears the infants were newborns.
Mr. C, an employee of a foreign auto parts company, has lived in the company-provided villa with his wife and two sons since August of last year.
In late June, he and his family left for France for vacation. He reportedly returned—alone—on July 18 to attend a meeting, and planned to rejoin his vacationing family in France on July 26.
The investigation has yet to turn up any signs of forced entry. The home is protected by a private home security system, and aside from Mr. C, the middle-aged Filipina maid Ms. L and his French friend Mr. P (assumed to be in his late 40s) had security cards and keys.
Mr. C testified to police that both Ms. L and Mr. P are abroad. Police have asked the private security firm and the Immigration Bureau for their records.
The authorities have asked the National Institute of Scientific Investigation (i.e., the CSIs) to perform autopsies on the bodies so that the ages, races and causes of death may be determined. They are now focusing their investigation on the figures connected with the home, and tracking down the whereabouts of Ms. L and Mr. P.
Two notes: a) read the Netizen comments at Naver.com for entertainment value only; b) I have no idea whether the Yonhap report above is accurate or not. You’d be surprised how off they can be at times, although things often right themselves eventually.
UPDATE: So far, the Korean CSIs have been unable to determine the race of the infants or their cause of death. In fact, all they’ve determined so far is that they aren’t black.
Gill Grissom would be proud.
Meanwhile, the Munhwa Ilbo has a slightly more informative piece. According to that story, Mr. C asked his friend Mr. P to look after the house while he was on vacation in France, so police are concentrating their investigation on him.
Poor bastard, this Mr. C (assuming for the moment he’s uninvolved). Guy gets a delivery of salted mackerel, so he goes to stick ‘em in the deep freezer and sees two plastic bags with something in ‘em. Figuring his wife left him some chicken, he takes a peak inside…
UPDATE 2: The latest Yonhap report on this story claims that based on the results of the autopsies performed by the National Institute of Scientific Investigation, police believe it highly likely the infants were WHITE. A precise racial ID and confirmation of whether they were twins will have to wait until the DNA results come in, however. BTW, Mr. C claims the freezer was last used about week before he and the family left for vacation. I can only assume the freezer was sans DB at the time. Also interesting is that the villa did have a CCTV, but due to poor maintenence, there are no records from March.
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I saw this on Naver News this morning…it was the #1 viewed article, so I figured you’d get around to it sooner or later.
Predictably, the netizen comments are vile. Typical of Koreans to start blaming foreigners and tarring them with the same brush…some of the more nulji-esque Koreans are even blaming this on English teachers(!!).
Meanwhile, I wonder why Koreans don’t condemn themselves for being a race of murderous arsonists, given the Daegu subway incident and the recent Jamsil incident, among others. Ah, the hypocrisy is astounding.
Why is this branded a “Stupid Foreigner Trick”? So far, it sounds like the foreigner was a secondary victim of a horrible crime against the murdered infants.
Sperwer—I guess we’ll have to see. Not that I’m rushing out to condemn the guy (my guess is that he didn’t give birth to the kids), but it is rather odd that the guy should come home to find two dead babies in his freezer. I mean, assuming for a moment that he’s innocent, why would the guilty party stick two dead newborns in his freezer?
I have a feeling this story is only going to get weirder…
So one would think. But the Korean commenters’ favorite theory is that he knocked up a Korean girl on the side and then he, she, or both killed the infants (presumably twins). Notwithstanding the fact that the man himself reported his find to the police. These people are frickin’ impervious to common sense, much less rational thought.
How is it the CSI series is big here?
Robert, it could well be that the villa (despite being described in many press accounts as a “foreigner villa”) is owned by a Korean landlord and leased to expats (or their firms) on a furnished basis. It may have been that the freezer then is the villa owner’s and that (a) the bodies were there for some time, but the Frenchman never noticed them because he did not use the freezer; or (b) for his own nefarious purposes, the owner put them there while the Frenchman was away on vacation.
All possible, Dogbertt. All possible.
In fairness to the Korean CSIs, you have to realize that the U.S. TV serieses (new word coined?) are in no way realistic. Just watch those real crime shows on Discovery where it takes two weeks to get a DNA analysis.
does anyone who follows this site have a background in a CSI-related field? i wonder how you determine the race of a dead baby. it seems like the investigation (and the reaction to it) is going to be very much related to where the parents are from. how long is it going to take to make a determination?
if i were the French fellow who lived in the apartment, and i knew i had nothiing to do with the crime, i would be offering to provide DNA to clear my name as soon as possible. there are no babies in the country reported missing, so the two dead ones were most likely killed by their parents, right?
Hey I know this is Korea, but that doesn’t mean we have to flush away things like “innocent before PROVEN guilty”.
And in answer to your question, perhaps, someone put the corpses there just because it was an available space to hide them and deflect the investigation of the culprit onto a wild goose chase.
There’s no reason we need blindly to follow the netigossips into the slime that Dogbert reports they are wallowing in.
Infants’ bodies would need to have been frozen for quite a while in order to be unidentifiable as to race. How long were they in the freezer? That’s a point of interest, especially if it turns out — as I suspect is the case — that our friend Sperwer is right and the foreigners’ villa was rented partially-furnished with the freezer provided.
If I were guilty of infanticide, I sure as hell wouldn’t stick the corpses in my own freezer. And if I’d murdered my babies, or someone else’s, I’d be glad if there were a place somewhere available I could throw the attention off of me: the river, a drainage canal, a landfill. It would be one thing if the corpses were discovered in his home by someone other than the hapless Frenchman Mr. C, giving rise to the possibility he were caught hiding something. But since he called it in himself, it’s hard to imagine Mr. C’s the guilty party. (Ah, but that’s what the fiendish Gaul wants you to think!)
Also, given the corpses have been frozen for a while and apparently are degraded by the process, it may be that we never find out the cause of death. DNA testing will probably be useless. My experience with the Kenzi Snider case makes me sanguine about the competence and capabilities of Korea’s forensic units. Anyway, not all infants expire of nefarious causes. Two babies may have been stillborn out of a botched illegal midwifery, and their bodies tucked into the freezer by grief-addled parents or a panicky midwife. A lot of foreigners subscribe to the midwifery ideal, and things can go wrong during delivery. If the parents and midwife were breaking Korean law in having their delivery at home (foreign midwives having no license for their trade here), that right there is a motive to hide the evidence. But it’s evidence of something other than a homicide, and doesn’t necessarily point to Mr. C. What about Mr. C’s friend Mr. P and the Filipina domestic helper Ms. L? She wouldn’t happen to be licensed as a nurse or midwife in the Philippines, would she?
This sure is an interesting mystery. If anyone knows Mr. C, I wouldn’t mind a call from him, that’s for sure.
Leave it to a lawyer to kill the good gossip with likely scenarios.
Yea. Gossips are more entertaining.
Way ta go to ruin it all.
“Predictably, the netizen comments are vile.”
Actually, some are vile, while some do make sense. In other words, there’s an whole array of opinions that you expect from an anonymous internet gossip board.
Sorry to lead the thread astray, but
recent Jamshil incident?
Kenzi Snider?
what about them?
The majority are quite vile. The only ones that made sense were the ones bemoaning the fact that infants died. Those were very few.
I don’t need a patronizing kyopo to interpret for me what I read.
> i wonder how you determine the race of a dead baby.
Must… restrain… self…. from making… middle school jokes.
if the freezer had a small fan, then the race and cause of death should be obvious.
sorry
“The majority are quite vile. The only ones that made sense were the ones bemoaning the fact that infants died. Those were very few.
I don’t need a patronizing kyopo to interpret for me what I read. ”
And I suggest you take that chip off that shoulder of your’s. You can interpret it the way you like.
Uncalled for, Baker.
I agree with Sperwer that tagging this as Stupid Foreigner Tricks right now is a little hasty, as it presumes that it’s a foreigner who’s done it. Guilty as charged, before trial. Right.
Homes and appartments in Pangbae inhabited by foreigners, mainly French people, are leased on a 3-year term, all paid up in advance, and cost a fortune. We’re talking several thousand dollars per month. The real expat life, according to which “you can’t find anything decent under 3,000$ a month” [quote from a banker's wife]… AFAIK, there’s only one villa owned by a French company [a bank], and it’s in 성북동.
So the owner *is* Korean, and Korean owners being what they are, you can bet he has the keys and whatnot to the place…
But then again, a little CSI extra for the summer holidays, who can complain?
Dogbert,
What is the Jamshil incident?
Brendon Carr,
What is the Kenzi Snider case?
Baker, I didnt get it, I want to know. It may bring some much needed laughter.
Thanks.
I love the smell of ambulance chasers in the morning.
Nevermind about the Kenzi Snider inquiry. I found the answer on the net. Still wondering about the Jamshil incident.
DNA testing will probably be useless. My experience with the Kenzi Snider case makes me sanguine about the competence and capabilities of Korea’s forensic units.
They’re not specks of skin or swabs of semen — they’re frozen dead babies. Even if they manage to contaminate the first 100 samples, odds are they’ll get at least one right eventually — they’re definitely not physically limited to just one or two tests.
Pyotr, it ain’t for the money, that’s for sure. Those types of cases are the least remunerative. (But the most interesting.) Luckily life isn’t only about money.
BigJung: “Baker, I didnt get it, I want to know. It may bring some much needed laughter.
Thanks.”
Ditto. Damn i feel dumb.
Yer not dumb, only willful ignorance is dumb.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death
Everything turns white in the freezer, no?
According to my girlfriend, the news last night was saying that the Filipina maid has left the country.
It could of course just mean she was taking vacation whilst the tennants were away. But you never know!
In the Wikipedia article on fan death, Yonsei University Hospital’s Dr. John Linton is quoted saying there’s little evidence that a fan can cause death. “Little evidence”? Way to hedge for your domestic constituency, Doctor!
There was an arson incident in the Jamsil area of Seoul last week that caused eight deaths.
“Typical of Koreans to start blaming foreigners and tarring them with the same brush”
“I don’t need a patronizing kyopo to interpret for me what I read.”
Oh, the irony!
That’s only ironic in the Alanis-esque sense.
Perhaps if your Korean were up to snuff, you’d be more clued in to the world around you.
By the way, does anyone know why in the Korean-language media, it is typical for individuals whose names come up in connection with criminal acts to be identified only by a single letter, yet in English-language Korean media, the same person’s full name can be published?
Well, Dogbertt, I’m not sure if it’s the entire English-language Korean media, but the paper to which you are referring—and I didn’t link to it for a reason—has done it before. So have I for that matter, but that was before I learned my lesson, a lesson said paper apparently hasn’t learned yet. Frankly, I’m not sure if the problem is with the Koreans who work there or with the fresh-off-the-boat foreign staff who might not yet be familiar with Korea’s journalistic practices in regards to printing names in connection to criminal acts. Of course, perhaps they had a reason for running the name this time (I don’t work there, so I don’t know what they’re editorial policy is), but nonetheless, I was rather surprised to see the name in print, especially in the paper in question.
Robert, in this instance, as you know, the Korean- and English-language articles both carry the same byline. However, I assume that the English-language article is a translation of the previous day’s Korean-language article, rather than an article written anew in English by the reporter himself. In your experience, how much input does the reporter have in the translation of his/her article into English?
Korea has some pretty strong libel laws, and “fact” does little to defend you from someone who thinks you have dishonored his name. Hal Piper wrote a very good article about this issue back when he was the editor at the Joongang Daily:
http://article.joins.com/artic.....id=1908877
Well, Brendon, maybe your firm should get in touch with that Frenchman. He may have a case.
“The paper to which you are referring—and I didn’t link to it for a reason—has done it before. So have I for that matter, but that was before I learned my lesson, a lesson said paper apparently hasn’t learned yet.”
I don’t know how important this is, but in the previous case to which I think you’re referring, the person named was, as I remember, actually under suspicion of having committed a crime. In this case, the Frenchmen was merely reported as having made a (grisly) discovery in his home. He’s not, as yet, been accused of anything.
This just in.
All foreigners wishing to renew their work visas must first take their freezer to the Alien Refrigeration Registration Center for the requisite Certificate of Corpselessness (W60,000).
“That’s only ironic in the Alanis-esque sense.”
You honestly don’t see the irony in your getting offended by the reactionary writings of Netizens, and then immediately — and once again — showing your prejudice towards Gyopos.
Same reliable Netizens; same reliable dobert.
“Perhaps if your Korean were up to snuff, you’d be more clued in to the world around you.”
If you believe Netizens represent the real world, you have more problems than I thought.
Do we not share this Earth with Netizens? Are they not a part of our world? Are they not you and I, writ small? Who are we to know who they are — some may be students, others may be CEOs. That’s the beauty of the World Wide Web.
As for kyopos, I merely tire of their common inference that anything and everything Korea-related must be filtered through them for true understanding by whitey.
——————————————————
Brendon Carr: My experience with the Kenzi Snider case makes me sanguine about the competence and capabilities of Korea’s forensic units.
——————————————————
Were you involved in that case?
Yes — I was the Real Killer™.
Montclaire: Thanks for the chuckle.
Origami: Unless there is another Brendon Carr who is a lawyer and lives in South Korea, Brendon was/is Kenzi Snider’s lawyer.
http://www.estripes.com/articl.....chive=true
Brendon: Hope you don’t think i’m a stalker.
“As for kyopos, I merely tire of their common inference that anything and everything Korea-related must be filtered through them for true understanding by whitey.”
I guess there wouldn’t be anyone who would try to “filter” anything for anybody (not that, that’s what I tried to do) if they knew how to read in any language, including English. Again, read all the 172 comments in there. Although there are predictable racist comments here and there, the main theme is far from being about dirty foreigners.
One of her lawyers. I did maybe 15-20% of the relevant work.
Even Korean criminal suspects get the honorific 씨 as in “김모씨” while foreigners’ names, be they criminal suspects, witnesses, interviewees, or whoever, do not. Even kids get titles like 군 and 양. In the Korean media, a foreigner is lower than a kid or a criminal suspect. The Japanese media uses “san” with any adult person’s name, regardless of nationality.
I correct myself. I see from Korean language reports on this crime that 씨 is being used with the names of foreigners involved.
“All foreigners wishing to renew their work visas must first take their freezer to the Alien Refrigeration Registration Center for the requisite Certificate of Corpselessness (W60,000).”
LOL. What if you don’t own a freezer?
Thanks for damning me to hell for laughing way too hard at your comment, Baker.
Then you need to submit an Application for Exemption from Certificate of Corpselessness (W65 000). But then they get really suspicious.
Why do you say that the racist comments are predictable?
Why? Because that’s the way it is in any poorly moderated/unmoderated internet talk show.
No kidding. If you want to see some real racism, look on the Yahoo news comment boards anytime a news article mentions Korea, China, Japan, Iraq, Iran, France, Canada, California, Texas… Well, you get the picture.
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