Family found dead in apparent murder-suicide

Four members of a family were found dead at a child care center that the deceased wife had run on Jejudo Island in an apparent murder-suicide by the husband, police said Monday.

A teacher working at the facility found the 52-year-old husband surnamed Ko dead on a staircase, apparently from a fall. Police who responded to calls later discovered the bodies of the 40-year-old wife surnamed Yang and two of Yang’s teenage children in their beds, Jeju police said. The wife and the children had been stabbed.

“There were no signs of intrusion. Yang and the children also showed no signs of resistance or having taken sleeping pills,” the authorities said.

Ko left a suicide note, saying good-bye, but his wife and children were not mentioned, they said.

While running a day care center on the first floor, the family lived in the upper floors.

Ko and Yang were married four years ago and raised Yang’s children from a previous marriage together. The two had domestic trouble in recent times, according to neighbors’ testimonies, the police said.

While the initial assessment by investigators fingered Ko as the suspect, further investigations are underway, they said.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)