The police on Monday brought in four profilers to investigate the case of a girl who was brutally murdered by her mother and brother who claim the victim was possessed with the spirit of their “demonic” dog.
The mother, 54, and brother, 26, allegedly murdered the 25-year-old victim on Aug. 19, at their residence in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.
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(Yonhap) |
According to the police findings, the three family members had been fasting together for five days since Aug. 15 for a so-far unexplained reason.
The accused told the police that on the night the daughter died, the three of them had been talking when their poodle starting barking violently which led them to believe that the animal was possessed with a diabolical spirit.
The mother and the son reportedly killed the dog first and attacked the victim thinking that the demon had shifted to her.
Immediately after committing the alleged crime, the brother called the father and told him what happened.
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(Yonhap) |
The father, who was away, asked a friend to check on his family who found the decapitated victim and reported it to the police.
As the given testimonies are difficult to accept commonsensically, the Gyeonggi Siheung Police are incorporating profilers to map out the psyche and the possible motives of the accused.
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(Yonhap) |
The investigation so far has revealed that the accused mother had suffered a “spiritual illness” of hearing and seeing things, which is considered among some older generation Koreans as signs of a shamanic calling.
According to the superstition, the illness comes from the attempted occupation of the body by a powerful spirit.
The ill must accept the god and become a shaman or face horrible consequences for refusing the supernatural, some believers say.
The filicidal mother had a shaman grandparent, and suffered this kind of illness in her maiden days.
By Lim Jeong-yeo (
kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)
