[Newsmaker] Suspect of murdering 3 women unmasked

A man who allegedly intruded into a home and killed three women after stalking one of them was unmasked in front of the press Friday morning, following a rare police decision to disclose his personal details.

The Nowon police station in northeastern Seoul sent Kim Tae-hyeon, 24, to the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office on charges of murder, theft, housebreaking, consistent harassment and violation of information and communication network laws.

Kim said he felt “guilty for being alive” as he left the detention cell in Dobong police station.

When asked by the press to remove his mask, Kim briefly unmasked himself.

Police found the three victims dead and Kim with self-inflicted wounds at an apartment in Nowon-gu on March 25 after receiving reports that the victims could not be reached.

Police had him treated at a hospital, and later detained him on April 4 following two days of investigation.

Kim allegedly stole a weapon at a supermarket, intruded into the home of a woman he had been stalking by lying that he was a courier and stabbed two sisters and their mother to death.

Police found him lying down with a knife stuck in his neck next to the dead woman he had been harassing.

Police found that Kim unlocked the victim’s phone, deleted himself from her social media and blocked certain people from her messenger app.

A public defender was appointed to assist Kim ahead of the court review of the warrant to detain him further Sunday, but he said he did not wish to be accompanied by the lawyer.

Kim did not try much to defend himself, and his public defender met him for the first time Tuesday, according to the police.

Kim virtually met his victim via an online game, and had stalked her since January after she refused to meet him in person.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency decided to disclose Kim’s personal details in a meeting of a relevant committee consisting of three members of the police and four others on Monday.

Kim was detained at the Seoul Dongbu Detention Center on Friday.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)