Prosecutor General Lee One-seok on Thursday ordered the formation of a special investigation team to get to the bottom of the high-profile abduction and murder of a woman in southern Seoul.
Police have been investigating the murder of a 48-year-old woman in Gangnam Ward on March 29. She was kidnapped in front of an apartment building in Gangnam and killed, and her body was buried on a hill in Daejeon, about 140 kilometers south of the capital.
The prosecution usually gets involved in cases after the police refer suspects for indictment. Lee's decision to launch an investigation team at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office ahead of such a referral shows how seriously the law enforcement authorities view the case.
Police have so far detained four suspects, including a man surnamed Yoo, who is deemed the mastermind. The other three, surnamed Hwang, Yeon and Lee, were acquainted through their delivery jobs.
Hwang is suspected of talking Lee into the crime by offering to buy him a car, according to the investigators.
Lee was allegedly tasked with tracking and digging into the victim's whereabouts. He reportedly left the group in mid-March, investigators said.
Police suspect the motive behind the crime was to steal the victim's cryptocurrency assets.
On Thursday, the prosecution chief instructed his organization to "cooperate closely with the police to get to the bottom of the case and help relieve the public's anxiety."
Source: Yonhap News Agency