Recently, Korean media revealed a bizarre and chilling murder and corpse concealment case. The suspect killed his live-in girlfriend, then placed her body in his rented apartment, spraying preservative, turning on the air conditioner, and ventilating every day—essentially turning the corpse into a mummy.
He lived with the mummified corpse in the same room—eating, watching TV, taking selfies, even starting new online relationships, seemingly unbothered—and this went on for 1,277 days.
Even more outrageous, he got married and had a child a year after the incident, yet he still regularly returned to the rental apartment to “manage” the corpse. The horrifying secret spanning over a thousand days was only fully exposed when he went to prison for fraud and the landlord came to reclaim the apartment.
After reading the whole case, Korean netizens exploded: they said this person's mindset was completely incomprehensible, and his cold-blooded ruthlessness sent chills down their spines…
On July 10, 2024, in Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea, a landlord was on their way to reclaim an apartment from a tenant. The tenant, Mr. Kim, had lived there for six years and they had always gotten along, but Mr. Kim had suddenly gone missing for over ten days and owed a month’s rent. The landlord, worried that something might have happened, forcibly opened the door—only to be stunned by the scene inside.
The 13-square-meter room was crammed with clutter and garbage, the air conditioner and fan set to low temperature giving a chilly feeling, and the air reeked of strong bleach.
After moving some trash into the hallway, the landlord suddenly discovered a human-shaped object in a spread-eagle position in a corner. On closer inspection, it was revealed to be a mummified female body.
The landlord called the police. After investigating the scene, police determined the victim had died from asphyxiation due to neck compression—an obvious homicide, with time of death more than three years earlier.
The corpse’s skin was intact, with a flower tattoo still visible on her chest. Because the room’s temperature had been kept low and the air conditioner continuously dehumidified, there was no decay, and instead the body became dehydrated and mummified.
The tenant, Mr. Kim, had previously been jailed for loan fraud. After being imprisoned, he kept silent about the hidden corpse, thinking he could get away with it, but did not expect the landlord's sudden visit to expose everything.
Mr. Kim was sentenced to 27 years in prison in the first trial. Dissatisfied with the verdict, he appealed, and the second trial is set for April of this year.