What was true about Yoo Young-Chul and what was urban myth? How badly did the authorities mess this up? Have things changed? We analyze what the psych and criminology experts have written about this case.
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NOTES
Analysis, Urban Legends, and Folklore
- Tracking down the ghosts
- Most of the places where the murders happened have been demolished
- Became abandoned and overgrown
- Sold, demolished. Most turned into multipurpose buildings or businesses
- Yoo’s officetel
- Immediately tenants moved out
- Complaints of it being haunted
- The building owner brought in mudang to hold rites
- Most of the places where the murders happened have been demolished
- Media
- The Chaser (film)
- Murder Addiction (book, 2005) – contains his biography
- What was the motive?
- Combination of hatred of the rich and women combined with fear of disease and death
- He likes to claim it was “social justice,” but he only targeted the old, weak, and vulnerable
- Second brother committed suicide (1994) at 32
- Made him hate the world and want to kill someone out of a vague sense of revenge <–Sweeney Todd moment
- Wife left him while he was in prison and took his son
- She was a “business trip masseuse”
- The woman he was in a relationship with after prison (Kim) was also a business trip masseuse
- Proposed after three months, and she rejected him because he was divorced and an ex-convict
- Hatred grew, and he wanted to kill her, but doing so would make him the prime suspect
- Used the other women as surrogates for her
- Combination of hatred of the rich and women combined with fear of disease and death
- The targets
- In most murder cases, the perpetrators know the victims
- Serial killers tend not to have relationships with their victims
- Preferred women and the elderly because easier prey
- Especially women in the sex industry because less likely to be reported missing
- The locations and times
- Serial killers tend to plan their murders in order to not be caught, as opposed to crimes of passion
- Chose detached western style houses
- Tended to house wealthy people
- The walls prevented witnesses
- Times
- Elderly: when there were no commuting or meals
- Women: late night (11 p.m. to 5 a.m.)
- His officetel
- Not much foot traffic in his area
- Didn’t know anyone there, not recognized
- Chose the officetel because he could easily move out
- Periods between murders
- The longest period between crimes was three months–the period between the eldery crimes and the crimes against women
- The police were getting closer to finding him, so he stabilized and worked on his next plans
- The period between female killings was shorter and shorter
- Started to become routine
- Weapons
- The hammer with the short plastic handle
- Concealable yet effective
- Investigations of his house found that he and thoroughly planned his methods
- When he took taxis at dawn, he posed as a trader
- The suede gloves were used at first to hide fingerprints. The work gloves were for grip.
- The jack knife was used to intimidate and incapacitate the victims while the hammer was used as the main killing weapon
- He figured this out while killing dogs on a mountain near his mother’s home
- Kinda like stunning animals in a slaughterhouse
- The hammer with the short plastic handle
- Hiding the evidence
- Tried to make some look like robberies to throw off the scent
- Fires
- Removed the vendor’s wrists and handcuffs and threw into the breakwaters
- Cut off women’s fingertips and flushed down the toilet
- Body parts were disposed of at a construction site and on a mountainside in the hopes of being lost forever
- Forced one woman to make a phone call, saying she was quitting, so that her employer wouldn’t consider her missing
Urban legends (surrounding Yoo and generally)
- Yoo transported body parts via subway
- Yoo killed because of violent films
- A killer lurks in Seoul underpasses
- Kidnappers lure young people to murder, remove organs for black market
Seven stages of serial murder
- Aura Phase (Psychological Preparation)
- Distances from social relations and drifts away from reality
- Fantastic thoughts gain more weight
- Trolling Phase
- Kind of like the planning phase: who and how
- Obsessive, paranoid, zealous behaviors with increased concentration and tension
- Fantasies and perverted desires that had been overlooked get mixed in
- Positions to catch the victim or actively hunts
- Flirting Phase
- Gaining trust/cooperation of victim
- Capturing Phase
- Reveals true intentions
- Can be done in a way for the killer’s maximum enjoyment
- Murdering Phase
- Ritualistic
- Totem Phase
- Huge decline/sobering
- The ups and downs are the key reason for developing the killing ritual
- Keeps souvenirs from the victim to remember the murder part and cushion against the declining part
- Depression Phase
- Starts deciding on next murder because of psychological collapse
- Returns to the fantasy world and begins the cycle again
- This is how this becomes an addiction
- Notes on that
- Killers get more violent and more methodical in each cycle, making improvements on their rituals
- Elderly – Exhibited some (trolling, murdering ritual, depression) but not others (flirting, totem)
- Mr. Ahn didn’t fit well because it wasn’t planned
- More exhibited when he got to the women
- Flirting – Lured the victim rather than passively wait and used deception to make them cooperative
- Thought: Using authoritarianism as a form of connection? Korea, as a confucian society with still a hangover from authoritarianism, does tend to accede to appeals to authority
- Whoever is older/high ranked is always more right
- Confucian tradition is that those in authority are obligated to take care of those under them, thus a relationship/connection
- Thought: Using authoritarianism as a form of connection? Korea, as a confucian society with still a hangover from authoritarianism, does tend to accede to appeals to authority
- Didn’t like the capture phase and made it quick
- Took no pleasure in horror and astonishment
- No craving for sympathy or mercy
- Killed instantly
- Totem
- Relished in cutting corpses into pieces and secretly knowing when they were buried
- Kept souvenirs, including an anklet, the phone, and the Avatar watch
- Depression
- Repeated after cooling down period
- Gradually becoming shorter, indicating he was getting more proficient
- Flirting – Lured the victim rather than passively wait and used deception to make them cooperative
- Serial killer classifications
- Delusional – hearing voices, hallucinations
- Missionary – on a moral mission to punish immoral people
- Pleasure – enjoys the act of murder itself (sexual, thrill, comfort)
- Result of killing isn’t as important as the process
- Bodies usually dismembered
- Power – can control life and death to achieve superiority
- Sexual sadism and fantasy
- Don’t accept existing social values
- Extreme means of murder to destroy the existing system and order
- Body dismemberment
- Yoo Young-chul is regarded as a mixed type
- mission
- wealthy are a negative group in society
- business trip masseuses are “rotten blood” of society
- Sending a warning message
- Group type targeted for execution, like having a sense of duty
- pleasure
- thoroughly prepared
- tried to erase evidence
- meticulous handling of the body
- closely watching media reports after the crime
- power
- Targeted women and elderly
- excessive brutality
- later bragging about the number of victims and trying to create a mythology around him
- mission
- What a forensic Sherlock Holmes would do
- Profiling techniques are helpful in narrowing the pool of suspects
- Man – strong enough to use the hammer with such force
- Places on the skull that were struck – right handed
- Victims were mostly wealthy
- Did not steal any valuables
- Guess: perpetrator had a low standard of living and resented the wealthy or the elderly – or society in general
- Times of murder (10 a.m. – 12 p.m.)
- Unemployed or has a night job
- Lack of evidence or signs that evidence has been meticulously cleaned up
- This is habitual. They’ve committed crimes, such as trespassing, in the past
- Can figure out height through footprints
- Regarding the crimes against women
- More difficult because of the secretiveness of their profession
- Crime scene was moved into Yoo’s home, so the police basically didn’t have a murder scene to explore
- IF the buried body parts were found by accident
- Suggested a geographical profile
- They were disposed of fairly close to each other
- Must have intimate knowledge of the area
- Can guess that the perpetrator was based within a 5 km radius
- Again, could assume a young man
- The brutality and strength of the hammer blows
- No tools found near the site
- Planned in advanced and executed leisurely
- Likely has read books, watched movies, (or listened to podcasts) and has had previous convictions/experience
- Likely doesn’t have a regular job because he’d have to be up all night
- Bodies cut up and washed
- Likely done at home and lives alone
- Not detached house because there would have been a shared gate, and residents would more likely know each other
- So a studio or officetel
- Suggested a geographical profile
- SUM UP: A young man who lives nearby with no regular job and lives alone in an officetel/studio. Based on the skull damage, has an extremely violent personality and likely a violent criminal record. Also supported by the planning of the killings.
- Problems with Police Investigation
- Investigations usually focus on theft at the scene, brutality, crime due to theft or out of anger/personal reasons
- Yoo Young-chul confused police
- Grudge murder
- Gangster related accident
- With women, he was committing crimes against those with no money
- Couldn’t find a connection because it wasn’t in their comfort zone
- Traditional methods didn’t work
- Even though the method of the crimes were the same they were in different areas and were not connected
- Gave the criminal time to strike again
- Even though the method of the crimes were the same they were in different areas and were not connected
- Police jurisdictions were treated as fiefdoms
- No communication between districts, so treated as separate cases
- We still see this a lot in the government, recently with COVID-19 rules, that entities don’t communicate with each other. They huddle.
- Too slow in taking action to coordinate
- When the two crime scenes showed the same footprints, the Seodaemun and Gangnam police met to talk about it but didn’t conclude anything
- A month later was the Hyehwa-dong murder
- Only then did they start thinking they were connected and started cooperating
- And only when the actual Seoul Metro Police (and Seoul Provincial Police) coordinated it
- First meeting had 20 members, including the chiefs of investigation in all the relevant stations
- Held once a week at alternating stations
- Each station shared what evidence they had, opinions, confirmed purchase history of shoes and other traces
- Started going through files of people with violent criminal history and mental illness
- Only then did they start thinking they were connected and started cooperating
- This tendency to be slow to start but fast to do
- By then, eight people had already been murdered
- No communication between districts, so treated as separate cases
- “Linkage Blindness”
- Did not make a link with all the disappearing escort service workers
- Assumed they were just cutting off contact and moving on
- Yoo Young-chul arrested on theft
- Assumed he was just a normal thief based on his record
- HE ACTUALLY CONFESSED IT AND THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE HIM
- Did not make a link with all the disappearing escort service workers
- Criticism that Korean police rely to heavily on confessions and not forensics
- Ended up with little physical evidence for the prosecution
- Biological causes?
- Every single theory that has been proposed since the early 20th century linking criminality to genetics or inheritance has been debunked
- Researchers have found that violent criminals have some differences in brain structure and function, specific neurotransmitter production, or sex hormone secretion
- Most standout biological factor is if the mother smokes, does drugs, drinks, or has excessive stress during pregnancy
- Poor serotonin production
- THE REASON we’re bringing this up is that some Korean “experts” were trying to claim there were hereditary reasons for Yoo’s behavior
- Nurture is stronger than nature
- Psychological factors
- Patterning of aggression
- Intentional action to inflict physical or psychological harm on others
- Aggression is more of a learned behavior
- Serial killing is a pattern by definition
- By observing the environment in which the murder occurred, better understand how the murder became aggressive
- Stimulation of aggression in early stage
- Pattern is formed and eventually no longer needs stimulus (a reason)
- Criminal deviance
- Behavior that violates the norms of society where one does what he wants
- Anomie Theory – deviation as a violation of norms
- Societies have common goals that people find desirable (comfort, respectable career)
- Social goal is clear but means to achieving goal is not provided
- Members break rules to achieve goal
- Differential Association Theory – deviance as social regulation
- learned through contact in close relationships
- Just doing as one wants
- Criminal character of a serial killer
- Extremely deviant personalities
- Overly affectionate or overly neglectful
- When alienated from affection, finds another object to engage in acts of affection
- May even kill the person they love
- Paranoid stalker-like obsession
- obsessed with the body after murder and even the weapon
- They believe their behavior is the social norm
- Eliminates guilt and fear
- No compromise with their moral code
- cold and calculating murders rather than crimes of passion
- unspecified number of people
- Overreact to stimuli from others
- Tend to commit acts of imprisonment/kidnapping, beatings, assaults, and murder
- Social causes
- Suicide (inward) vs. Murder (outward) are both forms of aggression
- In childhood
- Physically punished lean towards murder
- Psychologically punished lean towards suicide
- NOTE: Korea’s high suicide rate
- In childhood
- Power theory – Wealthy classes can express violence more “civilized” and non-aggressive
- Lower classes can’t, so they express violence in other ways
- Suicide (inward) vs. Murder (outward) are both forms of aggression
- Patterning of aggression
