Driver who died in a taxi, who was the last customer to stab him to death with a knife?

■ Broadcasting: FM 94.5 (06:40~06:55, 12:40~12:55, 19:40~19:55)
■ Broadcast Date: November 22, 2024 (Fri)
■ Host: Attorney Lee Won-hwa
■ Dialogue: Han Jin-gu Attorney

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.

◆ Lawyer Lee Won-hwa (hereinafter referred to as Lee Won-hwa): Human senses, this is not an area of science, but there are days when I feel like something bad is going to happen. It was exactly that day for Mr. A. The person A was waiting for was her husband B, who works as a taxi driver. Mr. B used to drive at night and return home around 4-5 a.m. Mr. A began to feel impatient when Mr. B did not return home even after 7 a.m. This is because Mr. B usually suffered from myocardial infarction. Another report call came in just three minutes behind the call of A, who reported missing, saying her husband, a taxi driver, could not be reached. It was a call that someone was found dead in a taxi. That's right. The person in the taxi who was found dead was Mr. A's husband, Mr. B. What on earth happened to Mr. B? Let's take a closer look at this case in today's case X-file. Hello, I'm Lee Won-hwa, the case X file of lawyer Lee Won-hwa. Today, we are also with lawyer Han Jin-gu of Law Firm Roel. Welcome, lawyer.

◇ Lawyer Han Jin-gu (hereinafter referred to as Han Jin-gu): Yes, hello. I'm lawyer Han Jin-gu of Law Firm.

◆ Dualization: Children or members of families with chronic illnesses can't be reached well. If you don't answer the phone, you're bound to get very anxious. That's why A, the victim's family, also reported to the police, right?

◇ Han Jin-gu: Yes, I think I'll be really anxious if that's the case. A, the wife of the victim, also learned that her husband had not yet returned when she woke up in the morning on April 11, 2006. My husband, who usually returned home around 4-5 a.m., did not return even after 7 a.m.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: From the police's point of view, the estimated time of disappearance was about 2 hours, and since he was an adult, I think he could have said, "Why don't we wait a little longer?"

◇ Han Jin-gu: Yes, but at that time, the victim was suffering from myocardial infarction due to a chronic disease. Of course, my wife had no choice but to worry. As a result, A reported to the police because he was worried that something bad might have happened to his husband. However, three minutes later, another report came in, and the situation changed rapidly.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: Was the call related to Mr. A's report? By any chance?

◇ Han Jin-gu: Yes, the report was related to A's report. A taxi driver reported that a strange taxi was stopped on the side road. However, the number of the strange taxi matched the number of the vehicle reported by the victim's wife A just a few minutes ago. The taxi was stopped after hitting a parked large truck. The driver's seat was empty, but a man was found lying face down in the back of a taxi and dead.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: Was the man Mr. A's husband by any chance?

◇ Han Jin-gu: Yes, the man who was found dead after checking was A's husband. The scene of the incident was truly terrible. The taxi wife was bloodied, the victim was lying on her back with her upper body leaning against her, and the beige jumper she was wearing was all bloodied. As many as 28 stabbing or cuts were found on the victim's face and body, and blood stains were found even on the ceiling in the taxi.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: From what you said, I think it's a part of how fierce it was at the time of the incident, but I heard that Mr. A's husband, Mr. B, had a very good physique. What was the autograph?

◇ Han Jin-gu: Yes, the cause of death of the victim was excessive bleeding, with most of the blood lost. Usually, adult men's blood volume is about 5 to 6L, and if they lose about 2L of blood, they will fall into a shock state and if it is higher than that, they will die. Meanwhile, the victim was 181cm tall and weighed 87kg, and had a strong physique. When the victim, a sturdy taxi driver, tried to subdue the criminal, it seems that the criminal attacked more desperately. It is the defensive marks left on the victim's hands and arms that can be confirmed. It could be seen from the penetrating wounds of the left arm and numerous cuts on both hands. Also, we could find evidence that the criminal was embarrassed and wielded a knife wildly. Anyone who has stabbed a person at least once or has attempted to do so will usually attack the chest, and in the case of the victim, he or she suffered a major injury to his face, which allows him to confirm that he or she was embarrassed and wielded the knife wildly. However, there was one thing that was really unfortunate about the incident. The cell phone was found near the victim's hand. The cell phone was also full of blood, but there was no record of making a phone call. It seems that he tried hard to live until the last minute, but eventually failed.

◆ Binaryization: It's really unfortunate. According to the cause of death you mentioned, there is a possibility that he died slowly rather than from a sudden death. It's called excessive bleeding and loss, but I feel sorry about how good it would have been if I could make one last call, whether it was to the police or my wife.

◇ Han Jin-gu: I think it's really unfortunate. The police approached the cause of this incident from many angles. This reasoning was possible by looking at various evidence at the scene of the incident. The criminal rode with a knife as a threat to rob a taxi, and when he reached a quiet place, he pushed the knife and threatened, but when the healthy victim tried to subdue the criminal, the criminal panicked and desperately attacked him. But I have a question. If the purpose was robbery, why did the cash of nearly 200,000 won in the taxi remain the same? Therefore, the police did not rule out the possibility of murder by resentment. It was because the criminal wielded the knife too much and that the victim started a taxi driver after bankruptcy. However, the more we investigated, the harder it was to find anyone who could have a grudge against the victim.

◆ Won-hwa: Then in the end, I think the key is the clue from the scene, but wasn't there a black box in the taxi?

◇ Han Jin-gu: At that time, it was difficult to find such a clue because black boxes and CCTVs were not as common as they are now. But fortunately, there was a taxi driving record. According to the information on the device, it was possible to intensively investigate the criminal's boarding point. According to the victim's taxi operation device, the taxi carrying the criminal traveled 3.438km for 7 minutes from 4:27 a.m. If so, you can see that somewhere that departs from the crime site and runs back for seven minutes to arrive is the place where the criminal got on.

◆ Dualization: So were you able to sort out some notable suspects? Actually, it's 7 minutes away and it's about 3.4km, so it's not that big of a distance. I wonder who got on at the end and what kind of things were revealed.

◇ Hanjin-gu: Immediately after the incident, the police pointed out 16 expected boarding points and secured more than 1,000 call records by investigating base stations in the expected time zone, considering various variables including traffic volume and signal system, but no suspects could be found. In addition, the police investigated more than 4,700 households in the early stages of the incident, but found no specific clues. In addition, considering the victim's wounds, the suspect is likely to have been hurt, so he visited all nearby hospitals and others to investigate, but he also failed.

◆ [Voiceover] It's completely hidden. Then, were there any other clues from the taxi?

◇ Han Jin-gu: Immediately after the incident, an unexpected clue was found while searching the taxi carefully. A late broken blade was found in the back seat where blood had accumulated and hardened. The blade was engraved with Made in China, and there was no knife handle. It meant that the criminal attacked so hard that the handle of the knife was broken. However, this was too common a Chinese fruit, so it didn't help to find clues about the culprit. Also, a faint shoe mark was found in the back of the taxi. It was not the pattern of the shoes the victim was wearing, so it was a shoe mark that was presumed to be the criminal's. However, there were so many shoes using such patterns that it did not help identify the culprit.

◆ Binaryization: The scene was booming with blood. That's what you said. I don't think it would have been that hard to identify the culprit DNA, how about this part?

◇ Han Jin-gu: Yes, that's right. As a result of persistent identification of the bloodstains of the victim's taxi, mixed DNA was found. Two DNAs were detected in the bloodstains. One is the victim's and then you can see that nature is the other is the criminal's. But so far, there has been no match.

◆ Dualization: There were more things than I thought, but I didn't find any useful clues. That's what I think. I don't really understand. How about this part?

◇ Han Jin-gu: On the other hand, it is worth noting that there was a witness who witnessed a strong suspect. He is the owner of a laundry shop located about 5km away from the crime scene. On the day of the incident, around 8 a.m. on April 11, a slender young man wearing a blood-stained T-shirt came and asked if it was possible to wash blood-stained clothes. The owner of the laundry firm refused, and the young man went back, but about an hour later, he came back and asked again. In this regard, experts said that if the crime occurred early Tuesday morning and he visited the laundry at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., he would not be a person with a job to go to work in the morning, and that he/she may be a part-timer or unemployed person.

◆ Won-hwa: But is this a situation where this suspect has not been identified at all until now?

◇ Han Jin-gu: Yes, very unfortunately, we have not been able to specify it until now.

◆ [Dualization] If you look at the location of the crime. There seems to be an analysis that people who know the surrounding environment well.

◇ Han Jin-gu: Yes, the criminal is presumed to be a person who knows well around the scene of the incident. Police explain that the place where the incident occurred is usually deserted and is difficult to visit unless you know the surrounding geography well. Currently, the police's undecided investigation team has not given up and is investigating this case. In particular, in the case of murder crimes such as this case, the statute of limitations has also been abolished, so additional clues can be issued at any time and punishment is possible if the suspect is identified.

◆ Dualization: What charges can be applied if the criminal is caught?

◇ Han Jin-gu: Yes, first of all, we can consider applying murder charges to the criminal who murdered a person. In particular, in this case, if the criminal can be considered to have the intention of robbery from the beginning, robbery and murder can also be applied. If the crime of robbery and murder is applied, they can be sentenced to death or life imprisonment under the criminal law.

◆ [Dualization] Make sure you catch the culprit. I hope the day will come when all the charges and sentences you mentioned can be applied. Case X File Today, we looked at the murder of a taxi driver who died while being stabbed in Songcheon-dong, Daejeon. It's been 18 years since the incident, but it's still an unsolved case that hasn't even been identified as a suspect. There are quite a few cases where the criminal has not been found for a long time, but has caught the criminal even if it is late through DNA. There are especially many clues left in this case. I hope the truth will be revealed if you don't give up until the end, so that the criminal can be brought to justice in the end. That's all we've prepared for today. You all deserve to be defended. Incident X file, thank you everyone.