Hello, hello everyone.
The case I told you today happened in South Korea in 1997, and it was a "undifferentiated murder case". The so-called indiscriminate killing means that the perpetrator and the victim have no grievances and no grudges, and random killing.
The entire case process was full of twists and turns, lasting for more than 20 years, attracting widespread attention from Korean society. The reason is that two suspects involved appeared at the scene of the murder at the same time, but they identified each other as the murderer. It was not until 2017 that the South Korean Supreme Court made a final trial on the case, which was the famous "Itaewon murder incident" in South Korea.
There is a famous business district in Yongsan District, Seoul, South Korea called Itaewon , which is close to the Yongsan base of the US military stationed in South Korea. Since the 1950s, many US military has liked to visit here. As time goes by, more and more foreigners like to come to Itaewon for entertainment. Today, Itaewon has become the most tourist attraction in Seoul. It has food, drink and play here, and is a very popular business district. The story we are going to tell today takes place here.
Thursday, April 3, 1997. That night, 22-year-old male college student Zhao Chongbi and his girlfriend came to shopping near Itaewon. At this time, Zhao Chongbi suddenly wanted to go to the bathroom. He looked around and saw a Burger King restaurant at the intersection, so he said to his girlfriend, "You are waiting outside, I will come out after I go to the bathroom." So he entered the Burger King restaurant with his only son.
At this time, about 20 young men and women were having a party in this Burger King restaurant. Most of these people were families of US troops stationed in South Korea, and looked like a group of social bad guys, some of whom were also infected with drugs. They were having a lot of fun in the restaurant at this time. One of them is named Arthur Patterson, 17 years old, with a mixed American and Korean race. At this time, he was holding his toy and a folding saber in his hand. The people present were impressed by the folding saber and discussed it. Another person in the crowd was named Edward Lee, a Korean-American, the son of the US military stationed in South Korea. Halfway through the party, Patterson and Edward Lee suddenly got up and went to the toilet together. At this time, the 22-year-old male college student Zhao Chongbi first entered the toilet. It can be said that Zhao Chongbi just entered, and the two of them came in. Zhao Chongbi and they didn't know each other, and they had no grudges or grudges. However, after entering the toilet for some reason, these two people stabbed Zhao Chongbi who was using the toilet from behind. The defenseless Zhao Chongbi fell into a pool of blood in a few seconds. After the murder, the two people were covered in blood. They knew that they had caused a disaster, so they quickly fled. According to the staff of a restaurant at the first scene to discover the crime, the moment he opened the toilet door, the smell of blood came to his face. Then he saw the man lying in a pool of blood. The scene was very scary and scared that he ran out and called the police.
The police who received the call to report the case quickly arrived at the scene. However, Zhao Chongbi had died of excessive blood loss at this time, and the scene of the crime was also damaged due to the in and out of many clerks. Therefore, the South Korean police did not extract too much valuable physical evidence after investigating the scene. They only knew that two people were suspected of committing the crime, but they had already escaped.
Because my girlfriend was at the scene, she was so scared that she couldn't say a word, so the identity of the deceased was confirmed as soon as possible.
After a forensic autopsy, Zhao Chongbi was hit 9 times in total. Among them, there were 3 cuts on the right neck, 4 cuts on the left neck, and 2 cuts on the chest. The fatal injury was a knife on the left neck. The wound was very deep and the murderer was very strong. This knife caused the rupture of the major artery in the neck and death from excessive blood loss. From the real photos of the scene, it can be seen that the deceased had a very large amount of bleeding, and the murderer was very cruel and stabbed 9 times, as if he had some deep hatred and insisted on putting the other party to death.
The day after the incident, South Korean police received an anonymous report, saying that Patterson was the murderer of the Itaewon murder case last night, so Patterson was quickly arrested by the police.After some investigation, friends around Patterson described him as often showing violent and aggressive tendencies, being impulsive, and enjoying carrying weapons. Police searched his home, and found the saber that committed the crime and the clothes he wore that night that had not been destroyed. Patterson admitted that the saber was his and was in the toilet that night, but he did not admit to killing.
On April 6, South Korean newspaper media reported on the murder case in Itaewon. Edward Lee's father is a US military stationed in South Korea. He happened to be in the United States these days. After seeing the news on TV, he immediately returned to South Korea. He knew that his son was also in the toilet that night and would definitely not escape the relationship, so he asked his son Edward Lee to surrender at the police station. Edward obeyed his father's words and went to the South Korean police station to surrender. So far, South Korean police have arrested all two suspects who were on the scene that night.
But this is just the beginning of a stupid and incompetent performance by the Korean police. Although these two suspects live in South Korea, they are both American and are not very good at Korean. Edward, especially, applied for an interpreter for this. But for some reason, the arrogant South Korean police rejected his request, so their communication was not very smooth, but this was not a big problem. Soon, the South Korean police encountered the most headache for them. Two suspects, Patterson and Edward, made completely opposite confessions, and they respectively identified the other party as the real murderer. We know that there is no camera in the toilet. The murderer's choice to commit a crime in the toilet reflects his cunning side. What's even more cunning is that he pulled another person into the toilet. Who committed the crime? I just can't explain it clearly.
According to Edward *Lee's confession, Patterson told me at that time, "Go to the toilet with me." Edward thought that he had just finished eating, so he would go to the toilet with him once, and it would be better to wash his hands. After entering the toilet, Edward washed his hands at the sink. At this time, someone was using the toilet in front of the toilet on the right. Then he saw Patterson suddenly taking out a knife and stabbing the man from behind. Edward was frightened after seeing this scene.
According to Patterson's confession, he pointed out that Edward was the real murderer. Patterson said that day Edward said to himself, "Come with me and show you something." At that time, he thought Edward asked him to take drugs, so he followed him. After entering the toilet, I found someone inside was using the toilet, so I wanted to wait and suck it after he went out. Unexpectedly, Edward suddenly came over and snatched his knife, and then stabbed the man 9 times in a row. The man fell down without any resistance. The whole process lasted for less than 10 seconds. Seeing such a scene, I was very scared and ran away.
When the two of them made confessions to the police, Edward insisted that he was just going to wash his hands and did not expect so many things would happen. The police then asked him some details, such as "In which direction did Patterson stab? How many stabs did he stab?" Edward replied that he was really frightened at the time and had no idea of the details at all. When Patterson gave his confession, he was able to describe the scene at that time in detail and clearly describe the entire process of the crime.
After a series of investigations, South Korean police believe that Patterson's crime is more suspicious. It is mainly based on the following reasons:
1: The saber belongs to Patterson.
2: Patterson attempts to destroy evidence.
3: Patterson's whole body was covered with blood from the victim. (Because the victim's neck artery was punctured, blood pressure would cause a large amount of blood to splatter the murderer. Although Edward was also sprayed with blood, the amount of blood was much less than that of Patterson. This can be inferred that Patterson is closer to the deceased.)
4: There is a gangster tattoo on his thorn. (Norte 14 pattern tattoo, this is the symbol of a generation of gangsters in California, USA)
Therefore, South Korean police believe that Patterson is more like the murderer. But South Korean police handed over the investigation results to the South Korean procuratorate when they were preparing to prosecute Patterson. However, the South Korean procuratorate did not agree with the police's inference. Instead, they believed that Edward was the murderer. The procuratorate believed that the reason was:
1: The result of the lie detection Patterson was the truth, and Edward was lying.(The results of lie detectors can only be used as reference, not as evidence, and liar detectors can deceive the lie detector through training. However, the prosecutor accepted the results of lie detectors.)
2: The height of the murderer. (Through the autopsy report, the wound on the victim's neck was inserted diagonally from the rear, so it was judged that the murderer was a taller and stronger person than the victim. Zhao Chongbi was 176 cm tall, Patterson was 173 cm tall, 75 kg, and Edward was 180 cm tall, 105 kg.)
Therefore, the prosecutor firmly believed that Edward was the real murderer. So in May, South Korean prosecutors formally prosecuted Edward for murder.
The first instance sentenced Edward Lee to be guilty, but he refused to plead guilty and appealed. In January of the following year, the Seoul Court in South Korea made a second-instance verdict, and still found Edward Lee guilty of murder and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Patterson was sentenced to one year and six months in prison for hiding and destroying evidence.
However, no one expected what happened later. On August 15, this day was South Korea's Liberation Festival (Luote Festival is a festival set to commemorate South Korea's independence from Japan's colonial rule in 1945). During this year's Liberation Festival, South Korea pardoned a group of prisoners, and Patterson was listed. Patterson, who was sentenced to one year and six months in prison, was pardoned after only serving a few months in prison.
After Patterson was pardoned, South Korean public opinion suddenly exploded. Although the court ruled that Edward was the murderer, the evidence given was still very far-fetched and unconvincing. At the same time, Edward still insisted on appealing, insisting that Patterson was the murderer. Therefore, Patterson, who was pardoned, is also likely to be the murderer, so how could he let him go easily?
Under pressure from public opinion, South Korean prosecutors applied for an application to temporarily restrict Patterson's exit, and when the time is ripe in the future, he was prosecuted for murder again. At that time, the exit restriction order was valid for 3 months, which means that it would be reapplied every 3 months. However, for some reason, on August 23, 1998, the prosecutor forgot to apply for a restriction order. The latest restriction order expires on August 23. Since I forgot to apply, the next restriction order will take effect on August 25. Therefore, there is an additional 2 days of spare time in the middle. Patterson also seemed to have predicted the future and successfully left the country and returned to the United States during these two days.
is even more surprising. The month after Patterson fled back to the United States, that is, Edward, who was convicted of homicide in South Korea in September 1999, was finally acquitted in the final judgment of the South Korean court for insufficient evidence. At this time, it was only more than two years since the case occurred. The two former suspects, one fled back to the United States and the other was acquitted.
Due to the dereliction of duty and incompetence of the South Korean police and prosecutors, it brought great pain to the family of the victim Zhao Chongbi. The entire Korean society was very angry, but there was nothing we could do.
September 10, 2009, 12 years have passed since the case. On this day, a movie "Itaewon Murder" was released, based on the case.
After the movie was released, it once again triggered public opinion in South Korea. More and more people know that such a thing happened 12 years ago, and everyone accused the South Korean police and prosecutors of their incompetence and irresponsibility. Under public pressure, South Korean police filed a request to the US authorities for extradition to Patterson (South Korea's criminal case prosecution period is 15 years).
God has eyes. In June 2011, Patterson was arrested by the police for committing crimes in the United States. At this time, there were only 6 months left before the 15-year prosecution period. However, a key witness appeared at this time, who was a mutual friend of Edward and Patterson. He said that in 2007, he met Patterson at a bar in Los Angeles. At that time, Patterson told me that he killed Zhao Chongbi himself, and the South Korean police could not do anything to me.
So in December 2011, the US Los Angeles court believed that Patterson's murder had sufficient evidence and decided to extradite him back to South Korea for trial. At this time, the calculation of the 15-year prosecution period according to South Korean law could have been stopped until he successfully returned to China.At the same time, Patterson also actively appealed in the United States, repeatedly claiming that he did not kill anyone.
On September 23, 2015, Patterson was finally extradited back to South Korea. Facing the media that had been waiting at the airport, Patterson still insisted that he was not the murderer and that Edward was the real murderer.
On January 25, 2017, the South Korean court held a public trial of the suspect Patterson and made a verdict. Since the suspect was under 18 years old when he committed the crime, the court finally sentenced him to 20 years in prison. This is the maximum sentence for minors to commit crimes in South Korean law.
By March 2017, the family of the victim held the prosecutor's dereliction of duty and demanded state compensation. In the end, he received compensation of 360 million won.
Zhao Chongbi's family
And another suspect at that time, Edward Lee, still lives in South Korea and has formed his own family.
The whole thing has been through more than 20 years and has achieved results. The story is basically over here. Although Patterson was sent to prison, he has refused to plead guilty so far. Edward was acquitted due to the final trial, and the South Korean police will not and cannot restart the investigation.
So the problem is coming! What if Edward Lee is the murderer!
