‘Brave Detectives 4’ depicts an investigative story of tenacity that did not give up and uncovered the culprit until the end.

On the 16th episode of ‘Brave Detectives 4’ (directed by Lee Ji-sun) aired on Tcast E Channel on the 27th, Dongdaemun Police Station‘s voice phishing investigation team’s Superintendent Lee Jong-gil, the Scientific Investigation Unit (KCSI)‘s former Superintendent Yoon Oe-chul, and Superintendent Kim Jin-soo appeared and revealed their investigation log. Continuing from the last broadcast, ‘Global MZ’ icon singer Choi Ye-na appeared as a guest and was active.

The first incident started when the older sister reported that her younger sister had not come home after talking on the phone with someone in the middle of the night. Ten days ago in the morning, the younger sister got angry and asked when she was going to pay the other person back, and then suddenly asked to eat before leaving. After checking the communication log, it was found that the call came from a public phone that had no CCTV. I met the boyfriend of the missing person who was the only person I spoke to before receiving the call, but there was nothing unusual.

The most suspicious thing was that the missing person’s communication records showed several calls to adult chat rooms. When I checked the resident registration number that had been verified as an adult, I found out that it was a man in his 30s living in another region. He said that he had not called the adult chat room, but he said that someone knew his resident registration number, and it was the missing person‘s boyfriend, Mr. Kang (pseudonym). According to the man, he met Mr. Kang while gambling, and he told him that he had borrowed money from his girlfriend and that she would lend him money for gambling, so he gave him his resident registration number.

Mr. Kang’s lies, which denied all the facts, were discovered. He said that his outgoing calls had been suspended due to unpaid bills, but he had called his girlfriend. When the detective mentioned the name of the mountain where his girlfriend was presumed to have been buried along with Mr. Kang‘s lies, he confessed. In the process, he also revealed that his friend, Mr. Heo (pseudonym), who was incarcerated in the detention center, had participated. Mr. Kang called the victim out, assaulted her, and then headed to a valley in the mountain. He committed a shocking crime by burying the victim alive and placing rocks on top of her. Kang, who was into gambling, borrowed about 15 million won from his girlfriend, and he killed her because she was demanding money. He also stole bankbooks and cash from an empty house in an attempt to pretend to run away. Kang was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and his accomplice Heo was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Then, the scientific investigation team’s case was introduced. It started with a security guard reporting that a woman had been found dead in an apartment flower bed. The body was shocking. Her arms and legs were stretched out, and she was half naked. A bloody tree branch was found right next to the body, which also damaged part of the body, causing significant bleeding. The incident occurred at the entrance of the apartment and led to the flower bed. It was a large complex with 1,500 households, but there were no witnesses. It seemed that the crime was committed while the victim was unconscious.

The cause of death was airway obstruction due to excessive bleeding from a fractured nose. The face was covered in blood, and judging by the condition, it was a brutal crime in which the face was trampled and the entire body was assaulted. The criminal‘s semen was found on the victim’s body, but DNA comparison was not possible because the database of criminals had not been established yet. The criminal also stole the victim‘s wallet. The victim was revealed to be a woman living in a house near the apartment. The investigation team brought in suspects among the familiar criminals, but there was no DNA matching the semen. Accordingly, perverts and people with similar criminal records in the vicinity were brought in as suspects, but this also yielded no results.

The investigation team focused on investigating the crime scene and recovered the victim’s wallet. Since the area where the wallet was found was not the area where the investigation was focused, the scope of the investigation was changed. In addition, since the semen left on the victim‘s body allowed for age and blood type estimation, the investigation target was narrowed down and DNA was collected based on this, and a match was found. It was a 26-year-old man living in the area.

He said that he had been drinking and followed the victim getting out of the taxi to steal money. The perpetrator, who was surprised when the victim passed out after the assault and went to the public restroom, said that he remembered that he had failed to steal the wallet, so he went back and saw the victim lying on the floor, and he became sexually aroused, causing anger. In the meantime, he stepped on the victim’s face and body, which eventually killed her. He especially shocked everyone by saying that he damaged the body with a tree branch because he was afraid that his semen might still be there. Although he claimed that he was mentally impaired due to alcohol, the court found that it was possible to judge that he had returned to the scene to steal the wallet, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, ‘Brave Detectives 4’ airs every Friday at 9:50 p.m. and is also available on major OTTs such as Netflix, Tving, and Wave. You can also check out vivid news and videos about the program on E Channel‘s official YouTube and Instagram.

Reporter Choi Yoon-na, Donga.com yyynnn@donga.com