Six people, including a teen, from a religious organisation in the United States, have been charged with the murder of a South Korean woman.
The woman’s body was found in a car’s boot parked outside Jeju Sauna, a popular South Korean spa in Duluth, which is about 40km north of Atlanta, said the Gwinnett County Police Department in a statement on Thursday.
Her identity has not been revealed yet. But the woman was said to be in her 20s or 30s, according to various US news outlets.
The suspects referred to themselves as belonging to the religious organisation “Soldiers of Christ”, the police added.
They are Eric Hyun, 26, of Suwanee, Georgia, and Gawom Lee, 26, Joonho Lee, 26, Juoonhyum Lee, 22, Hyunji Lee, 25, and a 15-year-old, who are from Lawrenceville, Georgia.
They are facing charges of felony murder, false imprisonment, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of another. Each of them also faces multiple gang-related charges, said the police in an update on Friday.
The woman’s body was burned and wrapped in a blanket, according to arrest warrants, reported NBC News on Saturday.
She weighed about 32kg when she was found by detectives on Tuesday and “apparently subjected to beatings and malnourishment for weeks,” said the police.
“The Medical Examiner’s Office believes malnourishment could be a contributing factor to her death,” it said.
It is unclear when the woman died, but police believe that she began starving from Aug 3, reported CBS News on Friday. The cause of her death is now under investigation.
Detectives believe that the victim moved to the US from South Korea sometime in summer this year to join the religious organisation, said the police.
The suspects are being held without bond, according to various US news outlets.
Several of the suspects are siblings, reported NBC News. There are no other suspects involved in the case, said the police.
One of the suspects is a South Korean citizen visiting the US on a visa, said the authorities in a CNN report on Friday. The other suspects are American citizens, added the report. It is not clear which suspect is the South Korean citizen.
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email [email protected]
