On the morning of May 21, 1989, a routine chore turned into a scene of unimaginable horror in the Goejeong-dong area of South Korea. A man named Lee, who lived in the building, went to the rooftop to fix a water tank. As he made his way back down, he was met with a sight that would forever haunt him and an entire community.
On the second-floor staircase, an unsettling figure lay motionless. It was the naked body of a man with an Intel TV cable wrapped tightly around his neck. The grim discovery was only the beginning. A strong smell of smoke filled the air, leading Lee to a neighbor’s apartment on the same floor. Upon entering, he found a burning blanket and a scene of even greater terror: a mother and her two young children, their heads severed and placed in a corner of the room. They were dead.
The sheer brutality of the crime sent shockwaves through the quiet neighborhood and left even seasoned police officers stunned. As investigators began their work, they quickly identified the victims. The man on the stairs was Yoon Gu-won, a 30-year-old father. Inside the apartment were his wife and their two children, aged eight and six. The victims were dressed in pajamas, suggesting they were likely asleep when the brutal assault occurred.
The state of the apartment was a scene of utter destruction, indicating a struggle of immense violence. But the puzzle was far from complete. The initial suspect—the father—was found dead outside the very apartment where his family was slaughtered. How could he have committed this heinous crime and also been a victim? Was he killed by the same perpetrator?
The investigation uncovered a troubling history. Yoon Gu-won had a criminal record for assault and had been released from prison just 20 days before the murders. Neighbors painted a picture of a turbulent household, with frequent and violent arguments between Yoon and his wife. Their relationship, while a decade long with two children, was not officially registered until just three years before the tragedy, a detail that added to the unusual nature of their lives.
Driven by an intense and at times irrational jealousy, Yoon’s behavior was a point of concern for those who knew him. He was known to pick fights over the smallest actions of his partner.
Faced with a dead primary suspect and no other leads, the police were in a difficult position. They had a crime but seemingly no one to prosecute. The investigation turned to a new theory, one that was unfortunately common in the area during the 1980s: drug-fueled violence. The Goejeong-dong neighborhood had a known drug problem, and many crimes were attributed to addicts who lost control.
This led the police to theorize that Yoon Gu-won, under the influence of drugs, had returned home, started a fight with his wife, and descended into a murderous rage. After the killings, he allegedly strangled himself with the TV cable in a horrific act of suicide. To test this theory, Yoon’s body was sent for toxicology analysis. The results were conclusive: traces of drugs were found in his system.
With the evidence of drug use, the police concluded their investigation. The official conclusion was that Yoon Gu-won had murdered his family in a drug-induced frenzy and then taken his own life. The case was closed, as the only suspect was deceased.
Yet, despite the official conclusion, many questions linger about the Goejeong-dong tragedy. The sequence of events—a man murdering his family, covering their bodies with a blanket, setting it on fire, then going to the stairs to hang himself—presents a scenario that strains credulity. The fact that the father was the only suspect and was unable to be questioned leaves a haunting sense of doubt. For many, the case remains a tragic mystery, a gruesome end to a family that may never be fully understood.
