Lee Ho-seong

Case overview

Lee Ho-seong (July 17, 1967 – March 10, 2008) was a South Korean baseball player. During his career, he played for Haitai Tigers. He debuted in 1990 and stayed with the Tigers for his 12-year career until retiring in 2001.

Death Police found Ho-seong in the Han River on March 10, 2008. One day later, police found the bodies of a 46-year-old woman and her three children.

Police understood that Ho-seong and the woman were in a relationship. Police said Ho-seong borrowed the equivalent of $250,000 from the woman. Ho-seong was unable to pay the money back, and police speculated that this was the motive of the killings.

Police said there was no suicide note. Ho-seong was seen on security video removing four large black duffel bags from the woman’s apartment late one evening. A witness also put Ho-seong at the scene after seeing him in a parking lot about the time the four women went missing.

Background

Ho-seong was one of Korea’s most glamorous baseball players. He spent his entire pro career with the former Haitai (now Kia) Tigers, which ruled Korean pro baseball in the 1990s.

After retiring in 2001, Lee had several businesses that eventually failed. The constant failures put him into financial hardship.

Korean media reports described that Ho-seong met Kim, a single mother with three teenage daughters, and they planned to get married. Authorities said he may have owed her the equivalent of $250,000.

Ho-seong helped his team to four Korea Series titles in the 1990s during his 12-year career. He debuted in 1990, batting .304 to rank seventh in the Korea Baseball Organization.

He batted .272 with 102 home runs for his career and won two Gold Gloves as an outfielder. Lee was team captain in 1999 and 2000. He became president of the league’s players union in 2001.

After retiring from professional baseball in 2001, Ho-seong worked as an MC and in a horse racing track but fell into debt before being suspected of the crime. It was described that he also started a wedding business in Gwangju which went bankrupt in 2005. Two years later, he was arrested for investment fraud involving a real estate venture, spent two months in jail, and was released on bail. The resulting upheaval fueled a separation from his wife and son.

Ho-seong later tried to get a gambling business off the ground: a virtual horse racing arcade, and he was known to frequent the race track, racking up extensive debts.

In 2006, Ho-seong became involved with Kim Yeon-suk, a 44-year-old sushi restaurant owner. She had a husband and three girls: Jeong Seon-ah, 18, Jin-ah, 17, and Hae-ah, 11.

The offence

Police said Ho-seong killed a 46-year-old woman identified as Kim Yeon-suk as well as her three daughters and buried them in a pit in a cemetery south of Seoul.

Police believed Ho-seong strangled Kim and her two younger daughters to death in their Seoul apartment. He also bashed in the oldest daughter’s skull. He then packed them into large, black travel suitcases and buried them on the 19th.

Ho-seong gave some laborers $200 to dig a pit next to his father’s cemetery tomb on the pretext that he was relocating a headstone. He then put the women into the pit and covered them.

The four-person family from Mapo who disappeared were discovered in Hwasun, Jeollanam-do, having been murdered and buried.

Investigation

Investigators believed Ho-seong then committed suicide by jumping into the Han River, where his body was discovered on March 10.

The woman and her children had been missing since Feb. 21, prompting a nationwide search, and their bodies were discovered March 11.

Other details about the case were described as still sketchy because there was no suicide note. Police said Ho-seong was seen on security video removing four large black duffel bags from the woman’s apartment late one evening. A witness saw Ho-seong in a parking lot about the time the four women went missing.

Police released Ho-seong’s name and offered a reward for information on his whereabouts. A break in the case came when cemetery employees came forward saying Lee had asked them to dig a large pit next to his father’s grave so that he could build a memorial.

Investigators believed Ho-seong’s identity was confirmed through his fingerprints. Police found the bodies of the four women soon after his death in a cemetery in Ho-seong’s hometown of Kwangju.

Police also opened two more investigations:

1. Into the death of a man named Cho, a former business partner of Ho-seong’s. Cho, last seen with Ho-seong, had disappeared in August 2005; at the time it was suspected that he merely went into hiding after serious financial losses.
2. Into the death of Kim’s husband in February 2007, which had been previously ruled a suicide.

A source at the police said: “it looks like Mr. Lee was under a lot of pressure after his name and face were released across the country as the prime suspect and he jumped to his death.”

Arrest

Ho-seong was publicly identified as the prime suspect in the disappearance of a woman he had been dating and her daughters. Police described him as being captured on security cameras leaving their apartment building carrying six large bags on February 18.

Police offered a reward of $3,108 for information leading to his arrest.

Trial

No trial information was provided.

Sentencing

No sentencing information was provided.

Appeals

No appeal information was provided.

Outcome

Police found Ho-seong in the Han River on March 10, 2008. Police confirmed Lee’s identity through fingerprints and found the bodies of the four women soon after his death in a cemetery in Lee’s hometown of Kwangju.

Police found 46-year-old Kim and her children buried in the ground near a church in her hometown of Hwasun, close to the same graveyard in which her father is buried.

The eldest daughter, age 21, placed a phone call in that area at 5 am on February 19; after murdering her and her family, Ho-seong buried them.

Kim (39), who discovered the body, said: “I was out in my boat on the river when a corpse floated up and I called 119.”

It was described that police believed he took his life at about 3 am based on the amount of rigor mortis present. Ho-seong’s body was discovered at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon.

Aftermath

Police were continuing to investigate the circumstances of Ho-seong’s death.

Timeline

• 1990 — Ho-seong debuted in professional baseball with Haitai Tigers.
• 1991 — Ho-seong posted career highs with 21 home runs, 84 RBI and 98 runs.
• 1999 — Ho-seong became team captain.
• 2000 — Ho-seong remained team captain.
• 2001 — Ho-seong retired from baseball after the 2001 season and became president of the league’s players’ union.
• 2005 — Ho-seong’s wedding business in Gwangju went bankrupt.
• August 2005 — Cho was last seen with Ho-seong; Cho disappeared.
• February 2007 — Kim’s husband died; his death had been previously ruled a suicide.
• 2006 — Ho-seong became involved with Kim Yeon-suk.
• February 18, 2008 — On the day the family disappeared, Ho-seong was captured on security cameras leaving the apartment building carrying six large bags.
• February 19, 2008 — At approximately 5 am, Kim’s eldest daughter, age 21, placed a phone call; the bodies were buried after murdering her and her family.
• March 3, 2008 — The family was not reported missing until this date.
• March 9, 2008 — Police released Ho-seong’s name and photo to the press and offered a reward of $3,108.
• March 10, 2008 — Ho-seong committed suicide by jumping off a bridge into the Han River; his body was discovered.
• March 11, 2008 — The bodies of the woman and her children were discovered.