- This may happen when a disturbed mind hears a bit too much about murder.
True crime shows — whether TV, YouTube, or podcast — have exploded in popularity over the past decade or so. Maybe people are just curious about what it’s like to be a murderer.
Sometimes, though, that curiosity goes too far — to the point of real murder.
Jung Yoo-Jung, a South Korean true crime fan, was recently arrested as a suspect in a murder case. Allegedly, Jung stabbed and later dismembered another woman in a carefully planned act of brutality.
As to her motivation, she stated she did it “out of curiosity” to see what an actual murder was like.
A Meticulous Murder Plan
According to the police, the 23-year-old Jung wasn’t doing all that. She had reportedly more or less isolated herself from the outside world.
“Jung was a loner and a recluse who has been unemployed since graduating from high school five years ago,” a Busan police spokesman told the South Korean Chosunilbo news outlet.
The police said that Jung followed plenty of true crime media to pass the time. However, her interest in the subject toed — and apparently crossed — the line of an unhealthy fixation.
“Jung was found to have premeditated the crime driven by a desire to kill someone after she became obsessed with murder from TV programs and books,” the police spokesman told.
Later research revealed that Jung had been planning the murder for quite some time. Her mobile phone records, for instance, showed that she’d been looking up how to dispose of a corpse for three months.
After she was confident in her ability to pull it off, Jung began searching for a victim. She signed up for an online platform that connects parents with private tutors for their children.
Jung found her victim and messaged her pretending to be the mother of a ninth grader. She told the tutor that her daughter wanted to learn English, and they arranged for the “daughter” to go meet the victim at her home.
And so, Jung’s plan went into action.
The Murderer Wore a School Uniform
But there was one last thing Jung needed — a disguise. She needed an outfit to successfully play the part of a ninth-grade student.
South Korean schools require school uniforms, and so Jung purchased a used one on a South Korean eBay equivalent.
“Jung is short and with the uniform on, the victim probably mistook her for a middle-school student,” the police said.
Dressed in her uniform, Jung went to the victim’s house and knocked on her door. Once she had been invited in, she allegedly proceeded to stab the victim to death.
According to the police, Jung went to a nearby supermarket after the murder to purchase large plastic bags and bleach. She then returned to the victim’s home and cut the body into more manageable pieces.
She packed some parts of the dismembered corpse into a suitcase, which she dropped off at a wooded area near a local river.
“In order to make it look like the victim had disappeared, Jung kept the victim’s mobile phone, ID card, and wallet, attempting to commit a perfect crime,” said the police spokesman.
‘She Feels Sorry’
And perhaps it would’ve been the perfect crime, if not for one weak link. Jung took a taxi to the area where she dumped her victim’s body parts.
The taxi driver grew suspicious of their customer’s luggage and behavior. After Jung had safely left the vehicle, the driver contacted the police.
The cops soon discovered the bags Jun had dropped off. They didn’t contain body parts, though; merely bloodied clothes.
However, the clothes helped the police get on Jung’s trail. The officers did discover some parts of the victim later — in Jung’s home.
Initially, Jung claimed that she and the victim had gotten into an argument and that she had killed her in self-defense. However, there were obvious contradictions in her story.
Upon further questioning — and having been urged by her family to come clean — Jung confessed to cold-blooded murder out of curiosity. She has now been arrested while the investigation continues.
“Jung also said she feels sorry for what she did. We are conducting tests to see if she is a psychopath,” the police said.
Why is True Crime So Popular?
Jung’s obsession with true crime obviously went too far. But there are thousands, or maybe even millions, of true crime fans in the world who don’t read and listen to the grisly stories with murder in mind.
So why do they do it?
There’s actually been a fair bit of research on the subject. One reason for true crime’s massive popularity could be that it feeds a natural human drive to seek solutions and answers to mysteries and puzzles.
True crime fans are also disproportionately women. Some studies have suggested that ladies enjoy the stories because of their fear of being murder victims.
If correct, the theory would suggest that women listen to true crime stories as a form of preparation — but not because they want to commit murder. Knowing how some murderers carry out their acts could possibly help women avoid becoming murder victims themselves.
Finally, there’s one more — and far simpler — possible explanation.
People love hearing about murders out of plain morbid curiosity.
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