"I'll Only Use It for a Week": Paju Freezer Murder Suspect Rushed to Order Freezer from Busan

Order Placed in Busan Instead of Regular Supplier
Experts: "Multiple Signs Point to Premeditation"

It has been revealed that the suspect in the Paju cafe freezer murder case, identified as Mr. A, placed an urgent order for a freezer from Busan one week prior to committing the crime.

The cafe in Paju, Gyeonggi Province where the incident occurred. Photo by Yonhap News

According to police and other sources on September 12, Mr. A, the suspect in the Paju cafe freezer murder case who is in his 30s, ordered a freezer through a company in Busan on August 27, about a week before the crime. This was not from his usual local supplier. On August 25, he had pressed another freezer rental company, asking, "Please deliver it by tomorrow," but when the deal did not go through, he turned to the Busan company two days later. The straight-line distance from the cafe to the Busan supplier is over 400 kilometers.

Mr. A told the company that the purchase was for storing food ingredients as part of a cafe remodeling. He asked specific questions about how to control the freezer’s temperature, and indicated that he would need the freezer to be picked up again within a week.

There is now speculation that Mr. A hurriedly secured the freezer before committing the crime.

Additionally, records have surfaced showing that Mr. A asked a generative artificial intelligence tool questions such as, "What happens if a person is inside a freezer?" Furthermore, it came to light that he restricted employees from coming to work on the day of the crime. As such, experts believe there is a strong possibility that the murder was premeditated.

On September 3, Mr. A was arrested and detained on suspicion of confining and causing the death of a woman in her 60s, identified as Ms. B, inside a freezer at his cafe in Munsan-eup, Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The two met for the first time that day to discuss a gift certificate transaction.

Inside the freezer, police found counterfeit gift certificates with a face value of 50 billion won that Mr. A had commissioned to be produced in July. Ms. B is reported to have been tasked with authenticating the legitimacy of the gift certificates. Police suspect that Mr. A, who was heavily in debt, committed the crime while attempting to cash in the fake certificates. It has been confirmed that he owed more than 1 billion won, and is believed to have contacted multiple people to distribute the counterfeit certificates, eventually meeting Ms. B in this process. Ms. B reportedly went to Mr. A’s cafe on September 3 at the request of a third party to verify the authenticity of the certificates.

Mr. A also visited the freezer multiple times before and after the crime. Initially, during police questioning, he admitted to bringing in the freezer with the intent to commit murder, but later changed his statement, saying he acted on impulse after Ms. B discovered the counterfeit certificates.

The police are continuing to investigate how Ms. B died in the freezer and whether the crime was premeditated. They plan to refer Mr. A to the prosecution on September 14 after reviewing digital forensic results and other evidence.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.