Anyang student murders

On December 25, 2007, Lee Hye-jin, 10, and Wu Ye-seul, 8, were seen playing at a playground in Manan-gu, Anyang, South Korea, after attending church services. CCTV footage placed them at an outdoor concert hall near the Anyang Literature Center at around 4:10 PM, and a shop owner reported seeing them leave the center around 5 PM. They were not seen again that day. The following day, their parents contacted police to report them missing. When no leads emerged, authorities launched a public investigation and issued an Amber alert. A reward, initially 20 million won, was raised to 30 million won, but no viable tips came in, and the investigation stalled until Commissioner Eo Chung-soo ordered it reopened on March 6, 2008.

On March 11, 2008, a reserve officer training near Suwon's Chilbosan Mountain area discovered a buried body. Forensic analysis by the National Institute for Scientific Investigation, including DNA testing, confirmed the remains belonged to Lee Hye-jin. During the investigation, police identified Jeong Seong-hyeon, a local resident living roughly 130 meters from Lee's home, who had rented a car on the day the girls disappeared and returned it the next day. A blood stain found in the trunk of the vehicle was matched via DNA analysis to both Lee and Wu.

Jeong was arrested on March 16, 2008, at his mother's house in Anyang. He initially denied involvement, then claimed the girls died in a traffic accident and that he hid their bodies out of shame. After police told him no evidence of an accident was found at the scene, he confessed to kidnapping and killing both girls, stating he had lured them under the pretense of showing them around the city, using his standing as a churchgoer to gain their trust. He also disclosed that he had buried Wu Ye-seul's body in Siheung. Two days after his arrest, a soldier from a military intelligence unit found body parts, including an arm and leg, under a waterway in Siheung; forensic examination confirmed these remains belonged to Wu.

Investigators subsequently linked Jeong to the July 2004 murder of Chung Deok-soon, a 44-year-old karaoke assistant, in Gunpo, whose body had been left at the crime scene. On June 18, 2008, the Suwon District Court found Jeong guilty of all three killings and sentenced him to death. His appeal to the High Court was rejected on October 17, and the Supreme Court dismissed his final appeal on February 26, 2009, confirming the death sentence.

Following his arrest, Jeong was investigated in connection with five other similar disappearances of women and young girls in the area, including the March 19, 2008 discovery of a 30-year-old woman's body in the Wangsong Reservoir in Uiwang, whose hands had been tied and fingerprints removed. Authorities were unable to conclusively link Jeong to this death.