Police reviewed Girl A's death twice, yet never launched a formal investigation
Seven years after a 44-month-old girl died, police are confirmed to have conducted two internal reviews without ever launching a formal investigation. Girl A died of head injuries in Seongbuk District, Seoul, in June 2019, and the police review report noted 'circumstances suggesting child abuse.' An internal review is a preliminary procedure to verify facts before a formal investigation, but police closed the case both times, citing a lack of evidence to prove criminal suspicion.
In its first review in 2019, the Seongbuk Police Station questioned the parents, relatives, and some 30 people around the family. The report stated that it examined the girl's movements on the day of her death, closed-circuit television footage, and forensic analysis of family mobile phones, but found no signs of child abuse or physical mistreatment. The case was closed under prosecutorial guidance. In contrast, the National Forensic Service concluded in its autopsy report that the possibility of abuse by another person could not be completely ruled out, citing bruises across Girl A's body, bite marks, and the detection of capsaicin in her blood.
The girl's stepmother was referred to prosecutors on charges of abusing her older sister. According to Yonhap News Agency's reporting, the stepmother, identified only as Ms. B, was investigated by the Seongbuk Police Station twice, in October 2019 and January 2024, on charges of abusing Girl A's older sister, and was referred to prosecutors last December. According to the referral decision, B was found to have bent the girl's fingers backward and broken her teeth while beating her. The sister told police that the stepmother confined and bound her and deprived her of sleep.
During the second review stage, Girl A's older sister submitted a written statement saying, "I clearly remember the stepmother feeding my sister something spicy," adding, "My sister was struggling, in pain, and clearly disliked it." She said the stepmother and her sister were alone in the kitchen while she watched from an inner room. The statement was raised as circumstantial evidence connecting to how capsaicin was detected in Girl A's blood. Nevertheless, the first review closure report made no mention of capsaicin at all.
Early this year, after the suspicions came to light through the media and other channels, the Seongbuk Police Station conducted a second review, but did not separately open a case naming the stepmother as a suspect in Girl A's death. The station maintains that the sister's abuse case and Girl A's death are separate matters, and that the second review found no new evidence pointing to criminal wrongdoing.
Questions have been raised about why no further investigation took place despite the detection of capsaicin in the girl's blood and testimony that the stepmother fed her spicy food. Some also point out that a 44-month-old child being left to eat spicy food alone and covered in bruises would itself constitute child abuse.
Girl A's father filed a request for a review of the investigation with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the 7th. The Review Committee, composed of external experts including lawyers and legal scholars, can order supplementary or reinvestigation. While its decisions are not legally binding, police would find it difficult to reject them without a legitimate reason.
