Lee Su-jung, a criminal psychology professor at Gyeonggi University, said the suspect who roamed the streets naked and covered in blood immediately after killing a friend in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, likely stripped off his clothes because they were wet and uncomfortable — not to show off.
In an interview released Thursday, Lee said that while it is rare for someone to wander naked after drinking, cases exist where a person loses rational control and removes blood-soaked clothing. "Just as wet clothes cling to the body and feel unpleasant, Jung Jae-hwan may have taken them off without even realizing it," she said.
"His walking around naked was more likely due to the discomfort of blood-soaked clothing than any desire to flaunt what he had done," she added.
On Jung's entry into a nearby convenience store in the nude, where he stole two banana milks, Lee said he was likely in an agitated state with no impulse control when he stole the banana milks as well. "He probably left the house in a state of excitement after the killing, then came to his senses and returned home," she said.
She went on to say, "This appears to be an extremely brutal case of uncontrolled impulse."
Earlier, on July 15, the victim's family filed a complaint with police seeking additional charges of corpse mutilation against Jung, saying there had been attempts to sever the victim's neck, shins and wrists.
On that point, Lee said, "If Jung did attempt to mutilate the body, there is room to consider that he retained normal judgment at the time," adding that his claim of not remembering due to intoxication "appears to lack credibility."
She also said the sequence of events matters. "It is important to determine whether the attempted mutilation occurred immediately after the killing or after he had wandered outside and returned home," she said. "The order of his actions, the degree of planning, and whether there was intent must be examined further through the police investigation."
Jung, 24, is accused of stabbing and killing his friend, identified only as A, at his residence in Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan, on July 4, while the two were drinking together. He roamed the streets naked after the killing before returning home, where police arrested him.
The victim called friends for help at around 3:40 a.m. on the day of the incident, prompting them to video-call him to check on his condition. The call showed the victim's face bloodied and bearing bite marks inflicted by Jung.
jshan@heraldcorp.com
