No call records found, casting doubt on Jeju officer's claim of contact with missing woman

An investigation has found no phone records to support a police officer's claim that he contacted a woman who went missing in Jeju, raising the possibility that the case was improperly closed on false grounds.

According to the Jeju Provincial Police Agency on Thursday, a review of communications records for missing woman Jang Mi-ran, 37, found no evidence that she had spoken with Officer A, the junior constable who received the initial missing-persons report in May.

An internal investigation by the police station where Officer A was assigned also turned up no call records between him and Jang.

Jang's mobile phone was on from around 1:30 a.m. on May 13 — when she left her home — through May 15, when the missing-persons report was filed. The phone went dark around May 17.

Despite the absence of any records, Officer A has told investigators that he reported the case as resolved after making contact with the person named in the report.

He also told police that Jang had asked him not to disclose her whereabouts to her boyfriend.

Police have booked Officer A on charges of dereliction of duty and are working to determine whether any contact was actually made.

Investigators are also examining the procedure Officer A used to close the case in May.

Under the current missing-persons case management system, no superior officer is required to double-check a closure decision, meaning Officer A could have closed the case on his own authority.

Although adult women are considered at elevated risk of becoming crime victims, Officer A neither conducted an in-person welfare check nor entered the relevant information into the missing-persons profiling system used to assess risk levels.

At the time of her disappearance, Jang had long straight hair, stood approximately 158 centimeters tall, had a slender build and was wearing a gold bracelet. She is known for a soft, endearing manner of speaking.