Unidentified fingerprints found on ceiling of women's restroom entered by officer who falsely closed missing-persons cases

Multiple unidentified fingerprints have been found on the ceiling and other surfaces of a women's restroom that a Jeju police officer — already detained for falsely closing missing-persons cases, including that of a woman later found dead — allegedly entered without authorization last month.

According to Yonhap and the Jeju Provincial Police Agency, investigators found numerous unidentified fingerprints and palm prints on the ceiling and the upper edges of toilet stalls in the women's restroom at the Jeju Western Police Station, which Officer A entered on July 22.

The locations where the prints were found — unlike surfaces such as toilet-paper holders that many users routinely touch — are spots that would not ordinarily bear fingerprints unless someone deliberately moved to reach them.

However, dust has compromised some of the impressions, leaving them incomplete.

Officer A, a male officer in his 30s assigned to the Jeju Western Police Station, was caught entering the women's restroom there on July 22 by a female colleague and was booked on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes.

He denied the allegations, claiming he had entered out of urgent necessity and that the men's restroom had no toilet paper at the time.

That explanation has been contradicted by investigators, who determined that toilet paper was in fact available in the men's restroom at the time.

Police collected the prints and sent them to the National Forensic Service for analysis. Depending on the results, investigators plan to determine whether the prints belong to Officer A or a third party.

No direct link has yet been established between the fingerprints found and the charges against Officer A related to the restroom entry.

Officer A was separately detained after it emerged that he had falsely closed the missing-persons cases of Jang Mi-ran, 37, who was later found dead, and a man in his 60s — cases he handled after being removed from duty over the sex crime allegations.