In a stunning breakthrough, South Korean police have solved a shocking cold case from 2008, arresting a man in his 50s for murdering his live-in girlfriend and encasing her body in cement on their apartment balcony. According to Korea Times, the gruesome crime went undetected for years, filed as a missing person case until a chance discovery last month. A construction worker repairing a leak on the rooftop balcony stumbled upon a travel suitcase encased in concrete and bricks, containing the partially preserved remains of the victim, identified as B.

Initial investigations in 2011 suspected the boyfriend identified as A, but lack of evidence and leads led to a dead end. However, advances in forensic technology and a thorough re-examination of the case led police to re-question the boyfriend. 

During interrogation, the boyfriend confessed to killing his girlfriend –who was in her 30s at the time–during a heated argument over a romantic issue in October 2008. He admitted to striking her on the head and face with a blunt object. He then placed her dead body into a suitcase, which he buried under a layer of bricks and cement on his balcony.

Fingerprint analysis identified the partially preserved body, and an autopsy revealed blunt force trauma to the head as the cause of death. Police promptly identified the boyfriend as the prime suspect and arrested him on September 19 in Yangsan.

Additional revelations exposed how the crime remained hidden for so long. The boyfriend deceived B’s family and the landlord, claiming she had left after an argument. Notably, her family had lost contact with her and were misled about her whereabouts. When they travelled to Geoje in search of their daughter, they were informed by Mr A that the couple had separated, and B had departed the city.

He continued occupying the apartment until 2017 when he was imprisoned for drug charges. The landlord, unaware of the gruesome secret, used the room as storage space, leaving the concrete-encased body undisturbed. 

The boyfriend faces charges related to his drug use, as the statute of limitations for concealing a corpse has expired. Prosecutors will review the case once the investigation is complete.

A man accused of killing his girlfriend told a court in Colombian capital of Bogota that he remembers stuffing the woman’s body in a suitcase and throwing it in a garbage bin, but couldn’t recall strangling her while high on drugs. Thirty six-year-old John Poulos from Texas described the moment he woke up next to 23-year-old Valentina Trespalacios in bed next to him, with a zip tie the couple had used as sex toy tightened around her neck, as per CBS58. Trespalacios was found dead in January 2023.

“I tried to wake up Valentina, and she didn’t respond. When I initially saw her, I knew right away that something was wrong. She was very pale,” Poulos told the court.

“I just completely broke down. This was a girl that I loved,” he added.

As per New York Post, they met on a dating app in 2022 and their romance continued for nine months before he went to Colombia to meet Trespalacios and marry her.

She was 13 years younger to Poulos.

“I loved her. So, imagine killing someone that you loved,” he told the court.

The man said he did drugs with Trespalacios and used alcohol to wash it down. But on January 22, 2023, the routine gave him a bad reaction and impaired both his judgement and memory.

“I’d never done drugs before I met Valentina. My guess is what happened, I was in a drug-induced, alcohol-induced… I wasn’t completely lucid at that time, and I don’t know if I did it, I don’t know if she did it,” the 36-year-old said.

He did admit to disposing of his girlfriend’s body and running away, which he blamed on his panicked state.

Her body was discovered by a homeless man near Bogota’s main airport who alerted the police.

An autopsy found that Trespalacios died from “mechanical asphyxia,” or “strangulation”, the Post said, citing a report from The City Paper Bogota.

Poulos pleaded before the court to not send him to prison, claiming that he will be “killed there”. He was arrested from Panama while trying to board a flight to Turkey.