[Edaily WON DA YEON Reporter] It has been revealed that Police Sergeant Bu Mo, who falsely closed the case involving the disappearance of Ms. Jang Mi-ran from Jeju, did so citing fatigue caused by his heavy workload. While an investigation is underway into all missing persons cases handled by Sergeant Bu, it has been further confirmed that he falsely closed 25 cases to date.

25 Additional Cases of Falsely Closed Cases Revealed in Addition to Ms. Jang’s Case

The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Jeju Police Agency announced on the 1st that it had referred the deputy sergeant, a suspect in the Jeju missing persons case, to the prosecution for arrest on charges of forgery and use of falsified electronic records, obstruction of official duties through fraud, and dereliction of duty.

Last May, after receiving a report of Mr. Jang’s disappearance, Deputy Sergeant Bu conveyed false information to the reporter, stating, “We have made contact with the missing person, and they asked us not to disclose their location to you.” He then entered the code “death in a traffic accident” into the Missing Persons Profiling System and closed and dismissed the case.

Furthermore, in July, regarding the disappearance of a man in his 60s, he told the person who filed the report a similar lie, entered false information stating “location found,” and closed and dismissed the case.

However, after the police conducted a thorough cross-analysis of call logs (both outgoing and incoming) and forensic electronic data from the suspect’s personal and work cell phones, as well as the missing person’s cell phone, at the time of the offense, it was confirmed that the suspect had not spoken with the missing person.

The police conducted an initial review of the 298 missing person cases closed by the deputy sergeant and discovered an additional 10 cases of false closure and 15 cases of false record-keeping. Consequently, including the two previously identified cases, the total number of missing person cases in which the deputy sergeant closed the case without contacting the subject or dismissed it based on reasons contrary to the facts has now risen to 27. However, it was confirmed that the 25 individuals involved in the newly identified cases are safe and unharmed.

An official from the Jeju Police Agency stated, “There were cases that (Deputy Chief Bu) assisted with while serving on the Criminal Investigation Team prior to his assignment to the Missing Persons Unit,” adding, “We will identify more cases that Deputy Chief Bu closed and expand the comprehensive investigation.”

During the police investigation, Deputy Chief Bu stated that, regarding his motive, he had been complacent because the missing person was an ordinary adult, and that he had falsely closed the cases due to the burden of handing them over to another officer, as there were many matters he would have had to handle if the cases remained open. It is reported that Deputy Chief Bu initially denied the charges and refused to make a statement, but admitted to all charges after the police presented relevant evidence obtained through an investigation into the course and circumstances of the crime.

Reason for Falsely Closing the Case: “Because I Didn’t Want to Work”

The results of a profiling analysis of Deputy Sergeant Heo also indicated that negligence in the performance of his duties was the primary motive, stemming from fatigue caused by accumulated workloads and mounting responsibilities.

An official from the Jeju Police Agency stated, “While a normal person would have the ability to control themselves when stress accumulates, Deputy Sergeant Bu was analyzed as having a tendency toward poor problem-solving skills,” adding, “The criminological assessment is that the suspect’s complacent mindset and irresponsible attitude led to the outward act of falsely closing the case.” However, the official explained that no antisocial tendencies were found.

The official clarified that there was no evidence of collusion with a third party, as some had suggested. “No hostility toward a specific individual or external motives, such as financial gain, were found,” the Jeju Police Agency official said. “It is presumed that the crime of falsely closing the case arose from psychological factors and the context of work-related stress.”

It was confirmed that while Deputy Sergeant Jang had completely deleted Mr. Jang’s case from the system, he closed the case involving the man in his 60s by falsely recording that the individual had been “located” because, in the latter case, there was another employee besides the man himself who was aware of the case. In the case of the missing man in his 60s, it was explained that because his predecessor had conducted a consultation at the office prior to the missing person report, there was concern that deleting the case would expose the false closure.

The police stated that the public investigation into Mr. Jang—which did not begin immediately after the second missing person report was filed in mid-July but only in August—was a measure taken in consideration of the possibility that the missing person might be involved in a crime. An official from the Jeju Police Agency explained, “Even if a new report is filed, we cannot immediately launch a public investigation,” adding, “If the missing person is involved in a crime, making the case public could pose a risk to the victim’s safety and life.” The official continued, “In early August, we explained to the family that we suspected the case had been falsely closed,” and added, “We also explained that we would request an investigation into the officer in charge.”

Regarding Mr. Jang’s cause of death, the official said, “According to the National Forensic Service’s findings on the 26th of last month, the cause of death is ‘undetermined due to decomposition, but the possibility of suicide (hanging) cannot be ruled out.’” The official added, “We conducted a reenactment experiment with the Forensic Science Unit on the 27th, but we still need to analyze the data to determine the exact cause.”