Just two days after committing his final murder, Yoo was arrested on the 15th of July, 2004. To evade suspicion of his activities, Yoo would call prostitution businesses with different names but they were actually all owned by the same man, Mr Noh, which ended up becoming his downfall. Mr Noh thought it was strange that a previous girl had not been heard from after taking a job and thought she may have been kidnapped. Two other women had also gone missing and all after answering calls from the number 6523. Noh called other nearby massage parlour owners and heard that another woman was missing after a call from the same number. Sure enough, a call from the same number came in on July 15th at 2am. Noh contacted his seniors, colleagues and Inspector Yang. The men split up with a woman in a taxi who they would follow to the back of Sinchon Grand Mart. Yoo called to change the meeting place, and again to complain the woman was too tall and called again for another woman. Meanwhile, Yang was searching for men’s phone numbers in parks and alleys to try and find the culprit. Yoo eventually said he liked the third woman they sent and told her to meet in the alley behind the Grand Mart. Yoo appeared at the location and the men approached and body searched him. He was handcuffed by Yang who had rushed over and put him in the car. He was suspiciously chewing vigorously and the men tried to stop him and pry his mouth open. Yoo was trying to destroy several business trip massage cards. Then his phone fell out, providing one more piece for the puzzle: the last digits of the phone were 6523.
Yoo Young-chul, also referred to as the “Raincoat Killer”, is one of South Korea’s most prolific serial killers, murdering at least 20 people in Seoul between September 2003 and July 2004. Yoo broke into four wealthy, elderly people’s homes in late 2003 and killed the occupants by bludgeoning them with a hammer and then staging the scene as a robbery-motivated murder. Besides targeting the rich elderly residents of Seoul, Yoo also started targeting prostitutes and escort girls, killing at least eleven women between May and July of 2004 by luring them to his officetel, beating them with his hammer and then dismembering their bodies. Yoo Young-chul claimed to have killed 26 people but was only convicted of 20 murders along with other aggravated crimes. He was given a death sentence and is currently on death row in Seoul Detention Center.
Yoo had an extensive criminal record predating his murders. In 1988, 1991 and 1993 he was arrested for theft. Along with his pattern of theft, he was caught selling child pornography in 1995, and in 1998 was sentenced to 2 years in prison for theft, identity theft, and forgery. Yoo would pose as a police officer with a fake ID and extort money from people. He ended up spending most of his 20’s in and out of prison. In 2000 he was also arrested for the rape of a 15-year-old girl, receiving a sentence of 3 years and 6 months. The woman he married in 1991 and had a son with, divorced him in October, 2000. Yoo was released from prison on the 11th of September, 2003. Just two weeks after his release, Yoo began what would be a series of gruesome murders.
Yoo Young-chul killed nine senior citizens of wealthy status throughout late 2003. His tools of choice for these murders included a customized hammer, jackknife and gloves.
24th September, 2003 - Sinsa-dong Murders
Around 10:10am on the 24th of September, Yoo broke into a wealthy couple’s home in Sinsa-dong, belonging to university professor Lee Deok-su (73) and his wife, Lee Eun-ok (68). Deok-su was stabbed in the neck with a knife and then Yoo proceeded to bludgeon the two to death with a homemade hammer. The hammer Yoo used throughout his many murders was one that he had customized to fit his grip by replacing the standard long handle with a shorter one and filled in the gaps with silicone. The hammer weighed around 4 kilograms. Before leaving the scene he wiped down everything and staged the scene to look like a robbery-motivated murder by trashing the couple’s closet, without actually taking anything. He then locked the front door and exited via the main gate. He realized he left behind his knife so smashed the doorknob, retraced his steps and retrieved the knife. Police found shoeprints at this scene that would eventually be linked to his next murders.
<-Yoo's Hammer/Crime scene->
9th October, 2003 - Gugi-dong Murders
Yoo broke into a house in Gugi-dong around 10:40am on October 9th. He first came across the grandmother, Mo Kang (85), and smashed her head with his hammer and stabbed her. The homeowner’s wife, Lee Mo (60), came down the stairs and saw the scene in front of her. Yoo threatened her and sat her on the sofa, asking who was upstairs to which she replied her husband and son. He told her to bow her head but when she didn’t, he kicked her in the stomach and bludgeoned her head. The son (34) came down the stairs and Yoo dragged him back up, forcing him to kneel and hammered him to death. Yoo continued through the house to find the husband who was not actually home at the time. He then proceeded with his robbery staging of the scene, trying to make the safe appear to be broken into. Shoeprints were also found at this scene and police began searching their database.
16th October, 2003 - Samseong-dong Murder
On the 16th of October, Yoo killed Yoo Joon-hee (69) who was the wife of a millionaire after breaking into their house in Samseong-dong around 12:30pm. After asking her if anyone else was home to which she replied there wasn’t, he dragged her into the bathroom and beat her with his hammer. She was still alive around an hour later when she was found by her son but died after being taken to hospital.
18th November, 2003 - Hyehwa-dong Murders
Yoo Young-chul forced entry into a home at around 11am in Hyehwa-dong. He was faced with the housekeeper, Bae Ji-hye (57). Bae asked him who he was and he showed her his knife, demanding to know where the master bedroom was. Kim Jong-seok (87), the homeowner, was found by Yoo in the master bedroom, lying in bed. Yoo bludgeoned him to death with his hammer. Meanwhile, the housekeeper was holding a baby and was trying to keep it safe, however, Yoo took the child from her, placed it on the sofa in the living room, and covered it with a blanket tightly to muffle the screams. He then returned to the master bedroom where he hammered the housekeeper to death. In his typical fashion, Yoo proceeded to stage the scene as a robbery by trying to open the safe with a pickaxe and pruning shears found at the residence. After accidentally cutting himself while trying to open a safe and splitting the knuckle of his right middle finger, Yoo set the house on fire to destroy any possible DNA evidence by putting newspaper and clothes around Mrs Bae and lit them. He waited outside to see it burn down but it didn’t; however, it did destroy the bodies and first floor bedroom. Later, the baby was rescued by Jeong-suk’s daughter in law. The only clues that police had from this scene were some shoeprints and CCTV footage of the perpetrator walking away while wearing a sweater from the victim's closet to hide the blood.
<-Crime scene/CCTV footage->
16th March, 2004 - Murder of Kwon Jin-hee
Yoo called for a “business trip massage” (prostitution service) and posed as an officer that was catching out prostitutes. Kwon Jin-hee answered the callout and Yoo took her to his place. He fatally strangled her and then dismembered her corpse. Using a jackknife, he removed her head and hung it on a trash can to drain the blood, then cut her arms, legs, and torso with the shower on and music playing. He divided the dismembered parts into 10 small black plastic bags and then into 4 larger black bags. Yoo took a taxi and dumped Jin-hee’s remains on a trail under a tree, keeping the bags in case of fingerprints, behind Sogang University library. And so began his new modus operandi.
14th April, 2004
Unlike his murders of rich, elderly people and prostitutes, Yoo murdered a street vendor, Ahn Jae-sun (44) on the 14th of April. Jae-sun was selling fake Viagra and porn in the Samyeong Building. After packing up for the day, he headed to his Kia Besta van where Yoo then showed his fake ID and accused him of violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. He handcuffed him and put him in the passenger seat of Jae-sun’s van. He became suspicious as he could spot fake IDs, combined with the fact that Yoo was driving his van and was not with another officer. Yoo parked at Segang Orthopedic Surgery Clinic, grabbed Ahn's face and stabbed him in the neck and head. He believed Jae-sun was dead and laid him under the back seat but he then kicked Yoo. Yoo stabbed him in the thigh and tried to cover him with a bag, beating his head with his hammer about 20 times. Because Yoo cut himself during the ordeal, he decided to torch the van to destroy any evidence. He put newspapers and clothes over Jae-sun then went to his apartment to clean up and change clothes. After this, he drove to Wolmido, Incheon around 1 a.m. and parked at Samho Petroleum parking lot in Bukseong-dong. He parked the car between two tanker trucks and tried to set off an explosion which didn't work. However, this did successfully burn the car and the body. This particular murder is well reported for leaving the victim’s family devasted. His two brothers committed suicide and the remaining brother attempted suicide and now lives with psychiatric treatment.
May - July, 2004 - A Series of Prostitute Murders
The beginning of Yoo’s killing spree targeting women saw Yoo Young-chul call for an escort girl and convince her to come to his apartment as he did with Kwon Jin-hee in March. They had sex but after she saw handcuffs she began to feel uncomfortable. Yoo took her to the bathroom and tickled her playfully. She crouched in response and he then bludgeoned her unconscious with his hammer. A pattern can be seen in Yoo’s murders where he preferred to strike from above, with his victim kneeling or crouching and therefore in a vulnerable position. He would also tend to show affection and tenderness before killing his victims. He then decapitated her with his jackknife in the bathroom while she was still alive. Yoo dismembered her body and also cut off her fingertips with scissors and flushed them down the toilet. Yoo would come to mutilate his victims’ bodies into 16-18 pieces. Her body was buried behind a construction site in Seodaemun-gu. Yoo did this new modus operandi to nine more prostitutes and escort girls, selectively choosing women who were on the slim and shorter side for ease of dismemberment and disposal. It is believed that his targeting of these women were due to his resentment towards his ex-wife who worked in a massage parlour and his ex-girlfriend who was also a prostitute. Yoo committed his last murder on the 13th of July, 2004.
