Sept. 16 (UPI) — A woman from South Korea was allegedly tortured and killed by a gang of at least six people in Georgia who lured her to join a group referred to “Soldiers of Christ.”
The body of the woman was found dead inside a car around 10:50 p.m. on Tuesday, the Gwinnett County Police Department said in a statement. The woman was not identified by police.
Police on Thursday charged five adults and a teenager with murder, false imprisonment, evidence tampering and concealing the death of another.
Eric Hyun, 26, was believed to parked the car in which the body of the woman was found at 3555 Gwinnett Place Dr., which Google Maps shows is a business called Jeju Sauna. He then called a family member to pick him up.
He was driven by the family member to an Atlanta area hospital to be treated for unrelated injuries, police said.
While at the hospital, Hyun asked the family member to get an item from the car for him. The family member found the dead body in the trunk and called 911.
“Detectives believe the victim moved to the United States from South Korea sometime back in the summer of this year for the purpose of joining a religious organization,” police said in the news release.
“The accused individuals referred to themselves as belonging to ‘Soldiers of Christ.’ The victim was apparently subjected to beatings and malnourishment for weeks. The victim’s body weighed approximately 70 pounds when discovered by detectives.”
The Medical Examiner’s Office believes malnourishment could be a contributing factor to her death. The exact cause of death is still under investigation.
“The victim’s family is from South Korea,” police said. “Detectives believe all suspects are currently in custody, and there are no outstanding individuals.”
The other suspects arrested were identified as Gawom Lee, Joonho Lee, Juoonhyum Lee, Hyunji Lee and 15-year-old Junyeoug Lee.
Police announced Friday that detectives had secured multiple criminal street gang warrants against each of the suspects.
