'She made me pay her credit card bills': Police reveal Daejeon murder suspect's motive
Published: 12 Aug. 2025, 18:04
![A man in his 20s accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend in Daejeon enters the Daejeon Seobu Police Station on Aug. 5. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/08/12/08c42943-c258-46ba-8e73-ba0422513906.jpg)
A man in his 20s accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend in Daejeon enters the Daejeon Seobu Police Station on Aug. 5. [YONHAP]
A man accused of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend in Daejeon had plotted the murder for months, police said Tuesday, allegedly driven by financial disputes and resentment of the fact that she “disrespected” him.
Daejeon Seobu Police Precinct announced the results of its investigation into 26-year-old Jang Jae-won, who has been charged on suspicion of murder in relation to the incident.
![Yook Jong-myeong, chief of the Daejeon Seobu Police Precinct, briefs reporters on Aug. 12 regarding the results of the investigation into the recent Daejeon dating violence murder case. [SHIN JIN-HO]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/08/12/1a4648ae-dc8f-4620-941b-1d6c087594d7.jpg)
Yook Jong-myeong, chief of the Daejeon Seobu Police Precinct, briefs reporters on Aug. 12 regarding the results of the investigation into the recent Daejeon dating violence murder case. [SHIN JIN-HO]
According to police, Jang lured his ex-girlfriend, a woman in her 30s, to travel with him to another city with the intention of killing her. After failing to do so, he returned with her to Daejeon, where he carried out the attack.
On the night of July 28 at about 9:40 p.m., Jang suggested they drive to Busan to transfer the ownership of a leased motorcycle. They used a rented car for the trip. When the victim went inside her home to pack, Jang — who had prepared a weapon — told her he intended to kill her during the trip, according to police.
The two turned back in Gumi, North Gyeongsang, stopping in the province's Gimcheon before returning to Daejeon. In Gimcheon, Jang bought two bottles of pesticide, which he planned to use for the crime, parking the car far from the store to avoid suspicion.
On the morning of July 29, the day of the murder, Jang went to the victim’s home with a weapon, attempting to enter but failing, then fatally stabbed her on the street in front of her house at around 12:08 p.m.
Police said Jang had decided months earlier to kill the victim, accusing her of making him pay her motorcycle lease and other debts and not paying him back, as well as being disrespectful toward on him. On July 27, he sent her dozens of text messages, and after receiving no reply, resolved to carry out the murder.
“She made me pay her credit card bills and motorcycle lease fees, which made me feel I was being used,” Jang told police.
After the killing, Jang fled in the rental car to Gyeryong, South Chungcheong, where he switched to a motorcycle. The next morning, he rented a Kia K5 and drove to Gumi, where he purchased two more bottles of pesticide. He later searched online for funeral homes in Daejeon and visited the university hospital mortuary where the victim’s body was, in order to “see if she had really died.”
![Police disclosed the identity of 26-year-old Jang Jae-won, suspected of murdering his ex-girlfriend in Daejeon on July 29. [DAEJEON METROPOLITAN POLICE AGENCY]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/08/12/d7a8cd19-2c5d-492d-a6d2-6c350857a0bb.jpg)
Police disclosed the identity of 26-year-old Jang Jae-won, suspected of murdering his ex-girlfriend in Daejeon on July 29. [DAEJEON METROPOLITAN POLICE AGENCY]
From there, police were able to trace his trail. Jang fled the mortuary in the rental car, but was arrested at 11:45 a.m. on July 30 in Sanseong-dong, Jung District, Daejeon. He had attempted suicide shortly before arrest and was treated at a hospital in North Chungcheong before being transferred to a university hospital in Daejeon on Aug. 4. The following day, after doctors deemed him fit for discharge, police brought him in for questioning.
Jang was remanded in custody on Wednesday Aug. 6 after the court deemed him a flight risk.
On Monday, the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency released Jang’s personal details — name, age and photograph — under the Act on Disclosure of Information on Certain Serious Crimes. The information is posted on the agency’s website until Sept. 10. Police plan to hand Jang over to prosecutors on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Daejeon police have distributed a new comprehensive manual for responding to dating violence to nearby precincts, aimed at enabling officers to intervene and protect victims. The police said they will actively apply antistalking law, which allows for prosecution if someone causes fear or anxiety through unwanted approaches or contact without a legitimate reason.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom staff.
BY SHIN JIN-HO [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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