Episode 35:
Insane Korean Bride Who Stole a Child to Marry Rich. But Where is the Real Mother?

On January 22, 2005, police in Seoul spotted a suspicious white Sonata during patrol. When officers checked the license plate, they discovered the vehicle was wanted in connection with a hit-and-run case.

The car suddenly sped away through a narrow alley, triggering a dangerous chase. After the men abandoned the vehicle and ran, police arrested two errand-service employees named Kim and Lee.

The Phone That Reopened A Murder Case

The damaged phone belonged to a woman in her twenties named Jinju Go. When police contacted someone saved in the phone, they learned something chilling: Jinju had already been dead for seven months.

In June 2004, Jinju's body had been discovered in the mountains of Gangwon Province. She had been bound with rope, her face wrapped in duct tape, and her death was ruled as strangulation.

But Jinju had not disappeared alone. Her 70-day-old baby son had vanished with her.

The Missing Baby

At first, police suspected Jinju's husband, Mr. Park. He had waited several days before reporting her missing because he believed she had left after an argument.

But investigators found no evidence against him. His wife was dead, and his baby son had disappeared without a trace.

For seven months, the case went nowhere. Then the damaged phone connected the old murder case to the two men caught in Seoul.

A Baby Delivered To A Rich Family

During interrogation, the two men eventually revealed that the baby was still alive. Police traced the child to a wealthy home in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province.

Inside, they found a healthy one-year-old baby sleeping in a room filled with expensive baby items. The family believed he was their son.

But the woman who claimed to be the baby's mother had never given birth to him. Her name was Nara Kim.

She had lied to her wealthy boyfriend and his family, pretending she had gone to America to give birth. In reality, she had ordered an errand service to obtain a newborn baby for her.

Suspicious

Nara Kim claimed she only wanted an abandoned child from an unwed mother and did not know anyone would be killed. The errand-service director also insisted he had only ordered a kidnapping, not a murder.

But investigators found troubling details. The kidnappers had followed Jinju while she was walking with her 70-day-old son, blocked her path with cars, restrained her, took the baby, and strangled her when she fought back.

They later buried her body in a remote mountain area. Tools such as a shovel and rope were already prepared in the vehicle, making the claim of an accidental escalation difficult to accept.

Final Thoughts

Jinju Go died trying to protect her baby. Her son was eventually returned to his biological father after months of searching.

The child had been cared for in the wealthy home, but the truth behind how he arrived there was horrifying.

Kim and Lee, the two men who carried out the kidnapping and murder, received life sentences. But Nara Kim, the woman who ordered the baby, and the errand-service director each received only five years because they were not convicted of ordering the murder.

This case remains one of South Korea's most disturbing examples of greed, deception, and a mother's final fight to save her child.