Members of the “Soldiers of Christ” videotaped themselves torturing a South Korean woman before she was found dead in the trunk of a car outside a Korean sauna last month.
The revelation came from a Gwinnett County Police Department detective during a preliminary hearing Thursday for five of the seven people charged in the death of Sehee Cho, 33, according to WXIA.
Gwinnett County Chief Magistrate Court Judge Kristina Hammer Blum ruled that there was enough evidence for the case against the five to proceed to trial. The other two were not a part of Thursday’s hearing.
The investigator described what members of the goup called an “initiation.”
“She was standing on her head halfway, her hands behind her back,” Detective Angela Carter said in court, describing one of the videos. “There was a belt; she was being whipped with what appeared to be a belt.”
Carter testified that Cho came to the United States on July 21 to join the Soldiers of Christ. But she soon wanted out. Court documents say that when Cho tried to leave, she couldn’t, and the suspects began to withhold food. One of the videos, Carter said, showed them ordering her to get into a tub of ice in August. At the time, she said, the victim looked extremely frail.
“Sehee is not deceased as of yet, but it looks like she’s struggling,” Carter said. “She’s having issues breathing. Her eyes–in my opinion, she appears to almost be dead; she looked very, very weak.”
Cho weighed just 70 pounds when her body was found. Videos from earlier in the summer showed her looking hale and healthy.
As CrimeOnline has reported, Cho’s body was found in the trunk of a car left in the parking lot of Jeju sauna on September 12. Police say Eric Hyun, 26, left the car there and checked himself into a hospital. While in the hospital, he asked his adoptive father to retrieve an item from the car, and the man found Cho’s body and called police, WAGA reported.
He has since claimed that his injuries were inflicted by other defendants.
Hyun, Joonhyun Lee, 22; Joonho Lee, 26; Hyunji Lee, 25; Gawon Lee, 26; and Junyeoung Lee, 15, were all charged with felony murder, imprisonment, tampering with evidence, and concealing a death. Prosecutors have since added gang activity to the charges.
Earlier this month, Mihee Lee, 54, was added to the list of suspects. She is the mother of Juoonhyum Lee, Joonho Lee, and Junyeong Lee.
Hyun has since been released on bond and ordered to wear a GPS monitor, say away from the Lees and the Soldiers of Christ, and live at his parents’ home. The other six are being held without bond.
Local news reports did not identify which of the six remaining defendants were remanded over to trial.
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[Featured image: WXIA screenshot]
