Chapter 7 - The "Cherry Blossom Reaper" Case

After organizing all the files, Soo Min and Hyun Woo immediately went through them to thoroughly learn about the "Cherry Blossom Reaper" case. It all started at the beginning of the year, in January, about five months ago, since it was May now.

The first victim was Lee Eun Jung, a 21 year old model from an agency run by a man named Seo In Sung. The next day after her disappearance, Eun Jung was found in the same place where she was kidnapped, with a slit throat. Next to her was a small bouquet made of artificial cherry blossoms, all petals sprinkled with the girl's blood. The marks on her wrists and ankles indicated that she had been strapped to something before death. The time of death was defined as five minutes before midnight of the previous day, i.e. exactly 5 hours after she has been kidnapped. Then it seems that Lee Eun Jung was transported to the place from which she disappeared, along with the bouquet. There were no witnesses, and CCTV in this place was located in a way that it only registered the side of the car, so the license plates were not visible, and it was a car into which the victim was pulled. The next day, the same car arrived in the same place, and a hooded man in a black mask and latex gloves put her body on the ground first, then a bouquet. The man moved as if he knew the exact location of the cameras, so that his image could not be read much except that he was tall and rather slim, and his silhouette confirmed the gender more or less.

Another one that disappeared was Kim Min Hee, a beginner model from the same agency as Lee Eun Jung. She was 19 years old and one day the girl did not appear at her first session she dreamed of so much. The next day, a bouquet of artificial cherry flowers was found in the park near her home. Tests has confirmed that it was the girl's blood sprinkled on the petals, and recordings from nearby CCTV showed the same hooded man, again in a black mask and latex gloves, that puts something on the face of Min Hee, probably a handkerchief soaked in fluid that was supposed to put her to sleep, and then that she is pulled in a direction where monitoring no longer reached. The next day's recording only showed a hooded man laying a bouquet on the bench next to which he caught Min Hee a day before, but no more details could be drawn from this picture. Unlike her older friend, Min Hee's body was not found.

Joon Hwa Young, 18 year old, also an beginner model and Min Hee's friend, disappeared two weeks later. Then the scenario repeated itself - in the place of disappearance the next day appeared a bouquet sprinkled with blood of Hwa Young. CCTV footage showed more or less a similar scene to that of Min Hee, only in a different place. However, this did not change the fact that cameras in that place again did not show the entire area exactly, allowing the offender to disappear with the victim outside the frame. Hwa Young's body was also not found.

At this point, the police decided to keep an eye on the other models from this agency, so that if any disappears again, they immediately check the recordings from the cameras and the next day the police will appear at the kidnapping site to be able to capture the perpetrator, when he will be leaving his gruesome bouquet. Unfortunately, it turned out that none of the models were chosen by the "Reaper" and the plan didn't work.

This time a victim was Choi Seo Yoon, 23 years old daughter of a lawyer, that disappeared when she and her friends near the evening went hiking to Bukhansan National Park. According to friends testimony, Seo Yoon, as usual, outrun the rest significantly, but when they reached the top, she wasn't there. Monitoring was not available, but one elderly man who was coming down testified that he had seen Seo Yoon come off the trail, going between the trees, deeper into the woods. And the next day, just in the middle of the forest, a bouquet sprinkled with Seo Yoon's blood was found, and her body next to it, with several stab wounds to the chest, and the similar marks on her wrists and ankles were also visible, just like in the Lee Eun Jung's case.

Next on the list was Jung Hee Young, 22 years old daughter of the owners of Gangnam's popular cafe. She had a cottage on the outskirts of Seoul where monitoring was not installed at all, because this place was inhabited by only few people. One day, parents simply visited the daughter and found her dead, the cause was an asphyxiation, but this time with no marks on wrists and ankles. And beside her, on the bed, was a bouquet of artificial cherry blossoms, sprinkled with her blood. No signs of burglary were found in the house, which meant Hee Young had to let the killer into the house, probably knowing him. But this fact did not make anything easier, because this girl, helping her parents in the cafe, knew many people, had a lot of friends and acquaintances. Parents also mentioned that she was a nice for everyone, sociable person and had no enemies, which is why her murder was so incomprehensible to them.

The last disappearance attributed to "Cherry Blossom Reaper" was the one of two girls, talent agency trainees, since two bouquets sprinkled with their blood appeared on the road leading to their dorm. The girls were 16 years old Shim Eun A and 17 years old Kim Hae Ran. The kidnapping of both girls again took place in a place where CCTV cameras barely reached. From the distance, it was only visible that a car stopped around the corner of one of the buildings, which again resulted in the non-visibility of license plates, and the hooded figure approached the girls that were returning to the dorm. First, Eun A becomes intoxicated by putting on her face a handkerchief, probably soaked in some liquid, and then dragged to the car, in the meantime Hae Ran escapes behind the building, disappearing from view. However, the figure follows her in pursuit and soon brings back, carrying her in his hands, clearly unconscious, and puts in the car. Then the vehicle drives away, but backing up behind the building instead of driving forward. Again, as if that someone knew that if he drove forward, his car would be too visible.

In general, none of the girls had any specific enemies who could be considered suspects, especially not among men. Each of them had similar features - they were beautiful and young. Each of the girls whose bodies were found died between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. Although the cause of death was different, two of the three killed girls had visible marks on the wrists and ankles, indicating that they were probably strapped, perhaps to something like a hospital bed. However, no fingerprints or traces of foreign DNA were found on any of the bodies. Personal belongings of each of the victims that they had at the time of the abduction, such as handbags, documents or telephones, also belonging to those who still had the status of missing, were always found a few days later near the garbage dumps, of course in places where monitoring did not reach.

At first, when models from one agency disappeared, suspicion fell on the owner, 40 years old Seo In Sung. Mainly because this man was generally considered a weirdo and huge admirer of beauty, in addition the perfectionist to the exaggeration. There were also rumors that he had abused models if they had done something wrong. However, this could not be proved, besides the models who fell victim to the "Cherry Blossom Reaper" belonged rather to his favorites and he very much regretted their loss. Although he was similar in height and figure to a hooded man, and also liked to buy artificial flowers, he even had a cherry blossom bouquet in his house, but after searching his property no car was found which was even slightly similar to the one on the CCTV recordings, also none of the missing women or their bodies were found. And when the "Reaper" switched from the models to others, the case got complicated again.

Searching for a car without a visible brand or number plates was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Customers of flower shops who recently bought artificial cherry blossoms has been checked, but this search did not bring anything important to the case.

Now the latest victim was Choi Ye Eun. She disappeared on Sunday, on a road leading from a private property where a charity event was taking place. The next day, which was yesterday, her mother reported the daughter missing, and a few hours later a cherry blossom bouquet sprinkled with her blood was found. And this morning, Ye Eun's purse along with her phone, wallet and documents was found by a security guard working during night on the car junkyard, as he finished the shift and was about to go home. Of course, the phone went straight to Cyber Security Division, Digital Forensic Section, where it was supposed to be checked for Ye Eun's telephone contacts and messages. Results could be expected the next day because phone records were to be checked immediately and added to the files too, in particular to trace and check numbers that may not have been saved in the contacts or could even be protected and displayed as a 'private number'.

- Who is the "Cherry Blossom Reaper"?- Soo Min asked herself, putting down the newest folder with files about Choi Ye Eun. She glanced at the watch on her phone. It was almost 10 p.m. and the room was completely empty. She and Hyun Woo were the only ones sitting at their desks, and the darkness of the night was clearly visible through the window, slightly lit by the moon.

- Hm?- Hyun Woo pulled away from reading, hearing her words.- Going through these files, it's really hard to point anyone as the perpetrator.- he continued, sighing heavily.- Do you think we can solve this case?- asked Hyun Woo, looking at her.

- I do not know. But we have to, we can't let this person continue to roam the streets freely, abducting and killing young girls.- Soo Min replied.- Besides, only three were found dead. The rest can still be alive. Just because the bouquets were sprinkled with their blood doesn't mean he killed them. At least I want to believe it.- she added and her voice trembled slightly.

Hyun Woo looked at his partner for a while. He saw something in her eyes that made him sure that Soo Min was not as mean as she tried to be. Hyun Woo also noticed how the other detectives were treating her, especially Min Joo Chan. He didn't understand it, Soo Min was really good at what she was doing. They should praise her, not harass like this. Hyun Woo decided that he would try to stop this practice somehow, because he did not like it at all. When Hyun Woo was working in Gwangju, at his station rules were clear that upon no one should be looked down on because of the gender.

- I think that if we join forces seriously, we can finally find out who the "Cherry Blossom Reaper" is. After all, two geniuses can't fail, can they?- he said with amusement to loosen the atmosphere a little and cheer her up a bit.

- I hope, genius, that you'll be ready tomorrow morning to go out.- Soo Min answered a bit coldly, but she could not completely hide the smile which appeared on her face.

- Where are we going?- Hyun Woo asked, still cheerful, as if completely ignoring her cold tone.

- We will review the CCTV footage from the place where the bouquet sprinkled with Choi Ye Eun's blood was found and visit the area looking for witnesses, in particular the house where this charity event took place. We will also have to interview the guests of this party.- replied Soo Min.- We have a long day ahead of us, so we better go now.- she got up from the desk, hiding the last folders with files in the cabinet, and later locked the door with a key.

- Well, you're right.- Hyun Woo agreed, and they both left the room, turning off the light and closing the door.

Soo Min got into a car and drove to her apartment, and Hyun Woo went by bus to the place in which he rented the room after arriving in Seoul.