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New details emerge on Annandale electrocution homicide


Yeon was murdered in this house at 7160 Pennys Town Court.

New details have emerged about the murder of Kum
Yeon, 56, in Annandale last month. According to reports by WTOP and the
Washington Post, she was killed by electrocution after making a sex tape with a
73-year-old man in his home in the 7100 block of Pennys Town Court. The man,
still in Fairfax Hospital on life support, is being investigated as a homicide
suspect but has not been charged.

Yeon, a resident of Alexandria, had been reported
missing on Dec. 21 by her daughter. The Alexandria Police Department notified
the Fairfax Police Department, and they obtained a search warrant.  

After knocking on the door later that day, they peered through a
basement window and saw Yeon lying naked on the floor handcuffed to a fully
clothed man. When officers knocked again, the man tied a heavy-gauged electrical
cord around his wrist. It was attached to awls jammed into a circuit breaker,
and he began to convulse.
Investigators say he had left a note saying he
wanted to kill Yeon and himself, and there was a DVD lying next
to them with a printed label indicating that it was a recording of the two engaged
in sex earlier that day. 

Police have not released the name of the suspect, but the Annandale Blog has learned he is Jae Hyun Cho. The Washington Post says new information in the case emerged after a search warrant for a green Ford SUV owned by the suspect became public. A search of the vehicle’s contents didn’t turn up Yeon’s belongings, blood, body fluids, restraints, or other evidence. Fairfax County Police do not believe Yeon was abducted.

Yeon’s daughter had called the police because she was worried that her mother “was not following her normal routine,” an Alexandria police spokesperson told Post reporter Justin Jouvenal. The Alexandria Police Department brought in Fairfax County Police to investigate an endangered missing person case. According to the news report, “One of Yeon’s family members described her as loving and religious, but said the family was too upset to comment further.”

Cho had been renting a basement apartment at 7160 Pennys Town Court from the home’s owner, Sunny Bell, for less than a year. Bell told the Post his tenant was a handyman originally from Korea and that she had no problems with him and did not know Yeon.

As a handyman, Cho had experience fixing refrigerators, computers, and electrical items. He had been unconscious when first brought to the hospital but is now awake. 

9 responses to “New details emerge on Annandale electrocution homicide

  1. Would that be a LEGAL basement apartment that is ready for inspection by our ever watchful Fairfax County "code compliance"?

  2. Seems like the basement was rented to a non-relative, which per se is probably not allowed by the county code in most dwellings.

  3. Update: The FCPD reported Jan. 14 that the suspect, Jai Hyun Cho, 73, died of the injuries he sustained in the Dec. 21 incident. Detectives had obtained a murder warrant for him.

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