SBS Unanswered Questions (hereafter 'Unanswered Questions') is digging into the shocking truth behind a secret burial that stayed hidden for six years.
The June 20 broadcast of 'Unanswered Questions' will spotlight the long-buried secrets of a murder case that surfaced after six years.
In March, an elementary school teacher in Siheung alerted police after a new first-grader was absent for an extended period. The student appeared at school the day after the entrance ceremony with their mother to submit an experiential learning form, then never returned—even after the supposed program ended. The mother also became unreachable, prompting police to launch an immediate investigation.
Officers visited the family's home to find the child and guardian, but the residence was empty, and the mother's phone turned up in the apartment's emergency stairwell. CCTV analysis showed the mother moving to a nearby motel with a man. When police arrived at the property, the man who opened the door was Mr. Lim, the mother's ex-boyfriend.
During questioning, the mother claimed she did not know the child's whereabouts, but she was urgently arrested on suspicion of child abuse. Mr. Lim was also questioned and later made a shocking confession: he said he personally buried the body of a child who had already died in a wooded hillside.
Search teams found a body at the location Mr. Lim indicated. It had been wrapped in a blanket, sealed in a black plastic bag, and buried. Identification revealed the remains were not those of the 9-year-old girl who had recently enrolled in elementary school, but of Gaon (alias), a 28-month-old girl who went missing six years ago. The remains were already skeletal.
The mother insisted Gaon suffocated after getting tangled in a blanket while playing alone. Mr. Lim testified that he helped dispose of the body because he loved the mother. But one burning question remains: if so, then who was the 9-year-old enrolled in elementary school under Gaon's name?
The death of 28-month-old Gaon, the truth hidden behind it, and the full story of the shocking case finally exposed after six years will be revealed on SBS 'Unanswered Questions' airing at 11:10 p.m. that day.