| '그것이 알고싶다' 포항 경추골절 사망사건 주홍철 기자 jhc@kjdaily.com |
| 2023년 11월 11일(토) 08:14 |
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오늘(11일) 밤 방송되는 SBS '그것이 알고싶다'는 아내를 폭행한 뒤 바다에 빠뜨려 숨지게 한 '포항 경추골절 사망사건'의 진실을 파헤친다.
노후를 위해 포항의 끝자락 양포항으로 내려와 작은 식당을 열었다는 부부. 결혼한 지 35년이 지났지만 늘 함께 다녀 마을 사람들에게 잉꼬부부로 알려져 있었다고 한다. 그러던 지난 2018년 1월 27일 오전, 남편 이정구(가명) 씨가 밤사이 아내가 사라졌다며 이웃들에게 다급한 소식을 전해왔다. 전날 밤 함께 가게에서 술을 마시고 잠들었는데, 새벽에 일어나보니 뒷문이 열려 있고 아내 박민영(가명) 씨가 보이지 않았다는 것이다.
외출하는 아내를 목격했다는 이웃들도 나타나지 않자 아내를 직접 찾아 나섰다는 남편 이 씨. 그런데 그날 오후 가게에서 60m 떨어진 바닷가 앞에서 민영 씨의 신발이 발견되자, 평온했던 마을이 발칵 뒤집히게 된다. 경찰은 민영 씨가 바다에서 극단적인 선택을 했을 가능성을 염두에 두고 신발이 놓여있던 부근을 수색하기 시작했는데, 열흘 만에 약 900m 떨어진 방파제 인근에서 민영 씨의 시신이 발견됐다. 그 모습은 충격적이었다.
”수의를 입히는 과정에서 고개가 아래로 떨구듯이 꺾여버리니까.
아, 목뼈가 완전히 부러졌구나.“
- 장례식장 관계자
놀랍게도 민영 씨의 목은 5, 6번 뼈가 완전히 분리돼있었다. 교통사고나 다이빙 사고가 아니면 웬만한 외력으로는 분리되기 어렵다는 목뼈. 목 근육에 다량의 출혈이 발견되면서, 법의학자들은 그녀가 살아있을 때 강력한 외력이 작용했다고 추정했다. 굉장히 고통스러웠을 상황에서 물에 빠져 사망한 것으로 추정되는 민영 씨. 오른쪽 눈썹 위에 찢어진 상처까지 발견되면서, 누군가의 폭행에 의해 사망했을 가능성이 제기되었다.
그런데 실종 전날 밤 11시 8분경, 민영 씨가 남편이 때린다며 112에 신고했다가 곧바로 취소한 기록이 확인되면서 남편 이 씨가 용의자로 떠오르게 된다. 이 씨는 그날 밤 다툼은 있었지만 심하게 폭행하지 않았고, 아내를 유기했다는 증거도 없다며 억울하다고 주장했다. 폭행하는 과정에서 목뼈가 부러지는 경우는 드물고, 극단적인 선택을 하다가 목뼈가 부러졌을 가능성도 있다는 법의학자들의 의견도 더해지면서, 진실공방은 5년째 계속되고 있다.
경찰은 직접증거가 부족하다고 판단해 불기소 의견으로 검찰에 송치했고, 남편 이 씨를 재수사한 검찰이 4년 만에 그를 상해치사 혐의 등으로 기소했다. 그리고 지난 7월, 1심 법원은 이 씨에게 6년형을 선고했다. 전날까지 멀쩡했던 찻상이 다음날 부서진 채로 출입구 쪽에 놓여 있다가 이후 사라진 정황과 이불에 묻어있던 핏자국이 폭행의 간접증거로 인정된 것이다. 그리고 아내가 사라졌다며 남편이 주변 사람들에게 전화해 울먹거리던 중, 혼잣말이 기록된 차량 블랙박스도 유죄의 근거로 작용했다.
”아유, 큰일 났다. 진짜 답답하네...
여기 어디가 째졌던 건가. 진짜 골치 아프네...“
- 남편 이 씨의 블랙박스 음성
아내를 찾느라 다급했던 상황에서 차가 고장 나 혼잣말을 했을 뿐, 결코 아내를 살해하고 유기한 적은 없다며 결백을 호소하는 남편 이 씨. 그날의 진실은 무엇이며, 민영 씨는 왜 사망한 걸까. 오늘 11일(토) 밤 11시 10분에 방송되는 '그것이 알고싶다'에서는 피해자의 인체조직 정보를 입력해 손상 여부를 확인할 수 있는 최신 ‘구조해석 시뮬레이션’을 통해 목뼈 골절의 메커니즘을 분석하고 외력의 정체를 추적한다. 또 ‘해류분석 시뮬레이션’을 통해 최초의 입수지점은 어디인지 검증하고, 시신이 열흘 만에 발견된 숨겨진 이유를 파헤친다.
뉴미디어부 주홍철 기자 jhc@kjdaily.com
-다음은 SBS '그것이 알고싶다' 예고 기사 요약본과 이를 번역한 영어 전문이다. 기사 번역에 다소 오류가 있을 수 있다.
SBS' 'I Want to Know That', which airs tonight (11th), uncovers the truth about the 'Pohang cervical spine fracture death case' in which the wife was assaulted and then drowned in the sea.
A couple came down to Yangpo Port, at the end of Pohang, to retire and opened a small restaurant. It is said that although 35 years had passed since their marriage, she always went together and they were known to the villagers as a lovebird couple. Then, on the morning of January 27, 2018, her husband, Lee Jeong-gu (pseudonym), delivered urgent news to his neighbors, saying that his wife had disappeared overnight. The night before, they drank together at a store and fell asleep, but when they woke up at dawn, the back door was open and her wife, Park Min-young (pseudonym), was nowhere to be seen.
When the neighbors who said they saw her going out did not show up, her husband went out to find her himself. However, when Minyoung's shoes were discovered in front of the beach 60 meters away from the store that afternoon, the peaceful village was turned upside down. The police began searching the area where Min-young's shoes were, keeping in mind the possibility that she had made an extreme choice at sea. Ten days later, Min-young's body was discovered near a breakwater about 900 meters away. The sight was shocking.
“In the process of putting on the shroud, his head was bent down.
Oh, his neck is completely broken."
- Funeral home official
Surprisingly, the 5th and 6th bones in Minyoung's neck were completely separated. The cervical vertebrae are difficult to separate by any external force unless there is a car accident or diving accident. As massive bleeding was found in her neck muscles, her forensic scientists assumed that a strong external force had been exerted on her while she was alive. Minyoung is presumed to have died by drowning in what must have been extremely painful circumstances. As a torn wound was discovered above his right eyebrow, it was raised that he may have died as a result of someone's assault.
However, at around 11:08 p.m. the night before her disappearance, it was confirmed that Min-young called 112, saying that her husband was hitting her, and then canceled it immediately, and her husband, Lee, emerged as a suspect. Mr. Lee claimed that it was unfair, saying that although there was an argument that night, he did not severely assault his wife, and there was no evidence that he abandoned his wife. The truth battle has been going on for five years, with forensic scientists adding that it is rare for a neck bone to be broken during an assault, and that there is a possibility that the neck bone was broken while making an extreme choice.
The police judged that there was insufficient direct evidence and sent it to the prosecution with the opinion of not indicting, and the prosecution, which reinvestigated her husband, indicted him on charges of causing injury and causing death after four years. And last July, the first trial court sentenced Mr. Lee to six years in prison. The fact that the tea table, which had been fine until the day before, was left broken at the entrance the next day and later disappeared, and the blood stains on the blanket were recognized as indirect evidence of assault. And while the husband was crying and calling people around him saying that his wife had disappeared, the vehicle's black box, which recorded his self-talk, also served as the basis for his conviction.
“Oh, we’re in big trouble. It's really frustrating...
Where was the slit here? “It’s really a pain in the ass...”
- Husband Lee’s black box voice
The husband pleads his innocence, saying that he only muttered to himself when his car broke down while he was in a desperate search for his wife, and that he never murdered or abandoned his wife. What is the truth of that day, and why did Minyoung die? In 'I Want to Know That', which will be broadcast at 11:10 pm on the 11th (Saturday), the mechanism of cervical fractures is analyzed through the latest 'structural analysis simulation', which allows you to input the victim's human tissue information and check for damage. trace the identity of In addition, through ‘ocean current analysis simulation’, we verify where the first point of acquisition was and uncover the hidden reason why the body was discovered 10 days later.
New Media Department Reporter Joo Hong-cheol jhc@kjdaily.com
주홍철 기자 jhc@kjdaily.com