A South Korean man has admitted to murdering his girlfriend after her remains were found during construction work, 16 years after she was first reported missing.
According to The Korea Herald, the Geoje Police and Gyenongnam Provincial Police Agency shared that the now 58-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of killing his girlfriend in 2008.
The man had allegedly fatally struck the victim, who was in her 30s, with a blunt object during an argument on Oct. 10 at their residence in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province.
He then stuffed her dead body into a suitcase, and buried it under layers of brick and cement on his balcony, which could only be accessed from one of his bedrooms.
It was only when the landlord of the building conducted demolition works to prevent water leaks, that the body was uncovered.
The suspect, who was not living at the residence at the time of arrest, had continued to live in the same unit until 2016, police investigators shared.
No other tenants had occupied the unit after the suspect as the landlord had utilised it as a storage area.
The man was arrested at his new residence in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, and admitted to the killing when questioned.
He was also found to be under the influence of drugs at the time of the arrest, and will face additional charges.
Deceased identified
The deceased, which had been partially preserved by the suitcase, has since been identified through fingerprint analysis.
Investigations revealed showed that the victim had next to no contact with her own family, which meant that a missing person's report was not filed until three years after her death in 2011.
According to BBC, the victim's parents had tried to look for their estranged daughter in the city, but were told that the couple had split and she had left the city.
Investigations are still ongoing.
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Top photo from Geoje Police via The Korea Herald