Yoo Young-chul

Starting in March 2004, Yoo called prostitutes to his residence in western Seoul and bludgeoned them after having sex with them. His prostitute victims were dismembered and mutilated to hinder their identification. They were buried in the mountains surrounding the city. Police recovered 11 bodies from the mountain behind Bongwon Temple after Yoo's arrest.

During initial interrogations, Yoo confessed to killing 19 people. On July 18, 2004, he admitted to an additional murder: the killing of a 44-year-old male street vendor. Yoo eventually confessed to killing 26 individuals on July 19, 2004, several days after his arrest, although no details were given. The list of purported victims included several individuals that did not match his prior pattern of wealthy seniors or masseuses. Friends of two of the masseuse victims, whose bodies had been recovered, claimed they were not involved in massage therapy, meaning that Yoo could have other, unreported victims. Although the "Rainy Thursday" murderer was active contemporaneously starting in April 2004, stabbing multiple women late at night in southwest Seoul, police were unable to link Yoo to those murders.

Several days later, Yoo also confessed to killing a young woman (a worker in a clothing store) on 6 February 2004 in Imun-dong after he suspected her of being a prostitute. Yoo had approached her for questioning by pretending to be a police officer. Approximately a month after his arrest, Yoo confessed to eating the flesh of his victims, although no evidence to prove this was available.

Yoo was taken into custody on 15 July 2004 and confessed to murdering as many as 19 people, initially, specifically targeting affluent senior citizens and masseuses. Yoo had raised suspicions by calling a massage parlor where several employees had recently gone missing after receiving similar phone calls, so the owner of the massage parlor, accompanied by several employees and a single police officer, went to the agreed-upon meeting place. The police officer left before Yoo arrived, and Yoo was apprehended by the employees of the massage parlor. Another police officer placed handcuffs on Yoo after he was detained by the massage parlor employees.

Police admitted they had little physical evidence linking Yoo to the murders. Yoo first appeared in court on 6 September 2004, refusing to defend himself, declaring his intention to boycott the remainder of the trial, and apologizing to the victims. Yoo boasted that he had no intention of stopping. When he was forced to return two weeks later, he lunged at the three presiding judges and recanted his confession for the February 2004 Imun-dong murder. He refused to appear at the next court session on 4 October 2004, after attempting suicide the night before. Yoo again disrupted a hearing three weeks later when he tried to attack a spectator who had cursed him, which ended with Yoo signing a statement that he would not cause further commotion.

Prosecutors requested the death penalty, which Yoo thanked them for, and Yoo was sentenced to death on 13 December 2004 for 20 counts of murder (the count of murder for the woman in Imun-dong in February 2004 was thrown out). Prosecutors appealed the verdict to secure the 21st count of murder, but the lower court's sentence was upheld on 8 June 2005 by the Supreme Court.

From September to November 2003, Yoo killed several wealthy senior citizens, breaking into their houses and bludgeoning them with a hammer. In each case, Yoo left the appearance of a robbery-homicide, although no money was taken, which confused the police investigators. When the investigation started to intensify, Yoo switched to targeting female masseuses. Yoo was briefly arrested in January 2004, on a minor theft charge but released two days later.

While in custody, Yoo feigned epileptic symptoms and escaped from the police after his restraints were loosened. However, he was re-arrested twelve hours later. Yoo had attempted to escape after being arrested in 2002 for rape by faking an epileptic seizure.

Based on the content of his apartment, searched after his arrest, there was some speculation that he patterned his killings after several movies, including Public Enemy, Very Bad Things, and Normal Life. Yoo later confessed to being inspired by serial killer Jeong Du-yeong, who had murdered nine wealthy people in Busan from 1999–2000.

His case, which appalled South Koreans, has fueled the debate on capital punishment in South Korea. Although the death penalty is still permissible under law, it has not been carried out since 1997. It appeared capital punishment might be abolished prior to Yoo's arrest, but support for the death penalty has grown since learning of his crimes.

Yoo married in 1992 and had one son. Yoo was convicted 14 times previously for several different charges, serving a total of seven years in prison prior to his string of murders.

Yoo Young-chul (유영철) (born 18 April 1970) is a South Korean serial killer and self-confessed cannibal. Admitting to murdering 20 people, mostly prostitutes and wealthy old men, the Seoul Central District Court convicted him of 20 murders (one case was dismissed on a technicality, as this case at Yimoon-dong had been committed by another serial killer Jeong Nam-gyu). Yoo burned three and mutilated at least 11 of his victims, admitting he ate the livers of some of them. He committed his crimes between September 2003 and July 2004, when he was arrested. Yoo explained his motives in front of a TV camera saying "Women shouldn't be sluts, and the rich should know what they've done."