Police suspect foul play in case of woman missing for over 40 days

(Herald DB)

Police said Tuesday they were investigating whether a former boyfriend was behind the disappearance of a woman in her 50s who has been missing for 42 days.

The woman was reported missing by her daughter on Oct. 16, two days after she was last seen by her colleagues clocking out at work in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. Her sports utility vehicle was last filmed by a surveilance camera at a three-way junction at Oeha-dong in the same city, at around 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 15.

According to local media outlets, police are considering the possibility of foul play and have idenitifed the woman's ex-boyfriend, also in his 50s, as a possible suspect.

After leaving work at around 6 p.m. on Oct. 14, he returned home after 5 p.m. on Oct. 15, which was the day the woman had gone missing.

The former boyfriend had used a sim card registered under another person's name during that period, and told the police he did not remember exactly what he did that day. It was also reported that the two had quarreled multiple times even after they had broken up.

Police said they are "open to all possibilities," and are focusing their resources on finding the woman and her car. A special search team and helicopters were deployed to the area where the woman was last seen, but have not yet located either her or her vehicle.