MO MO - Jeong Hyok Im, 72, Columbia, 7 Jan 2005

MU police released a photograph Tuesday of the weapon they say was used in the 9-month-old unsolved homicide of an MU researcher, along with more details about a man and vehicle seen close to the scene of the researcher’s death.

Jeong H. Im, a retired MU research professor, was found dead of multiple stab wounds at 12:24 p.m. Jan. 7 in the trunk of his Honda in the Maryland Avenue parking garage.

The car had been set on fire and was parked in the driving lane of the garage’s third level. Police responded after someone used a campus emergency phone to report the fire.
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16363

I knew Dr. Im personally - we had monthly lab meetings with him. My current boss worked side by side with him for many years. I've been reading WS for over a year but actually just registered a month or so ago. Today I got curious as to whether Dr. Im's murder was ever discussed here. Dr. Im was a very small man. It probably would not take much to subdue him, although I expect he would fight hard against whoever was attacking him. He was kind and funny, but also straightforward as to his beliefs. He was meticulous in his science. It's been over a year since his murder, so the initial upset has subsided to a degree. It has been replaced with anger because no one seems to care about what happened to him.

As far as I can tell, MU PD still has no leads. Dr. Im was murdered at lunchtime in a crowded parking garage, yet no one seems to have notice anything unusual. This garage is the one where all doctors, nurses and employees of the medical school (including the graduate departments) park. Graduate students are allowed to park there as well, but only on the top three floors. I say all of this to underscore how implausible it seems that no one saw anything of use. There was a sketch floating around of a tall man wearing a painter's mask and carrying a gas can. This man had time to stab Dr. Im, put him in the trunk of his car and set it on fire without anyone driving or walking by and noticing anything unusual?

There are many sites on the internet claiming that his murder was part of a larger conspiracy. Some of the people mentioned as possible targets are people that I am extremely close to. Honestly, the conspiracy theories are absurd if you actually know anything about the scientific research that Dr. Im was involved in.

Which leads to three possibilities - attempted robbery gone bad, a racially motivated killing or a killing by someone he knew.

I can say with 100% certainty that no one that he worked with killed him.

This is the link to the latest information:
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2006/jan/20060122Show001.asp

I did some simple web searching and found the following:

http://www.securityoncampus.org/update/immurder/immurder1.html
Car pic
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/JeffWells/im-car.jpg

. . .MU police Capt. Brian Weimer said evidence and interviews indicate that Im died and was placed in the car between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. and that one or more suspects returned to set the fire in the Maryland Avenue parking garage between noon and 12:20 p.m. . .

Click to expand...

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Feb/20050210News006.asp


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Example of weird theories?
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/suspicious012805.cfm
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/01/another-microbiologist-murdered.html
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i had never read anything on this case before today! i will certainly be following it in the future. also going to breeze over to CTV site where i also post to see if there is anything on this unsolved murder. feel badly for family and friends.

bnhall said:

. . .This man had time to stab Dr. Im, put him in the trunk of his car and set it on fire without anyone driving or walking by and noticing anything unusual?. . .

Click to expand...

. . .MU police Capt. Brian Weimer said evidence and interviews indicate that Im died and was placed in the car between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. and that one or more suspects returned to set the fire in the Maryland Avenue parking garage between noon and 12:20 p.m. . .

Click to expand...

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Feb/20050210News006.asp

Then police are evidently saying the perp/s returned to set the car on fire at a later time, between noon and 20 after.

What time does the lunch crowd hit that area? If lunch crowd goes from 11 am to noon I can see someone having to wait until after that to return to set the fire but if lunch crowd was expected from noon to 1 pm that makes me think that this almost sounds as if someone had a class or a job to go to and then used lunch hour to set the fire.

bnhall said:

. . .There are many sites on the internet claiming that his murder was part of a larger conspiracy. Some of the people mentioned as possible targets are people that I am extremely close to. Honestly, the conspiracy theories are absurd if you actually know anything about the scientific research that Dr. Im was involved in.. . .

Click to expand...

I saw some of the conspiracy websites and even included a link or two in a different post just because you had mentioned them.

bnhall said:

. . .Which leads to three possibilities - attempted robbery gone bad, a racially motivated killing or a killing by someone he knew.. . .

Click to expand...

He was stabbed multiple times so this sounds like more than a robbery, especially since you pointed out that it would not take much to subdue him. Of course I could be wrong. I am working with little real info.

Unless this was a place of racism I find the racially motivated killing least likely at this point, especially if no hate words or symbols were left behind. However if you tell me he had been having a run in with hate a group that would change my view.

The last thing you mentioned was murder by someone he knew and statistically that is the most likely.

Note for readers in general: People tend to take that to mean you are likely to be murdered by a close friend but it really is that most victems are killed by someone at least acquainted with them. This could be someone that has seen you pass by in the hall of a building a few times. It could be someone that delivers messages or does landscaping for the grounds around building you work in. It could be the guy that picks up your trash every week. Yes, a murderer can also be a coworker or a relative or a friend but the relationship does not have to be that close as I explained.

The multiple stab wounds in this case make me think of anger and the timing of the kill and the returning to set fire suggests either a familiarity with the parking garage busy time or may even point to someone who had a class or job to attend to that made them have to return to finish the job.

Was Im's routine such that one could expect him to leave the building at the time he did that day?

I tend to leave out coworkers for the time being thinking a student would tend to be more likely to be unbalanced. Students have to study at a breakneck pace sometimes and some begin taking meth to help them keep up the pace and that can lead to all sorts of bad things.

Police: DNA ties dead man to Mo. prof's '05 murder

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=19288872&ps=1011&cat=&cps=0&lang=en

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Authorities announced Wednesday that they know who killed a University of Missouri professor in a campus parking garage eight years ago, but that they may never be able to explain the vicious attack because the suspect committed suicide last summer.

Campus police said at a hastily arranged news conference that two people recently implicated Timothy Aaron Hoag in the Jan. 7, 2005, stabbing death of 72-year-old Jeong Hyok Im, whose body was stuffed into the trunk of his car, which was then set on fire. Blood, hair and DNA evidence collected at the crime scene has been matched to Hoag, said campus police Chief Jack Watring.

In August, Hoag jumped to his death from the roof of a city parking garage without leaving a suicide note behind. He was 35 years old. Those who implicated Hoag said they did so only after he died because they were afraid he might harm them, Watring said. Hoag's criminal record includes assault and drug convictions.............

University police Capt. Brian Weimer said Hoag apparently didn't know Im and investigators don't know why he killed him............

"This loss was a very, very traumatic one for our university," said Chancellor Brady Deaton. "Our hearts were broken for the Im family. ... It's haunted us for the past eight years."

Watring did not disclose the names of those who implicated Hoag. He said investigators believe Hoag acted alone and that they don't consider either of the witnesses to be accomplices in Im's killing............

More at link.....

Reader said:

Police: DNA ties dead man to Mo. prof's '05 murder

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=19288872&ps=1011&cat=&cps=0&lang=en

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Authorities announced Wednesday that they know who killed a University of Missouri professor in a campus parking garage eight years ago, but that they may never be able to explain the vicious attack because the suspect committed suicide last summer.

Campus police said at a hastily arranged news conference that two people recently implicated Timothy Aaron Hoag in the Jan. 7, 2005, stabbing death of 72-year-old Jeong Hyok Im, whose body was stuffed into the trunk of his car, which was then set on fire. Blood, hair and DNA evidence collected at the crime scene has been matched to Hoag, said campus police Chief Jack Watring.

In August, Hoag jumped to his death from the roof of a city parking garage without leaving a suicide note behind. He was 35 years old. Those who implicated Hoag said they did so only after he died because they were afraid he might harm them, Watring said. Hoag's criminal record includes assault and drug convictions.............

University police Capt. Brian Weimer said Hoag apparently didn't know Im and investigators don't know why he killed him............

"This loss was a very, very traumatic one for our university," said Chancellor Brady Deaton. "Our hearts were broken for the Im family. ... It's haunted us for the past eight years."

Watring did not disclose the names of those who implicated Hoag. He said investigators believe Hoag acted alone and that they don't consider either of the witnesses to be accomplices in Im's killing............

More at link.....

Click to expand...

Wow, what a wonderful breakthrough to finally be able to find the murderer of Prof. Ihm.