WI WI - Wook Kim, 22, University of Wisconsin student from South Korea, 15 July 1993

[dotr]

4414DMWI - Wook Kim

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Name: Wook Kim
Case Classification: Missing
Missing Since: July 15, 1993
Location Last Seen: Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin

Physical Description
Date of Birth: January 2, 1971
Age: 22 years old
Race: Asian or Pacific Islander
Gender: Male
Height: 5'4" - 5'8"
Weight: 120 - 160 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers
Dentals: Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: A light colored t-shirt or pullover and slacks and white tennis shoes.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance
Kim, a history student from South Korea, was last seen by his now deceased driving instructor who claimed that he dropped Kim off at his apartment on July 15, 1993 at 1:15 p.m. Kim was never seen again and all of his property including his identification was left in his apartment. Family and friends reported him missing on July 29, 1993. He was a junior at the University of Wisconsin at the time. He has not been seen nor heard from since.

 

[dotr]

Noting that Wook was recently suggested on this thread..
The Asian Male - UP9355

 

[JerseyGirl]

Noting that Wook was recently suggested on this thread..
The Asian Male - UP9355

suggested here too:

PA - PA - Philadelphia, AsianMale 1213UMPA, 20-30, GSW, in restroom, Apr'94

 

[SisterGrimm]

Wook Kim doesn't look happy in either of the pictures posted on his Charley Project.

 

[Pennysmom1]

Wook Kim

Missing Since July 15, 1993 Wook Kim, originally from South Korea, was studying History as a 22 year-old Junior at UW-Madison when he disappeared on July 15, 1993. His driving instructor, now deceased, was the last person to see him. He claimed to have dropped Kim off at his home that day around...

www.wimissing.org

 

[ekardh]

I'm going to assume that the driving instructor was checked out and cleared.

He does look pensive in those photos, as @SisterGrimm pointed out, but you can't always read anything into that. Nevertheless, maybe he was depressed, stressed about his studies, and ran away or took his own life and his body is unrecoverable?

 

[JSolt1210]

The fact that "all of his property including his identification was left in his apartment" suggests to me that he made it back home after his driving lesson. I can't imagine going to a driving lesson without ID, especially as a foreigner studying abroad, because what if there was an accident?

This also rules him out to me as being the Asian males found in Philadelphia or Gilgo Beach, NY. Even in the '90s, I still remember having to show a photo ID before boarding a bus or a plane. How did he do any of these without ID? How did he even buy tickets? This was before most people had internet, so he would've had to purchase the tickets in person or by phone.

Did he then hitchhike all the way Philadelphia or New York? From Wisconsin to either of those cities is a great distance. How did no one come forward remembering him as a hitchhiker? Plus, did Wook Kim really know his way around the US like that already?

I think whatever happened to him occurred in the vicinity, and he just hasn't been found.

 

[Pennysmom1]

Wook Kim - Wisconsin Missing Person Directory

Details and Pictures of Wook Kim, Missing since July 1993

www.missingin.org

 

[dotr]

Wook Kim - Wisconsin Missing Person Directory

Details and Pictures of Wook Kim, Missing since July 1993

www.missingin.org

Thank you for the bump, unfortunately my computer is blocking the link.

4414DMWI - Wook Kim

''Missing Since: July 15, 1993
Location Last Seen: Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin
Date of Birth: January 2, 1971
Age: 22 years old
Race: Asian or Pacific Islander
Gender: Male
Height: 5'4" - 5'8"
Weight: 120 - 160 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown''

 

[Keiri]

Happier photo and more info here

Work Kim

Clipping found in The Capital Times published in Madison, Wisconsin on 8/3/1993. Work Kim

www.newspapers.com

 

[Keiri]

Wook Kim – The Charley Project

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

No Wisconsin comps.
The Gilgo beach suggestion seems so unlikely to me. But they didn’t run a comparison with him or the Pennsylvania one posted above.
Comps other than Virginia: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

To me it’d be far more likely to be this guy The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
I’ll recommend it to the mke police when I can. He’s shorter, but it’s hard to figure out a height of skeletal remains.

 

[Keiri]

I reported it to Madison instead, the detective I’ve been emailing with. Here’s a snip of what I sent.

I want to suggest a comparison for wook Kim, NamUs case The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

This Asian male was found in 1998 and had clothing from a mental institution. If wook kim was suffering from depression, he might have checked himself in. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

This person is asian, but shorter than wook kim was. However the remains were skeletal, and thus the measurement could be off.

According to 4414DMWI - Wook Kim wook’s dna is available. I also see this for the unknown: DNA: mtDNA and nucDNA available at UNT. Ref #UNTHSC-10-3419.1

 

[Keiri]

Heard back, this has been given to the detective on the case to look into.

 

[Keiri]

You know what I don't get? I know public records aren't perfect, but Wook Kim vanished on July 15, 1993.
This record is from 1995:

Wook Kim
1995
123 N Blount St Apt 204
Madison, WI
53703-4601

​

Also interesting is the other record:
Name Wook Kim
Address 112 Langdon St
Residence Madison, WI
Postal Code 53703-1350
Second Residence Date 1992
Second Address 515 State St Apt 2b
Second Residence Madison, WI
Second Postal Code 53703-1060
Third Residence Date 1992
Third Address 14455 37th Ave
Third Residence Flushing, NY
Third Postal Code 11354-5933
Fourth Address 505 N Frances St # 603
Fourth Residence Madison, WI
Fourth Postal Code 53703-1006

That's a lot of apartment hopping. And that one in Flushing is interesting. I'd like to know what his apartment actually was, the one that he went missing from.

 

[Aurora90]

Interesting, so he was also in NY.

 

[Keiri]

Interesting, so he was also in NY.

MAYBE. It may be a different Wook Kim entirely. It's just the only Madison Wook Kim records come with that as assigned to the same person, which is sometimes wrong.

 

[Keiri]

I looked into it and I think the Wook Kim in Flushing is definitely not the same person:
Name Wook Kim
Residence Date 1992
Address 14455 37th Ave
Residence Flushing, NY
Postal Code 11354-5933

In 1992, Wook Kim (our guy) was still in Madison, so this is just another example of a messed up public record.
Join Ancestry® at Ancestry if you have it

 

[Feme98]

Heard back, this has been given to the detective on the case to look into.

I hope the detective finds what they need.

 

[Keiri]

The body in Milwaukee, according to doe network, has been determined to be Vietnamese. So it is not Wook Kim.

 

[ekardh]

Could it be that his body is in Lake Mendota or Lake Monona?