유병언 전 세모그룹 회장(73)의 시신이 발견된 가운데, 표창원 범죄과학연구소장은 유씨가 도주 과정에서 저체온증 등으로 자연사했을 가능성이 크다는 의견을 밝혔다.
경찰대 교수를 지낸 프로파일러 표창원 범죄과학연구소 소장은 22일 YTN라디오, CBS라디오와 인터뷰에서 “유병언의 소지품으로 추정되는 물품 중에 눈에 띄는 게 나무지팡이다. 처음부터 거동이 자유롭지 않아서 가지고 다녔을 수도 있고, 도주 과정에서 발목을 꺾이거나 했을 가능성도 있다”면서 “그랬다면 급하게 도주하는 과정에서 다른 건장한 조력자들은 도주를 하고 유병언은 오래 걷지 못하는 상태에서 밤을 지새웠다면 아마 저체온증 등의 자연적인 이유로 사망했을 가능성도 충분히 있다”고 설명했다.
다만 “오대양 사건의 반대로 그 조력자들이 유병언에 대한 도주기간에 환멸을 느꼈다든지 그래서 살해하고 도주했을 가능성도 여전히 열려있다”며 타살 가능성도 언급했다.
표창원 소장은 ‘종교적 신념으로 뭉친 사람들이 교주 역할, 지도자 역할을 하는 사람을 버릴 수 있을까?’라는 질문에 “유병언과의 관계가 과연 종교적 내지는 믿음으로만 이뤄졌겠느냐 하는 부분이 있다. 이해관계가 상당 부분 작용했을 수 있다”며 “유병언은 돈이 많고 그와 함께 있게 되면 돈을 나눠 쓸 수 있고 가질 수 있고. 한데 마지막 도주 과정 중에 결국 유병언에게 미래가 없다고 판단했을 경우에는 무조건적인 충성심과 신앙, 신뢰, 의리 같은 것들보다는 이해관계가 ‘나부터 살고 보자’ 라고 됐을 가능성은 충분히 있다”고 답했다.
유씨의 사망 시점과 관련해선 “(5월 25일 순천 별장에서 경찰의 급습을 받고) 급하게 도주를 하는 과정에서 다른 조력자들과 헤어지고 혼자 남겨지고 하면서 사망했을 가능성이 가장 높아 보인다”며 “결국은 5월 25일경이 될 것”이라고 추정했다.
이어 표 소장은 유 씨의 시신 복장에 대해서 “아무리 여름이라고 하더라도 산이나 야외에서의 야간은 대단히 춥다. 그리고 야외를 포함한 도주 계획을 세웠던 유병언 쪽으로서는 그러한 복장을 준비했을 가능성이 높고 나이도 많다”면서 “그렇다면 겨울용 외투를 입고 야외에서 한밤 정도를 지낼 계획을 했을 가능성을 본다면 그 복장은 크게 이해 못 할 것은 아니다”고 말했다.
또한 유씨의 시신이 불과 보름 만에 심하게 부패한 데 대해서는 “시신의 부패라는 게 워낙 많은 조건의 영향을 받기 때문에 일반적이진 않지만 불가능하지도 않다”면서 “상처나 출혈이 있었느냐 여부도 (시신 부패에) 상당히 많이 영향을 준다. 동물이나 곤충, 습도를 비롯한 날씨, (사망자) 내부의 건강상태 등이 많은 영향을 주기 때문에 (시신이 보름 만에 심하게 부패하는 게) 불가능하지는 않다”고 설명했다.
표 소장은 변사체의 DNA와 유병언의 DNA가 일치한다는 경찰의 발표에 대해 “DNA 결과는 의심의 여지가 없다고 생각한다. 다른 형제나 쌍둥이가 있지 않는 한 유병언의 시신은 맞다고 보는 것이 타당할 것”이라고 말했다.
그러면서 그는 유씨의 사망으로 수사에 차질이 빚어질 가능성을 우려했다.
그는 “유 전 회장과 유착한 정관계 인사들이 누구였는지, (유 전 회장이) 그들(유 전 회장과 유착한 정관계 인사들)에게 어떤 뇌물이나 향응을 제공했는지, (유 전 회장이 뇌물이나 향응을 제공하고) 그 반대급부로 무엇을 바랐는지, 세월호 침몰 원인의 한 축일 수 있는 썩은 뿌리가 어디까지인지 등이 밝혀지기 어려워질 우려가 있다”고 말했다.
한편 유병언 전 회장의 정확한 사인은 일주일 쯤 지나 국과수 2차 감식 결과에서 나올 것으로 보인다. (헤럴드경제)
Police confirm Sewol owner Yoo Byung-eun’s death
The police confirmed Tuesday that a dead body, found by a farmer in a city in South Jeolla Province on June 12, is that of Yoo Byung-eun, owner of the capsized ferry Sewol.
Investigators identified the body though fingerprint comparison and DNA samples, Suncheon Police Station chief Woo Hyung-ho said at a news briefing.
Woo said the fingerprints match those of the 73-year-old fugitive and DNA samples approximately match those of his older brother, Byung-il. The older Yoo had been taken into custody for allegedly pocketing funds from affiliates of Chonghaejin Marine Co., the operator of the ill-fated ferry.
Woo admitted that the police had been somewhat negligent in investigating the body when the plum field owner notified the investigative agency about the body in early June.
Though the corpse was delivered to a hospital in Suncheon right after the farmer reported it, a lock of hair and some bone fragments from the remains were found to have been left in the field for more than a month, during which time police allegedly failed to identify the body due to the advanced state of decay.
Police and the prosecution said they are waiting for the final results from the National Forensic Service, which is conducting a DNA test on the body.
Reportedly, investigators at that time -- or several days or weeks after the farmer’s notification -- sent DNA samples from the body, but not the whole corpse, to a regional forensic agency in a standard manner to identify the corpse.
Insiders raised the possibility that investigators may have regarded the body as that of an elderly resident from the provincial district.
Investigators had reportedly told the plum farm owner that the body “seemed to be an ordinary homeless person.”
But law enforcement agencies -- reportedly unexpectedly -- were informed by the National Forensic Service late Monday (about 40 days after the farmer’s report) that the body could be that of Yoo.
The dubious situation is widening the speculation that investigators sent the DNA sample of the body to the forensic agency “not immediately after the June 12 report but recently.”
On early Tuesday, the hospital handed over the corpse to the Seoul unit of the National Forensic Service, whose headquarters are located in Wonju, Gangwon Province.
“Should the forensic agency further reiterate its research position that the body is Yoo, the prosecution is expected to halt its full-fledged effort to indict him,” an investigator said.
The forensic agency, which secured the body on Tuesday, said it had found “no trace of murder.” But it had yet to clarify its final stance as of 7 p.m. on the same day.
Some netizens are denouncing the prosecution for not securing the body immediately after it was found by the farm owner in early June. The prosecution, which saw the initial warrant for Yoo expire, again asked the Incheon District Court to issue a second arrest warrant on Monday, vowing to capture him in the coming months.
Some Internet users have cast a series of doubts, saying that they do not trust the authorities and their remarks. They cited shady investigative results and a lack of evidence. “How could policemen at that time fail to recognize the nation’s most wanted (criminal,) Yoo Byung-eun? It is unreasonable for a body to decompose to an unrecognizable level in only three weeks.”
But renowned criminal profiler Pyo Chang-won echoed the view of police, citing factors for severe decay such as high temperature, humidity and rapidly multiplying bacteria. The former professor of the Korean National Police University alleged that some of Yoo’s aides, who were accompanying him during his flight, might have eventually deserted him.
On an aired program, Pyo and lawyer Yang Ji-yeol dismissed the possibility that the runaway committed suicide. The two criminal affair pundits highlighted a memo written by Yoo, and recently obtained by the prosecution, in which he sneered at law enforcement authorities.
Both of them raised the scenario that Yoo died a natural death from hypothermia.
A Seoul-based lawyer said he had not ruled out the possibility that Yoo’s aides offered him poisoned water or other drinks.
A spokesman for the Salvation Sect, which was led by the ferry owner, downplayed the announcement that the body is really that of Yoo. He was quoted by a news provider as saying that the corpse appears not to be Yoo “in consideration of a variety of circumstances (involving the estimated time of death of the unidentified figure).”
While police said that some liquor bottles were also discovered near the dead body, the religious sect’s spokesman reportedly stressed that he is a teetotaler.
Meanwhile, there are speculations that the nationwide manhunt for their religious leader and the variety of misconduct committed by the Yoo family, revealed over the past few months, could have weakened many devotees’ faith in Yoo and the sect.
Later in the day, the National Police Agency discharged Suncheon Police Station chief Woo from his post and hinted that more senior officers would also be held accountable for lax probes.
Yoo has been suspected of overlooking the risks of overloading the Sewol vessel with freight early this year, even though the ferry had a weakened ability to recover left-and-right balance when turning, due to a renovation that added more cabins to the vessel.
The irregularity-saddled business tycoon escaped after the April 16 sinking disaster, which had a death toll of 294 as of July 22.
(kys@heraldcorp.com)
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