On February 10th, there was a murder case in which a 8-year-old girl, Haneul, was killed by a 48-year-old teacher at Daejeon Elementary School.

According to police investigations, a teacher killed the girl after returning to work in December 2024 from a medical leave for severe depression. Four days before the incident, the same teacher choked and twisted a colleague’s arm. The school requested another leave for the teacher, but it did not result in a termination.

On February 10th, Haneul stayed in an afterschool care class until 4:40 pm, but she did not ride her scheduled art academy ride. The driver of the art academy called the teacher to inform Haneul had not come yet. The teachers tried to find Haneul but failed. So at 4:50 pm, they called Haneul’s parents to report that she had disappeared. Around 5:15 pm, Hanuel’s mother, who received the call that her daughter was missing, reported to the police that they have lost contact since leaving the care class. At 5:23 pm, the police arrived at the school and began the search.

The police started tracking Haneul’s location and confirmed that she was still in school. After confirming that Haneul is still in school somewhere, the police and Haneul’s grandmother went to the second floor where the care class is. While Haneul’s grandmother was looking for Haneul in the auditorium next to the care class, she saw the teacher with Haneul’s bag and blood on her face. Haneul’s grandmother got out of the auditorium to call the police and Haneul’s dad. After she got out, the teacher locked the door. The police made a forced entry into the auditorium. Upon entering, they found the missing girl and the teacher, both lying on the floor bleeding.

At the crime scene, the police found a knife suspected to have been used for the crime. Haneul was found with injuries to her shoulder and hand, and she was unconscious and not breathing. She was taken to Konyang University Hospital. The teacher also had injuries to her neck and arm but was still awake. The teacher who tried to kill Haneul attempted self-harm. The school also got a call at 5:50 pm, saying someone was trapped in the auditorium on the second floor.

On the day of the incident, around 6:53 pm, Haneul unfortunately passed away at the hospital. The teacher who killed Haneul suffered injuries on her neck because of self-harm, but it was not life-threatening, and she got emergency surgery. Before she got emergency surgery, she heard that she had killed Haneul.

The bereaved family heard some sounds of the crime scene through an app installed on Haneul’s phone. It is said that the sounds of an older woman’s heavy breathing, the sound of a drawer opening and closing, and the sound of Haneul’s cell phone vibrating were recorded for an hour.

The teacher who killed Haneul was a regular teacher officially appointed by the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education. She was not Haneul’s homeroom teacher. The police said the teacher stated it didn’t matter which child she killed, as she intended to die with them when students after the care class. She said she would give a book to the last child to go, made the child enter the auditorium, and strangled the child and killed her with a knife.

The weapon used in the crime was confirmed by the school in the afternoon to have been purchased at a kitchenware store 2 km away. On February 19th, according to the Daejeon Police Department Elementary School’s student murder investigation team, forensic analysis of the teacher’s phone and PC data showed that, before the crime, the teacher searched for crime tools on websites and looked up past murder case articles.

The citizens were in shock because of the horrible incident. The next day, on February 11, the elementary school where the incident happened decided to close the school. On this day, many people visited the school to commemorate Haneul. They left flowers, dolls, snacks, and letters on the school wall to express their condolences for Haneul’s death.

The teacher is currently on oxygen and will be interviewed in person later today as of February 19th. The police is keep observing the teacher and plan to conduct the interview as soon as her health improves.