A Korean-American woman who had been married for eight years in Tacoma, Washington, was charged with the murder of her husband by stabbing him with a weapon on the day before Thanksgiving.
According to local media outlets, Pierce County prosecutors have charged 52-year-old Youngmi Shin with second-degree murder in a domestic violence case. Shin’s bail was set at $1 million.
The name of the victim, her 62-year-old husband, was not yet identified. According to court documents, the husband ran a heater business. Shin said in court that she was a housewife and occasionally helped her husband with office work.
According to the court document, Shin admitted to stabbing her husband during the initial police investigation but later retracted her statement to claim self-defense. Shin had no criminal record, but prosecutors demanded a high bail for the lack of consistency in her statements and the seriousness of the case.
The incident occurred on November 27. According to Shin’s testimony, her husband asked her to buy Jack Daniel’s whiskey after work. Shin bought the liquor and delivered it to her husband.
Her husband worked with two employees at the workshop, and after the employees left, he asked his Shin to drink with him and sing. Shin drank two cans of beer, and her husband drank whiskey.
After the drinking, Shin hid her husband’s car keys, worrying that he might drive while intoxicated. Later when her husband asked for more whiskey, she allegedly refused because her family was coming to visit the next day. However, her husband cursed her parents and tried to find the keys. Then, a scuffle broke out between Shin and her husband. Shin claimed that he pulled her hair and hit her in the face.
At around 11:30 p.m. on the day of the incident, Shin visited her neighbor’s house with bloodied hands and asked them to call the police, saying that her husband was dying. The victim had a deep wound on his back, and firefighters confirmed the death of the husband at the scene.
Police said that they searched the scene and found traces of a violent scuffle, broken objects, and bloodstains.
BY YOONJAE JUNG, HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]
