Yoo Young-chul

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“	Women shouldn't be sluts, and the rich should know what they've done.	„
	~ Yoo Young-chul

Yoo Young-chul (Korean: 유영철; born 18 April 1970) is a South Korean serial killer, sex offender, and self-confessed cannibal. He has been nicknamed "the Raincoat Killer".

After he admitted to the murders of multiple people, mostly prostitutes and wealthy old women, the Seoul Central District Court convicted him of 20 murders, although one case was dismissed when it was identified as being committed by another serial killer, Jeong Nam-gyu.

Yoo burned three and mutilated at least 11 of his victims, and admitted that he ate the livers of some of them. He committed his crimes between September 2003 to July 2004, and was apprehended on 15 July 2004. 

Biography

Yoo was married in 1992 and had one son. Yoo was previously convicted 14 times for several different charges, and served a total of seven years in prison prior to his string of murders.

From September to November 2003, Yoo killed several wealthy senior citizens by breaking into their houses and bludgeoning them with a hammer. To cover his tracks, Yoo made the scenes of his crime look like a robbery-homicide took place. However, no money was taken, which confused the police investigators. When the investigation started to intensify, Yoo switched to targeting female masseuses. In January 2004, Yoo was briefly arrested on a minor theft charge, but was released two days later.

Starting in March 2004, Yoo called sex workers to his residence in western Seoul and bludgeoned them after having sex with them. His victims were dismembered and mutilated to hinder their identification. They were buried in the mountains surrounding the city. Police recovered 11 bodies from the mountain behind Bongwon Temple after Yoo's arrest.

During initial interrogations, Yoo confessed to killing 19 people. On July 18, 2004, he admitted to an additional murder: the killing of a 44-year-old male street vendor. Yoo eventually confessed to killing 26 individuals on July 19, 2004, several days after his arrest, although no details were given. The list of purported victims included several individuals that did not match his prior pattern of wealthy seniors or masseuses. Friends of two of the masseuse victims, whose bodies had been recovered, claimed they were not involved in massage therapy, meaning that Yoo could have other, unreported victims. 

Although the "Rainy Thursday" murderer was active contemporaneously starting in April 2004, stabbing multiple women late at night in southwest Seoul, police were unable to link Yoo to those murders.

Several days later, Yoo also confessed to killing a young woman (a worker in a clothing store) on 6 February 2004 in Imun-dong after he suspected her of being a sex worker. Yoo had approached her for questioning by pretending to be a police officer. Approximately a month after his arrest, Yoo confessed to eating the flesh of his victims, although no evidence to prove this was available.

Yoo was taken into custody on 15 July 2004 and confessed to murdering as many as 19 people initially, specifically targeting affluent senior citizens and masseuses.

Based on the content of his apartment, searched after his arrest, there was some speculation that he patterned his killings after several movies, including Public Enemy, Very Bad Things, and Normal Life. Yoo later confessed to being inspired by serial killer Jeong Du-yeong, who had murdered nine wealthy people in Busan from 1999 to 2000.

Prosecutors requested the death penalty, which Yoo thanked them for, and Yoo was sentenced to death on 13 December 2004 for 20 counts of murder (the count of murder for the woman in Imun-dong in February 2004 was thrown out). Prosecutors appealed the verdict to secure the 21st count of murder, but the lower court's sentence was upheld on 8 June 2005 by the Supreme Court.

Yoo is currently detained at the Seoul Detention Center.