Mihee Lee (Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office) and the home where Seehe Cho was allegedly tortured to death by members of the Soldiers of Christ religious cult (YouTube:WXIA screenshot)
A 54-year-old woman in Georgia this week became the seventh person arrested in the harrowing “Soldiers of Christ” murder case in which a 33-year-old woman was tricked into traveling to the U.S. to join a “religious organization,” then beaten and starved to death in the basement of a suburban home. The emaciated victim’s decomposing body was found last month in the trunk of a car parked outside of a popular Korean spa.
Mihee Lee was taken into custody on Wednesday by the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Unit and charged with felony murder in the horrific slaying of Seehe Cho, authorities announced.
Lee was also charged with additional counts of false imprisonment, concealing the death of another, tampering with evidence, and making false statements. She is the mother of three of the six suspects arrested in connection with Cho’s death last month, all of whom are facing the same litany of charges, according to a press release from the Gwinnett County Police Department.
Those already arrested in the case include Mihee Lee’s three sons, Juoonhyum Lee, 22, Joonho Lee, 26, and Junyeong Lee, 15, as well as Hyunji Lee, 25, Eric Hyun, 26, and Gawon Lee, 26.
Gawom Lee, Hyunji Lee, Jooho Lee, Juoohyum Lee, and Eric Hyun (Gwinnett County Jail)
The investigation into Lee and the other defendants began when GCPD on the evening of Sept. 12 responded to a call about suspicious activity going on outside of Jeju Sauna Spa, a popular 24-hour Korean bathhouse located in the 3500 block of Gwinnett Place Drive. Notably, investigators said that none of the suspects appear to have any connection to the business.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders confirmed that an adult female’s body was found in the trunk of a Jaguar sedan parked outside of the spa. The body was already decomposing and authorities have estimated it was in the trunk for a week or longer.
Investigators said that suspect Hyun drove and parked the vehicle in which Cho’s 70-pound body was discovered. Hyun allegedly parked the vehicle in front of the spa earlier Sept. 12 and called a family member to pick him up.
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The family member took Hyun to an Atlanta-area hospital, where he was treated for unrelated injuries. Hyun then told the family member to retrieve a personal item for him from the vehicle. That’s when the family member returned and found Cho’s body in the trunk. He subsequently called 911 and reported the discovery.
Police said they discovered incriminating evidence at an address in the 2400 block of Stable Gate in Lawrenceville, a residence in which police say Mihee Lee was the “principal resident.”
“That search warrant yielded substantial evidence to charge the individuals for the crime,” GCPD Cpl. Juan Madiedo said in a press conference discussing the case. “During the course of the investigation, it is believed that the basement [of that address] is where the crime took place. Detectives believe that the victim was brought over from South Korea sometime in the summer under the guise of joining a religious organization. They called themselves ‘Soldiers of Christ.’”
Police said there is no indication at this point that the suspects were involved in sex trafficking or had any sexual motive for the crimes.
According to Madiedo, the victim was subjected to “beatings and malnourishment,” which the coroner’s office believes was the cause of her death. Madiedo later clarified that the medical examiner believed starvation or malnutrition was likely the ultimate cause of death. An official cause of death determination is still pending.
An attorney representing Hyun on Wednesday released a letter claiming that, like Cho, he was a victim of the “Soldiers of Christ” group, according to a report from Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA. The letter reportedly states that Hyun was similarly recruited into the “church,” by Joonho Lee, only to be “physically tortured, beaten and shot with an airsoft gun” in the basement of the home as part of a “religious ritual.”
Hyun’s attorney further claimed that his client was able to escape the home with the victim’s remains only after the others had “coerced him” into transferring “tens of thousands” in funds to Korea.
“If Eric [Hyun] had not escaped the Lee’s house, he also would have died,” the letter reportedly stated.
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