Two teens were arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of the Arizona university professor was found in a landfill, authorities said Friday.
Arizona State University engineering professor Junseok Chae was killed in the Phoenix suburbs at some point after he was reported missing on March 25 after he did not return home from work, the Sheriff’s Office said. of Arizona’s Maricopa County in a statement Friday.
On March 30, the case led to Shreveport, Louisiana, where Javian Ezell and Gabrielle Austin, both 18, were at the educator, the sheriff’s office said. A third person who has not been named was with the partner.
After that, investigators suspected the professor had been killed in Maricopa County, where “various pieces of evidence were identified,” the office said.
Detectives believed Chae’s body was placed in a dumpster, and searched the northwest regional dump in Surprise, Arizona, from May 11 until the discovery last week, sheriff’s officials said.
The search at the landfill also yielded “related evidence,” the office said.
The body was positively identified as Chae by the Maricopa coroner, sheriff’s officials said. The cause of death was not disclosed.
The sheriff’s office said the suspects were recently extradited from Louisiana to Arizona.
They were booked on suspicion of first-degree murder, armed robbery and vehicle theft, the office said. The bond was set at $ 1 million each.
It is not clear if the couple has private legal representation. The Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We are saddened by the loss of ASU community member Junseok Chae,” the university, which has five campuses in the Phoenix area, said in a statement. “Our deepest condolences to Professor Chae’s family and friends.”
According to the university biography, the educator graduated from Korea University in Seoul in 1998 before earning two advanced degrees from the University of Michigan and joining ASU in 2005.
