GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Disturbing new details are being released after a 33-year-old woman’s body was found weeks after she died in Gwinnett County.
Channel 2′s Michael Seiden was in the courtroom when prosecutors gathered on Thursday to show they have enough evidence to charge seven people with the murder of the woman who came to the U.S. to join a religious group.
Seven people, including a 15-year-old boy, are charged with the murder of Seehee Cho, 33. Cho was lured from South Korea to join a religious group called “Soldiers of Christ.”
When she arrived, prosecutors say she was locked in a basement, tortured and starved to death in what they describe as a “house of horrors.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Detective Angela Carter testified that Cho quickly realized she wanted no part of the group she was attempting to join and tried escaping the home.
“[There was] an incident where she escaped upstairs in her underwear and had spoken with the father who lived in the home and said she wanted to leave. She wanted to stop,” Carter testified.
RELATED STORIES:
- 7th arrest made, disturbing new details revealed in Gwinnett “house of horrors” murder case
- Police: Woman found dead in trunk was lured to U.S. to join “religious group,” then beaten, starved
- PHOTOS: 7 arrested after discovery of woman’s body in trunk leads to “house of horrors” in Gwinnett County
Detectives testified that there were photos and videos of a deceased Cho on the suspects’ phones.
“There was also a photo located of Cehee deceased in the back storage room, and you were able to tell she was deceased based on because you could see her hands were already had already started decomposing as well as her feet, and in that photo she was wearing the pajama pants that were recovered from the trashcan recovered,” Carter said.
In September, officers were called to reports of a body in the back of a car in the parking lot of a popular spa.
When they arrived, they found Cho’s decomposing body in the trunk. The medical examiner’s office said she had likely been dead for weeks before her body was discovered.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
IN RELATED NEWS:
©2023 Cox Media Group