Road rage motive produces disbelief

At first I was relieved.

After police captured the prime suspect in the recent murders of a Purdue graduate student and her sister, people in this community were able to breathe a little easier.

Once officials were able to return suspect Zhan Yin, 27, to Tippecanoe County from New York, I was, if nothing else, satisfied that the interrogation and the investigation would be handled locally.

I'm relieved that Yin reportedly confessed to the murders and divulged the disturbing details of how he allegedly killed Yeunkyung Woo, 31, a doctoral student in biology and Hyo Kyung Woo, 29, who was visiting from Chicago.

When the Aug. 2 slayings of the South Korean sisters occurred, this campus understandably became uneasy. After all, this isn't an episode of "Murder in Small Town X" … this is real life.

Two extended families — one here and one in South Korea — need answers. Our community is mystified while the community in South Korea is mourning.

Once officials identified Yin as a suspect and initiated a nationwide manhunt, people wanted to know more. Did he do it? How was the murder committed? Most importantly, why were the women murdered?

Before we were ever told a motive, we were told how the sisters died. They were beaten to death with a hammer and stabbed in the throat with a kitchen knife. We were told how, according to Tippecanoe County court records, one sister was struck in the back of the head with a hammer, then continually beaten, stabbed and dragged into the bedroom. We were told how the other sister came in and discovered this scene only to be struck in the head with the hammer and stabbed in the throat also. We were told how the second sister to be killed asked "why" as she was being beaten. That's disturbing stuff that shouldn't happen in our community.

That is when we all wanted to know why someone could actually do this.

So, naturally, I was relieved when the police said Yin had provided a motive: Road rage.

Many people in the community had the same reaction I did. Road rage? Really?

Many of us have experienced those close calls in our cars before that make your heart rate double. Your palms grip the wheel a little tighter and after you've realized what just happened, you become angry. Anyone who has ever driven has been through something similar to this. Most of us, however, have the sense to not kill someone after the episode. Most of us are able to count to 10 and calm ourselves down. Most of us — who know the extreme consequences — don't follow someone because we were almost in an accident. Most of us don't do anything about it at all.

It's hard for us to accept that two bright, young women were brutally beaten with a hammer and stabbed in the throats with a kitchen knife at a campus apartment because of an incident in which a car came too close to a bicycle.

We wonder why Yin was allegedly using Yeunkyung's login at a campus computer.

Why was Yin — also a doctoral student in biology — allegedly carrying a hammer in his backpack that day? Why, if it was a crime of passion, did Yin allegedly go to great lengths to cover up his crime? Why was Yin allegedly riding home from his job at Lilly Hall on Arnold Drive — two blocks away from his street, Marshall Drive?

Police and prosecutors may not have to know the answers to those questions to get a conviction. Thursday, the hammer that was allegedly used in the murders was turned in. That and Yin's alleged confession may be enough to convict him. But that's not enough for the West Lafayette community. It might not be enough for the people who loved the sisters in South Korea. We need answers. More importantly, we need to find a way that we can begin to accept the tragedy. For now, there is no relief in sight.

We're going to need more than a conviction to get closure.

Keith Thomas is a senior in the School of Liberal Arts. He can be e-mailed at editor@purdueexponent.org.

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