Police: 2 killed woman who owed money, burned her body in desert

By Rich Coleman

Monday, Jan. 3, 2011 | 5:16 p.m.

A woman found dead Dec. 23 near the Kingman Wash access road south of Hoover Dam was allegedly kidnapped and killed over money by two employees who worked for her escort business in Las Vegas, according to a police report released Monday.

The arrest report and a criminal complaint show the Clark County coroner identified the woman as Yung Park, 39. Her burned body was found by two hikers in Arizona's Kingman Wash at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Min Chang, 30, and Keon Park, 19, were booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of murder with a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon and conspiracy. Both are being held without bail.

The arrest report for Chang and Keon Park indicates police spoke with Yung Park’s ex-boyfriend. He told police she ran the escort business out of his leased house and Chang and Keon Park were her employees.

When police interviewed Keon Park, the report said, he told police that Yung Park owed him $3,000 and owed Chang between $5,000 and $6,000. He told police Yung Park kept putting off payments and Chang suggested they kill her, according to the report.

The report said the two discussed killing her and burying her in the desert. On Dec. 20, Keon Park drove Yung Park to the desert to look at an eclipse, he told police. The plan was for him to hit her with a rock but he told police he lost his nerve and couldn’t do it, according to the report.

The next day, Keon Park told police, he asked Yung Park for the money and she again refused. He told police he followed her onto a patio and kneed her in the face and tried to choke her.

Eventually, Keon Park told police, he called Chang to help and they carried Yung Park into Chang’s Hyundai Azera and put her in the backseat. While Chang drove, Keon Park again began to choke Yung Park and hit her repeatedly in the head with a wrench, he said.

She stopped breathing after Keon Park squeezed her neck with his arm, he told police.

Keon Park told police the two then bought items from the 7-Eleven in Boulder City and decided to burn her body because she was an undocumented immigrant and no one would be able to identify her, according to the report. Police said surveillance video shows Keon Park and Chang entering 7-Eleven to buy motor oil, lighter fluid, 2 gallons of gas, two plastic gas cans, gloves, a lighter, a bottle of Gatorade and water.

After driving to a predetermined spot, they used a book of matches and the lighter fluid to try to burn her body, but had trouble getting the fire started because it had been raining, they told police. The next day, Keon Park and Chang went back to the same 7-Eleven to buy gasoline and gloves before burning the body where they left it the day before, Keon Park told police.

He told police he took over Yung Park’s escort business and split the profits with Chang, though most of the money went to Yung Park’s unpaid bills.

The police report said Chang confirmed to police that he and Keon Park had planned to kill Yung Park.

According to the report, the Mohave County Coroner’s Office determined she had been struck in the head at least five times with an object and that the body was burned after her death.