South Korean influencer found dead in Cambodia, Chinese couple charged in her death

South Korean influencer, BJ Ahyeong, was reportedly found dead and dumped in a pit in Cambodia just weeks after she bowed out of her social media career. The K-pop DJ, who was a prominent presence on AfreecaTV and sported 250,000 followers on Instagram, was found covered in bruises and wrapped in a red rug in the Kandal province on June 6, according to the Daily Mail.

The authorities reported that Ahyeong appears to have had a broken neck. The Cambodian police have arrested and charged a Chinese couple who ran a medical clinic, which happened to be the last place the 33-year-old was seen alive. Lai Wenshao and Cai Huijuan told the police that they had abandoned the woman’s body after she had seizures and subsequently died while receiving treatment on June 4. If the couple is convicted, they face life imprisonment, according to CBS News.

The influencer’s real name was Byun Ah-yeong. She had posted on social media in March that she was going to step away from her influencer persona and “live as a normal person for the time being.”

On Tuesday, Lim Soo-suk, South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesman, said that the local authorities were looking into the “unfortunate incident.” He noted: “The foreign ministry is providing necessary consular assistance to the bereaved family in a timely manner.”

The Chinese couple said that Ahyeong had died at their clinic on June 4, just two days before she was discovered dead. They said that the influencer had a seizure after being given a saline drop with the label name Sheng Li Yan Shui. They reportedly panicked, wrapped her body in a red carpet, stuffed her in the trunk of a Toyota Prius, and drove 50 miles away to dump the body in the neighboring area.

“In cooperation with the criminal force of the Kandal Provincial Commissioner and the Provincial Armed Forces, we are conducting an investigation into this brutal murder case, and we are searching for any witnesses who may have seen any strangers in the area or vehicle to transport the body,” Kandal Stung District Police said in a statement.

Ahyeong was apparently visiting Cambodia with a friend for a vacation. The report noted that when members of the local community discovered the body wrapped in a cloth, they assumed that she was Chinese and was a victim of sex trafficking. The report also noted that the influencer’s body appeared to have been brutalized and beaten, which did not feature in the Chinese couple’s testimony about what happened. 

Investigators are currently trying to figure out if the bruises developed after the woman died, or if it had happened beforehand.