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Squad seeks tips in death of researcher
Columbia Daily Tribune ^ | Sunday, January 9, 2005 | MIKE WELLS

Posted on 01/10/2005 2:06:42 PM PST by FourtySeven

A retired research assistant professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia died of multiple stab wounds before firefighters found in his body in the trunk of a burning car Friday.

Boone County Medical Examiner Valerie Rao said after an autopsy that Jeong H. Im, 72, of Columbia was stabbed several times, but she declined to elaborate. MU police yesterday named Im as the victim. His body was found in the trunk of his burning white, 1995 Honda inside the Maryland Avenue parking garage, MU police Capt. Brian Weimer said.

The case was under investigation by the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad. No arrests had been made by last night.

Weimer spoke to reporters at a news conference yesterday in Jesse Hall but declined to discuss details such as whether a murder weapon was recovered or the cause of the fire.

Rao also was cautious about discussing the investigation. Regarding questions on the estimated time of death, the number of wounds, the type of weapon or the fire, she said, "We don’t want to release any of that information because it’s so crucial to what the police are doing."

Police yesterday hadn’t ruled out robbery as a motive.

"All possibilities are being looked at right now," Weimer said.

Im was primarily a protein chemist. Mark McIntosh, chairman of the MU department of molecular microbiology and immunology, said he doubted the crime could have been the act of an angry student.

"He’s a 72-year-old and pretty much keeps to himself, and so I can’t imagine that it was anything more than some random act," he said.

Police were trying to find an unknown person who used a campus emergency phone to report the fire, Weimer said. Police want that person to contact them again.

Weimer also asked the public for help in identifying a man - 6 feet to 6 feet, 2 inches tall - who was seen in the garage area wearing some type of mask, possibly a drywall or painter’s mask.

That individual is a "person of interest," Weimer said, and not a suspect.

"There could be a valid reason for someone like this to be in the garage," he said.

At about 6 p.m. Friday, MU Police Chief Jack Watring activated the major case squad. It’s the first homicide investigation on the campus in nearly 16 years. The request drew in 28 squad members from various law enforcement agencies, including the Columbia Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Im’s wife, Tesuk Im, declined comment yesterday when contacted at her Columbia home.

The parking garage serves employees of MU and University of Missouri Health Care as well as employees of and visitors to the Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center.

Weimer said investigators were still trying to determine the timeframe for the crime. Anyone who was in or near the garage from early morning to afternoon Friday has been asked to call MU police at 882-7203 or CrimeStoppers at 875-8477.

"By all means, let us sort it out," he said. "Please, give us a call and let us know what you saw."

Tribune reporter Megan Means contributed to this report.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: 200501; 200501007; 2012; 201208; 20120809; 201212; 20121221; 2200501; asian; chemist; china; columbia; columbiamo; hoag; im; isolatedincident; isolatedincidents; jeong; jeonghim; jeongim; korea; korean; microbiologist; microbiology; mizzou; murder; scientists; stabbing; suicide; tesukim; timothyaaronhoag; timothyhoag; um; uofmo; valerierao
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Im

1 posted on 01/10/2005 2:06:42 PM PST by FourtySeven
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To: FourtySeven
Knowing MU and Columbia, the poor guy probably accidentally said something that someone may have mistaken for a conservative thought. That'll get you killed there in a hurry.

In all seriousness, you hate to see things like that in a smaller community like Columbia. It isn't the teeming metropolis where this sort of thing gets buried in the back pages of the local paper. Hope they catch the animals who did this.

2 posted on 01/10/2005 2:13:20 PM PST by Jokelahoma (Animal testing is a bad idea. They get all nervous and give wrong answers.)
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To: FourtySeven

Very sad story.


3 posted on 01/10/2005 2:15:35 PM PST by Bahbah
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To: rface

You see this????


4 posted on 01/10/2005 2:23:43 PM PST by SavageRepublican (Everything I own is covered with cat hair)
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To: Bahbah
Very sad story.

Yes it is. I heard about this story lurking in a chat room. Some were saying that there's a connection between this, and other recent researcher's deaths. (i.e, typical tinfoilery). Reading the article though, I came away believing it was most likely a random act of violence. I decided to post it in the (admittedly remote) hope maybe someone would have some info they could pass along.

May God bless his family during this difficult time.

5 posted on 01/10/2005 2:31:41 PM PST by FourtySeven (47)
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To: FourtySeven; zip
"I decided to post it in the (admittedly remote) hope maybe someone would have some info...."

It caught my eye because one of my girls went to UM and I have some FReeper friends there. I'll ping zip.

6 posted on 01/10/2005 2:40:59 PM PST by Bahbah
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To: FourtySeven

:...chairman of the MU department of molecular microbiology..."

Uh oh, another microbiologist dead in suspicious circumstances. Paging Art Bell!

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2003/11/27.html

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2004/01/28.html


7 posted on 01/10/2005 2:50:02 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (A Freep a day keeps the liberals away.)
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To: Jokelahoma

Columbia is not a teeming metropolis but it surely is a violent, thug and dope dealer laden town that is packed full of radical leftists. I used to stay overnight there when traviling west but it got too risky, IMHO.


8 posted on 01/10/2005 3:10:11 PM PST by Lion Den Dan
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To: FourtySeven
Does anybody know what sort of research he was working on?

I want to get all conspiratorial, and right now it just looks like he ran into a random scumbag.

9 posted on 01/10/2005 3:12:25 PM PST by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: FourtySeven

I have a good friend who is in the English department there. He's not a liberal, but I suppose he's probably an exception. And come to think of it the university press put an end to a very successful series he edited, probably because it wasn't P.C. enough.


10 posted on 01/10/2005 3:30:49 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: FourtySeven

I found him on the faculty roster here, but I can't seem to find any further information about him:

http://www.missouri.edu/%7Emmiwww/facultyindex1.htm


11 posted on 01/10/2005 3:38:36 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: FourtySeven; Nita Nupress
Im was primarily a protein chemist. Mark McIntosh, chairman of the MU department of molecular microbiology and immunology, said he doubted the crime could have been the act of an angry student.

Another microbiologist bites the dust.

I wonder if the "protein" research relates to mad-cow disease.

12 posted on 01/10/2005 4:22:27 PM PST by meadsjn
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To: Bahbah

It appears that others have posted the "death of scientists" theory. It should be a lot play.


13 posted on 01/10/2005 5:43:39 PM PST by zip (Remember: DimocRat lies told often enough became truth to 48% of Americans)
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To: meadsjn
Another microbiologist bites the dust.

Hmmm...and one of Saddam's protoges got her PhD at UMissouri-Columbia
(in micro or some allied field)...
14 posted on 01/10/2005 5:48:20 PM PST by VOA
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To: Lion Den Dan
Columbia is not a teeming metropolis but it surely is a violent, thug and dope dealer
laden town that is packed full of radical leftists.


Not to mention home of an "Islamic Charity" that the FBI FINALLY raided a few months ago.

My source? Relatives who saw a swarm of agents with FBI jackets entering the
home of the nice (HA!) folks who ran the charity.
15 posted on 01/10/2005 5:51:26 PM PST by VOA
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To: zip
It should be a lot play.

Ooops, should have read It should get a lot of play.

16 posted on 01/10/2005 6:04:07 PM PST by zip (Remember: DimocRat lies told often enough became truth to 48% of Americans)
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To: VOA

Was that Siddiqi?


17 posted on 05/19/2021 2:45:55 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: FourtySeven

Update... they found the murderer... long after the murderer’s suicide:

THE MURDERER OF JEONG IM? The unfortunate life and unhappy ...
www.columbiaheartbeat.com/index.php/crime/444-0130132
COLUMBIA, 1/30/13 (Op Ed) — Mizzou police officials today announced their choice for murderer of biochemistry professor Jeong Im: Timothy Aaron Hoag, a hapless chap with a long rap sheet of misdemeanor criminal offenses, traffic tickets, and court fights with everyone from a popular Columbia school teacher to a Social Security administrator.

MU Police identifies person responsible for homicide of ...
https://www.kbia.org/post/mu-police-identifies...
Jan 30, 2012 · MU Police Chief Jack Watring announced Wednesday morning his department has identified Timothy Aaron Hoag as responsible for the 2005 homicide of Jeong H. Im, a retired faculty member at MU. Hoag committed suicide on Aug. 9, 2012 in Columbia, and investigators matched DNA taken from the crime scene to Hoag. The investigation remains open.

JEONG IM MURDER: On 7th Anniversary, our 2009 series re ...
www.columbiaheartbeat.com/index.php/crime/94-010912
Jeong Im COLUMBIA, 1/9/12 (Beat Byte) — January 7 marks the 7th anniversary of the brutal 2005 stabbing death of Mizzou biochemistry professor Jeong H. Im, Ph.D. In an unusual move given the age of the case, MU police department officials announced last week they are sending the case files to an organized crime research center.


18 posted on 05/19/2021 2:47:33 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: piasa

I don’t know if the slain researcher was a US citizen or was some other nationality. Taiwanese or Mainlander, or what.

Trivia : Around the time Hoag was committing suicide in early August 2012, this apparently unrelated thing happened...

Biden CIA Appointee Worked With CCP Propaganda Org Conducting ‘Undercover Intel Ops’, Appears On China State Media
12/23/2020, 5:23:40 PM · by E. Pluribus Unum · 26 replies
The National Pulse ^ | December 23, 2020 | Natalie Winters
Michael O’Hanlon — an appointee to the Central Intelligence Agency External Advisory Board under the Obama-Biden administration — visited a Chinese Communist Party-run think tank identified by the U.S. government as conducting “undercover intelligence gathering” operations and seeking to coerce foreign actors into backing the Chinese Communist Party’s “preferred policies.” Also at the Director of the Brooking Institute’s Foreign Policy Research Team and adjunct professor at Georgetown and Columbia Universities, O’Hanlon visited the China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC) on August 23rd, 2012 – the same year his Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) External Advisory Board stint ended. Under President...


19 posted on 05/19/2021 2:59:10 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: FourtySeven

They had other suspects, including a woman:

https://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/10/im-murder-suspect-steps-forward-tells.html


20 posted on 05/19/2021 3:02:40 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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