An Iowa professor who studied in the Big Apple has been charged with murder for allegedly binding and gagging her hubby for several hours until he died, according to police and a new report.
Gowun Park, 41, an assistant economics professor at Simpson College, bound husband Sung Woo Nam’s hands and feet with zip ties and then tied him to a chair in their home between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Saturday, West Des Moines police told the Des Moines Register.
She then allegedly stuffed “an item of clothing” in his mouth and sealed it with duct tape to keep him quiet, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Register.
Park also duct-taped a towel over her husband’s head, covering his eyes, according to the records.
Just after 5 p.m., Nam, also 41, pleaded with Park to untie him, but she did not, the complaint says.
Nearly two more hours passed before Park called 911 around 6:45 p.m., police said in a statement. First responders found Park performing CPR on her husband.
Nam, who was unresponsive and had ligature marks on the front of his neck and throat, was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“Ms. Park made efforts to hide and conceal the binding items prior to the arrival of emergency personnel,” the criminal complaint said. “The injuries sustained by Mr. Nam were not self-inflicted.”
Following an investigation, authorities arrested Park on Wednesday and charged her with murder and kidnapping, both in the first degree.
In a statement issued to the Register on Wednesday, Simpson spokeswoman Christie Denniston said Park has been suspended.
Interim Simpson College president Bob Lane said in a university-wide email that “the investigation is ongoing, and police have informed us there is no threat or any link to the campus community.”
“The college is monitoring the situation and will cooperate with authorities in their investigation,” said the email, obtained by campus newspaper The Simpsonian.
Simpson junior Thomas Mussig, who had Park as an academic adviser, told the Register “she was one of the sweetest ladies I’ve never known.”
But Mussig had no idea Park was married — she’d always say she was single and her family was living in South Korea.
“I had her in class for three years; she was saying that for three years,” Mussig told the paper. “She would talk about how she’s single.”
Park was educated in the Big Apple — CUNY alumni records obtained by the Register show she received her doctorate in economics in 2017. She previously got her master’s in economics at NYU in 2010, and taught as an adjunct professor there in 2015, a school spokeswoman told the paper.
Park being held on $5 million bond at Dallas County jail, according to the Register. She first appeared in court Wednesday, and will go before a judge again Feb. 28.