A 33-year-old Irvine man is being held without bail after allegedly confessing to the June 2010 slaying of his business partner in San Juan Capistrano, authorities said.
The Sheriff’s Department alleges that Ed Younghoon Shin killed 32-year-old Christopher Ryan Smith of Laguna Beach for financial gain, then “went to great lengths” to conceal evidence at the San Juan Capistrano crime scene.
The business partners had apparently agreed Smith would be paid $1 million upon leaving their company, 800 Exchange, but Shin instead killed Smith in the office they shared to avoid payment, Orange County Assistant Sheriff Mark Billings alleged at a Monday news conference in Santa Ana.
Smith was last seen alive by family in June 2010. According to investigators, after killing Smith, Shin hacked into his email account to communicate with his family.
When family members became suspicious, they hired a private investigator, then reported Smith missing to the Laguna Beach Police Department.
Shin was arrested about 11 a.m. Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport as he was about to board a flight for Canada.
It wasn’t “100 percent clear” why Shin was headed to Canada, Billings said, adding he could have been leaving the country for business reasons.
Laguna Beach police had asked Orange County sheriff’s deputies to take over the case Aug. 17 after concluding the murder happened in San Juan Capistrano, where blood evidence was reportedly found in the suspect’s office earlier this month.
Shin had the office cleaned in an attempt to get rid of the blood, Lt. John Meyer alleged. DNA tests confirmed the blood was Smith’s, Meyer added.
Investigators would not disclose the cause of death, but said there was a “fair amount of blood” in the office, Billings said.
In his emails posing as Smith, Shin reportedly made it appear as if the victim were in Africa. ”We are aware of the emails, and that was part of what we turned over to the Sheriff’s Department,” said Laguna Beach Police Lt. Jason Kravetz.
Smith’s car was found in San Jose, although investigators declined to say when. Sheriff’s investigators got access to the car this weekend.
For the past 11 days, authorities conducted surveillance of Shin, who confessed Sunday during a six-hour interview with investigators, Meyer said.
Smith’s body has not been recovered, and investigators asked anyone with information to call 714-647-7048 or 714-628-7170.
Before the men formed their business partnership, Shin was convicted of embezzlement in Riverside County and was forced to pay restitution and ordered to serve three years of probation, according to Billings.
According to this cached website page for Shin’s and Smith’s 800 Exchange business, Shin is married with three children.
Smith’s bio reads: “Having been a former professional wakeboarder, Smith now spends most of his time in the big pond, the Pacific Ocean, where he can surf the best waves that California has to offer. He also enjoys sky diving, road cycling and is a well versed amateur astronomer.”
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