SANTA ANA Instead of paying $1 million to buy out his business partner, Edward Younghoon Shin killed his associate in the offices of their advertising agency, authorities said.
Shin then took over his partner’s email, investigators said, and began responding to emails from family and friends who were becoming increasingly suspicious. Christopher Ryan Smith, 32, of Laguna Beach was reported missing to the Laguna Beach Police Department in April, but authorities believe he was killed in San Juan Capistrano in June 2010. Shin, 33, pretended to be Smith in numerous emails to family and friends, authorities said, and was able to hide Smith’s death for months by giving relatives multiple excuses for Smith’s disappearance.
Relatives harbored suspicions of Smith’s whereabouts for months, and it was in April that Smith’s father reported his son missing.
“It wasn’t the typical email his son would send,” said Lt. Jason Kravetz of the Laguna Beach Police Department. “It was different words, short, strange.”
Investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department announced the arrest of Shin on Monday morning, alleging he killed Smith instead of paying $1 million to buy him out. The two men had been co-owners of an advertising agency, 800Xchange, for two years but began to have a falling out in 2010, said Assistant Sheriff Mark Billings.
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Smith wanted to leave 800Xchange and a financial settlement of $1 million was reached, Billings said. But in June 2010, investigators believe Shin instead killed Smith in the offices of their San Juan Capistrano office.
After the killing, Shin is believed to have pretended to be Smith through emails that were sent to relatives and friends who inquired about his whereabouts, said Don Voght, a homicide investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Investigators would not say how many emails were sent or what was said in them, but relatives who lived out of state began to grow suspicious, officials said. Relatives hired a private investigator to find Smith, and reported him missing in April.
During their investigation, detectives with the Laguna Beach Police Department interviewed several acquaintances of Smith, including Shin, Kravetz said.
Police searched the business offices of the two men and found traces of blood in the area, Billings said. Through DNA testing, authorities were able to match the blood to Smith’s DNA.
Investigators said Shin went through extensive measures to try to hide the blood in the business, including cleaning it thoroughly and repainting the walls.
Shin of Irvine was taken into custody Sunday morning at Los Angeles International Airport as he was boarding a plane headed to Canada, Voght said.
After a six-hour interview, Shin admitted to killing Smith in June 2010, Billings said.
Investigators with the Sheriff’s Department said they have been unable to find Smith’s body and would not released details as to how he was killed. Investigators said they are not sure if Shin was alone in the incident.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Department at 714-628-7170.
