Andrew Seo (50, Korean name Seo Seung-mo), a Korean-American who was sentenced to 100 years in prison for committing murder after being deceived by his older sister who was trying to monopolize his mother’s assets, was released early after 30 years.
Andrew’s release was thanks to the ‘pardon petition’ launched by Korean residents who heard his sad story and Andrew’s exemplary prison life.
On the 27th (local time), local media, including the Chicago Tribune, reported that Andrew Seo was released from Kiwani Prison in western Illinois, where he was serving a sentence, around 9:45 a.m. on the 26th.
When he was released, members of the Chicago Korean Church and lawyers who had been campaigning for amnesty congratulated him by giving him tofu, and the Chicago Tribune reported, “This is a Korean tradition of giving to wash away the negative things of the past 30 years.”
In an interview with local media, Andrew said, “I can’t express this feeling in words,” and pledged, “I am truly grateful. I will do really well in the future.”
Andrew Suh’s tragedy was made into a documentary film called ‘The House of Suh’ in 2010, causing a great stir in Korea.
This documentary won the Best Documentary Award at the Philadelphia Asian Film Festival, the Grand Jury Prize at the San Diego Asian Film Festival, and the Grand Prize for In-Depth Reporting at the Hamptons Film Festival, serving as an opportunity to empathize with the problems faced by immigrant families such as Andrew Seo.
Born in Seoul in 1974, Seo immigrated to Chicago, USA, in 1976 when she was two years old, along with her older sister Catherine Seo, who was five years older, with her father, a military officer, and her mother, a pharmacist.
Seo’s father passed away from cancer when he was 11 years old, and his mother, who ran a laundromat, was murdered by a robber two years later, so he depended on his older sister Catherine to survive.
Despite this environment, Mr. Seo served as the student council president of a famous private high school and also excelled as an American football player, entering college on a scholarship.
In the fall of 1993, when she was in her second year of college, Seo heard her sister’s complaint, saying, ‘The man I was living with killed my mother, squandered my inheritance through gambling, and is abusing me.’
Mr. Seo, who believed that he had to avenge his mother and protect his sister, hid in the garage of his house as instructed by his sister on November 11 of that year and shot and killed his sister’s live-in husband, Robert Audubein (31 years old at the time).
Mr. Seo was immediately arrested, and his older sister Catherine fled to Hawaii ahead of the trial, but was caught and is serving a life sentence without parole.
At the time, the prosecution announced that the brother and sister committed the crime aiming for $250,000 in life insurance money in Odubein’s name, and Andrew Seo said in a media interview in 2017, “My older sister murdered my mother for the $800,000 inheritance,” and that it was his older sister who killed their mother. made the claim.
Andrew Seo was sentenced to 100 years in prison in 1995, appealed, and had his sentence reduced to 80 years.
Korean residents felt sorry for Mr. Seo’s story and petitioned the Illinois state government for pardon three times in 2002, 2017, and 2020, but when they were all rejected, they filed another petition in 2023.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.