An Orange County prosecutor on Wednesday gave a murder defendant who has admitted to posing as his deceased business partner for months through email “one last chance” to tell authorities the location of the man’s body, as testimony in the trial came to a close.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy presented Edward Younghoon Shin with a map of a large swath of desert near the Mexican border and informed him that a search and rescue team, cadaver dog and forensic pathologists were on standby, awaiting word of where they could find the remains of 33-year-old Chris Smith.
“I’m going to give you one chance here,” Murphy said to Shin, noting Smith’s family was watching from the courtroom gallery. “Take the blue marker, circle on the map where you put Chris Smith.”
“I cannot,” Shin replied
Shin during his three days on the stand testified that 33-year-old Chris Smith attacked him during a heated argument at their San Juan Capistrano office on June 4, 2010, and died after accidentally hitting his head on his own desk during the ensuing fight.
Shin also testified that an acquaintance put him in touch with someone who got rid of Smith’s body, but he didn’t know where. Shin also acknowledged creating a fake buyout agreement giving Shin control over their company, and posing as Smith for at least six months through email in order to feed Smith’s family and friends false tales of Smith surfing and seeking out adventures across the world in order to cover up the death.
“It was an awful thing to do,” Shin said. “I have caused a lot of people a lot of pain.”
Smith and Shin were partners in 800XChange, a successful lead generation company focused on the debt consolidation industry. But the two became embroiled in legal trouble over Shin embezzling more than $600,000 from his previous employer. During his testimony, Shin admitted to stealing the money, but said he paid $33,000 of it to Smith, claiming he gave him the idea on how to carry out the theft.
Shin had agreed to pay back $700,000 in order to settle criminal charges, and needed Smith’s sign-off for a settlement ending a civil lawsuit. Shin testified that Smith kept telling him that the money needed to come out of Shin’s personal funds, and said that on the night of Smith’s death, Smith had become enraged when Shin told Smith he could prove that Smith had been involved with the embezzlement.
“He kept badgering me, hammering that point ‘it was coming out of your end,’” Shin said. “I started getting irritated about it, and said ‘are you ever going to admit you had a role in this too.’”
Murphy alleged that Shin stabbed or bludgeoned Smith to death in order to get control of his money, and to gain access to a large stash of gold coins Smith had at his apartment. The prosecutor said Shin used a rented pickup truck to dispose of Smith’s body in the desert, tying him to the general area through hits from Shin’s phone at a cell tower in the area, though the body has not been found.
Shin continually denied knowing where Smith’s body was taken. He testified that he was using the rented pickup truck to drive to South America, but said he changed his mind near the Mexican border.
Closing arguments in Shin’s trial are scheduled for Thursday. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
