A Hollister man and woman accused of killing the man’s wife in late 2017 will next appear in court Feb. 15 at the San Benito County Courthouse.
Sang Ji, 49, the husband of murder victim Yoon Ji, and co-defendant Jung Choi, 45, are both charged with the December murder. They have remained in custody at county jail in lieu of $2.01 million bail, according to court documents.
The purpose of the Feb. 15 hearing, scheduled for 9am, is to schedule a date for the two suspected murderers’ preliminary hearing.
Investigators from the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office found the remains of Yoon Ji, who owned the local Hollister Laundromat with her husband, in December off Salinas Grade Road between San Benito and Monterey counties, outside San Juan Bautista. The FBI and Santa Clara County Human Remains Detection dogs assisted in that search.
Police arrested Yoon Ji’s husband and Jung Choi on suspicion of the murder on Dec. 2. Sang Ji initially told county law enforcement that the co-defendant is his cousin, though the relationship has not been verified.
Yoon Ji’s daughter and sister, who live in Los Angeles, reported the woman missing Dec. 2. The daughter told sheriff’s authorities that she had not heard from her mother since about two weeks earlier, which was an unusually long amount of time to pass without contact.
Just before reporting her mother missing, the daughter received a message from her father, Sang Ji, stating the mother had traveled to South Korea unexpectedly, according to authorities. The daughter then contacted family in South Korea, who said the mother was not there and they weren’t expecting her.
The daughter and her sister then drove to Hollister from Los Angeles to confront Yung Ji, according to authorities. When they arrived at the family home in Hollister, the father was with Jung Choi, whom he identified to his daughter as a cousin. But the daughter did not know the woman.
The daughter became increasingly concerned about her missing mother, and contacted the sheriff’s office to log a report, police said.
Authorities acquired a search warrant and found evidence that suggested Yoon Ji had been killed.
Police have not identified a motive for the killing, or method by which Yoon Ji was killed.
