South Korea's forensic agency said it was impossible to determine the cause of death of a businessman linked to a ferry that sank killing 304 people in April because there was too much tissue damage to his badly decomposed body, according to Reuters.
Yoo Byung-un, 73, was found dead in an orchard on June 12 after eluding authorities for nearly two months in South Korea's biggest manhunt, hiding behind the wall of a rural cabin in the final days while it was being searched, Reuters reported.
Police identified his body only this week, 40 days after a farmer reported its discovery at his orchard, stirring public anger over what many said was incompetent work to arrest Yoo over the ferry disaster that horrified the country, according to Reuters.
An autopsy and DNA tests on the body revealed no evidence that he was poisoned, and there was also no indication of external trauma, forensic agency chief Seo Joong-seok told a news conference, Reuters reported.
"We are aware there are many questions and did our best, but it was impossible to determine the cause of death," said Lee Han-young, a senior official at the forensic agency, according to Reuters.
"It is possible in some cases involving decomposed bodies to determine the cause of death but, in Yoo Byung-un's case, there was simply too much tissue damage so it was difficult to find leads that can determine the cause of death," Han-young said, Reuters reported.
Yoo headed the family that owned the operator of the ferry, Sewol, which capsized and sank on April 16. Many of those killed were children from the same school on a class trip, according to Reuters.
The disaster triggered outrage across South Korea, especially when video footage emerged of crew members abandoning ship while the children stayed in their cabins as instructed, Reuters reported.
The Sewol's 15 surviving crew, including the captain, are on trial on charges ranging from negligence to homicide, according to Reuters.
Yoo was wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion but managed to elude authorities in what became a political headache for President Park Geun-hye, whose government came under heavy criticism for its handling of the disaster, Reuters reported.
