The body of an 11-year-old boy, who had been missing since Sept. 15 in a suspected case of murder or fillicide-suicide, was found drowned along the riverside of Nakdong River in Daegu on Wednesday. 

The discovery came 13 days after the boy, named Ryu Jeong-min, was last seen leaving his house with his mother, 52, in Beommul-dong, Suseong-gu, Daegu.

Police launched the search for the boy following the back-to-back discoveries of his mother and sister’s bodies at Nakdong River and at their home, respectively.

The mother, identified by her surname Cho, had apparently drowned herself, while the sister, 26, was found hidden beneath blankets and plastic bags inside the storage cabinet of the house’s verandah.

Ryu, whose age indicates he would be in elementary school, had ceased attending following the school entrance ceremony in March 2013, following his mother’s wishes to homeschool him.

The school reportedly placed Ryu in a separate management file from June, as his absence continued.

Ryu surfaced as a possible victim of child abuse this January after a neighbor raised suspicions.

However, police, together with the children’s welfare center, found no signs of neglect or abuse on Ryu. The house was neatly kept.

Ryu returned to school in February this year following the school’s repeated requests.

He was placed in the fourth grade in accordance with his proper schooling age, as his test results showed high performance. 

But on his first day back at school, Ryu returned home early due to sickness. He alternated between leaving early and reporting absent until Sept. 9, after which he did not turn up to school at all. 

Ryu reportedly suffered anxiety when he was away from his mother.

The school said Ryu’s mother promised to send him back from Sept. 19, after the national mid-autumn holidays, but she was unreachable since.

Police discovered the body of Ryu’s mother on Sept. 20 along the Nakdong River in Seongsan-myeon, Goryeong-gun, North Gyeongsang Province.

The discovery led police to search the home of the deceased, whereupon they discovered the body of Ryu’s older sister inside a verandah cabinet.

The cause of the 26-year-old sister’s death has not yet been determined.

Police also discovered a note written in a child’s scribble inside the house. Titled “suicide note,” it read, “Please give my cross-stitch and origami books to those who like them or are poor.”

Investigation into Ryu’s whereabouts immediately began, though they yield no results for 13 days.

On Wednesday at 11:10 a.m., a Goryeong Fire Department rescue worker found a body of a boy floating in vegetation near Samunjin Bridge, some 10 kilometers upstream from where mother Cho’s body had been found.

Police confirmed the dead boy was Ryu and said an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of his death.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)