A 21-year-old South Korean woman has been charged with murder in connection with the so-called ‘Gangbuk motel serial deaths’, after police claimed to have gathered evidence that she used ChatGPT to research the potentially fatal effects of mixing prescription drugs with alcohol.The suspect, Kim, is accused of drugging men at motels in Seoul’s Gangbuk district by giving them drinks laced with prescription drugs containing benzodiazepine, leading to the deaths of two men and leaving a third unconscious, authorities said.A forensic examination of her mobile phone allegedly revealed repeated ChatGPT searches about the dangers of combining sleeping pills with alcohol.According to the BBC, investigators found that she had asked the AI chatbot questions, including: “What happens if you take sleeping pills with alcohol?” “How many do you need to take for it to be dangerous?” and “Could it kill someone?”Kim had earlier admitted to putting prescribed benzodiazepine-based sleeping pills into drinks, but had claimed that she did not know the combination could be deadly. She claimed that she used the combination to help the victims sleep.
Serial drugging and deaths at motels
Kim was initially arrested on February 11 following the deaths of two men in their 20s. The police charged her with inflicting bodily injury resulting in death, as the men were found dead following separate motel visits with her.According to police, the first alleged fatal incident took place on 28 January in Suyu-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul. Kim had reportedly entered a motel with a man in his 20s and left alone about two hours later. The next day, the man was discovered dead inside the room.Investigators say a similar incident occurred on 9 February. Kim allegedly checked into another motel in Gangbuk-gu with a second man in his 20s, who was also found dead later. The police suspected that the same method was used in both cases.Officials have also revealed that what they believe was Kim’s first attempt at drugging someone occurred in December last year.In that instance, she allegedly gave a drink laced with sedatives to her then-partner in a café parking lot in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, causing him to lose consciousness. He had later regained consciousness.Police allege that after this initial incident, Kim began preparing drinks with significantly higher doses of the drug, leading to the subsequent deaths.Authorities are continuing their investigation to determine whether there may be additional victims beyond the three cases currently identified.
