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Tenafly Murder Suspect Arrested In California

Suspect Apprehended Without Incident In East L.A.

TENAFLY, N.J. (CBS/AP) ― New Jersey authorities were in California on Sunday night to question a man who may be connected to the case of three decomposing bodies found in a Tenafly home.

Ed Hernandez, a deputy with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, said Kang Hyuk Choi, 32, was arrested early Sunday on a no-bail warrant for questioning. However, Hernandez would not comment further on the warrant or identify the New Jersey officials who were speaking with Choi.

Numerous media reports on Sunday had cited the sheriff's department as saying Choi may be linked to the Tenafly case. Hernandez, though, denied any of the reports came from his department.

Authorities were working to extradite Choi, but it was not known when that would be completed. Frank Puccio of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on the matter Sunday, saying only that a news conference would be held Monday.

Meanwhile, stunned friends, neighbors and business associates of the people who lived in the home were providing further details about their lives. The three bodies were found Friday night, but Puccio said their identities will have to be positively confirmed through dental records.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office said that the ages and sexes of the three victims -- a man apparently in his 70s, a woman apparently in her 50s and a male believed to be in his 20s -- were consistent with the residents of the home.

Connie Choi of Classic Realty in Tenafly confirmed that her agency sold the property at 169 Tenafly Road to a woman named Yoo Bok Kim and her son. Choi -- who is not related to the man arrested in California -- said Kim's son was a successful cell phone dealer who had put up the money for the property.

David Sung, owner of City Wireless in Fort Lee, said he believes Kim's son is the same Hanil "Sean" Kim who he knew to live with his mother at that Tenafly address. Sung said Sean Kim was a well-known cell phone entrepreneur who people in the business had been trying to contact for weeks.

Sung characterized Kim as an ambitious businessman who had spoken recently about getting out of the cell phone business to concentrate on real estate and mortgage brokerage.

"He always had bigger goals, he always had so many ideas," Sung said.

Sung, 27, said Kim -- who he estimated to be around his age -- had emigrated from Korea with his mother as a teenager and attended Tenafly High School.

"I think his life was really complicated," Sung said.

He said Kim started out in the cell phone business about six years ago, parlaying two New Jersey stores into an operation that stretched from Philadelphia to Maryland. He said Kim would scout locations, set up stores and then sell the complete business.

Sung said he last spoke to Kim a few weeks ago when he called to inquire about distributors.

"I was talking to my friend about him the other day," Sung said. "We both thought he was obviously making good money because he was buying all these properties."

Meanwhile, Tenafly residents were still coming to grips with the violence.

Choi, a 30-year resident of the northern New Jersey borough, said she was shocked by the slayings.

"Most people who move to this town are coming here for their children's education and they expect a good, safe area," Choi said. "This is just indescribable."

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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