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The Kidnapping and Murder of Amy Sue Patrick
We can never know another person’s thoughts and motivations. Most killers have a reason to commit murder; whether for revenge, jealously, or money, they understand why they killed their victim. Kyung Yoon, though, said he did not know why he killed Amy Sue Patrick. He claimed he murdered her on the spur of the moment, but some evidence suggests Yoon premeditated the crime. We will never know why Yoon kidnapped Amy Sue and broke her neck. Events took an even more bizarre twist when the troopers arrested Yoon and hauled him to prison.
Amy Sue Patrick
Friends and relatives describe blonde-haired, blue-eyed Amy Sue Patrick as a good girl who was quickly growing into a responsible young woman. According to her parents and her boss, Amy Sue was honest and trustworthy. She never missed work, and she always arrived on time for her shift as a waitress at the Country Kitchen Restaurant in Wasilla, Alaska. According to her father, Amy Sue called when she was running late, and she made sure her family did not worry about her. Amy kept her bedroom tidy and organized and her car neat and clean. She played by the rules and never exhibited erratic behavior. Her father said Amy Sue was not “prone to do anything wild.” She was not a young woman who would run away from her responsibilities.
Amy Sue, 18, had just graduated from Wasilla High School a few months earlier, and she looked forward to attending college and majoring in education. She wanted to teach children. Her long-term plan was to work as a teacher in a remote Alaska community for five years and then return to Wasilla to live near her parents and five siblings. Still, no one lives a perfect life, and her quote in her senior yearbook suggests her life was not always rosy. “Life is hard, and then you die,” Amy wrote. Her friends and family would wonder if Amy could see her future.
Amy Sue had a boyfriend named Bob Marhenka, and according to her friends and relatives, Amy Sue seemed happy and content. Because she was so responsible and honest, Amy Sue made the perfect house sitter. When her parents’ friends Jim and Diane Wada left the state for a short time, they asked Amy Sue to stay at their house. The Wadas lived outside of Wasilla in a secluded subdivision near mile 46.5 of the Parks Highway.
