28-year-old Woo Jin Hahn is being held on $5 million bail after his 5-year-old daughter died last week in what investigators allege was a prolonged case of abuse inside a Federal Way apartment.
Hahn made his first court appearance on Friday, where a judge found probable cause to hold him on suspicion of second-degree murder and child abuse. Prosecutors had asked for the $5 million bail and additional orders preventing Hahn from contacting his girlfriend or leaving the state. The court granted both.
Federal Way police responded to a 911 call on May 29 reporting a child who had stopped breathing at the Glen Park Apartments on Southwest Campus Drive. The caller, identified as Hahn, told dispatchers that his daughter was unresponsive.
A police officer said he entered the apartment and saw Hahn performing CPR on the girl. The officer took over the CPR efforts and immediately noticed “several large bruises with lacerations on the girl’s forehead” as well as older bruises in her armpit area.
Paramedics from South King County Fire transported the girl to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she was later pronounced dead.
When questioned about the bruises, Hahn told the officer he had caused the injuries while disciplining his daughter the night before. He admitted to hitting her with a metal cup and said he routinely disciplined her using a cup or stick.
While at the apartment, officers also spoke with Hahn’s girlfriend. She told police she had been in a relationship with Hahn for four years and lived in the apartment with him, his daughter, and her three children.
According to the probable cause statement, Hahn said the children in the apartment had been sick recently with what he believed was food poisoning. On the day before the girl’s death, Hahn said the girl spilled her potty contents onto the floor, which caused him to “snap.” He told detectives he began punching her repeatedly in the stomach, using “all of his force.”
Hahn also told officers he tied the child’s hands above her head with a rope connected to a pull-up bar on the bathroom door, and tied her feet to the toilet with a towel to keep her restrained. He said she remained in that position for up to three hours.
Later that night, during dinner, Hahn said the girl was unable to eat and began gagging and spitting up her food. He said he then struck her multiple times with a metal thermos cup on her hands and arms.
The girlfriend, who works early mornings, had left for work around 3 a.m. that day, leaving Hahn alone with the four children.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is expected to formally charge Hahn this week.