Kwon Jae-chan was born on 2 April 1969 in Incheon, South Korea, as the second of three children. He struggled academically, consistently receiving low grades, and was subjected to frequent bullying at school. During secondary school, Kwon began running away from home repeatedly. In December 1985, he was sentenced to juvenile detention for trespassing and theft. After his release, he dropped out of school and briefly worked as a hairdresser. On 30 March 1987, he received an eight-month prison sentence and two years of probation for theft. In November 1991, Kwon entered an unlocked house in Michuhol District, where he raped a woman and attempted to rob her. Convicted of sexual assault, robbery, and attempted blackmail, he served six years in prison. After his release in October 1997, he committed a similar offense, entering another unlocked home, assaulting a woman, and stealing 2.6 million won, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison.

In January 2003, Kwon committed his first known murder when he bludgeoned a 69-year-old pawnshop owner to death in Michuhol District and stole 320,000 won. He attempted to flee to Japan but was apprehended and sentenced to 15 years in prison. While incarcerated, he assaulted a fellow inmate and was diagnosed with Raynaud syndrome and mental illnesses, including depression. Kwon was released in 2018 and found work at a construction site, but he soon fell into gambling, accruing debts of around 90 million won. Determined to resolve his financial problems through violent means, he planned another killing. 

On the morning of 4 December 2021, he attacked a 59-year-old woman in the parking garage of a building in Michuhol District, strangled her to death, and hid her body in a car trunk. With the help of an accomplice, he used the victim’s credit card to withdraw 4.5 million won and stole 11 million won in jewelry. The next day, fearing betrayal, Kwon killed his accomplice by bludgeoning him on a hill near Eulwangri Beach on Yeongjong Island and buried the body nearby.

On 7 December 2021, police arrested Kwon Jae-chan and charged him with two counts of murder, corpse abandonment, and robbery. In June 2022, the Incheon District Court found him guilty of all charges and sentenced him to death. He remains on death row in South Korea.