Guide Note

Jae Hwan Shim is the former husband of Jenny Young Park, who was murdered with her cousin and two children on June 23, 2008. Shim was detained by police in Mexico and turned over to authorities in Douglas, Arizona to face charges of capital murder.

Fast Facts

1. Age at time of arrest: 39
2. Ex-wife: Jenny Young Park
3. Had one child with Park
4. Charged with four counts of "murder, burglary and special circumstances of multiple murder and murder in the commission of a burglary"¹
5. Prosecutors could seek the death penalty or life in prison
6. Accomplice was Steve Kwon
7. Paul Ciganek murdered at his home, with Park
8. Also murdered were Park's two children: Justin, 9, and Jamie, 13
9. Ciganek was Park's cousin

After finding out that Park was seeing her martial arts instructor, the relationship between Shim and Park broke up. Later, Park refused to sign paperwork for their child to get a passport to leave the country. Possibly fueled by anger over these two incidents, it is believed that Shim and his accomplice, Steve Kwon, murdered everyone in the Quartz Hill home and then set the house on fire.¹