Hyun-su was a special needs child who was born in 2010 prematurely and weighed 2.1 kg. In October 2013, Hyun-su went to the U.S. for adoption. Only about 100 days later, he was dead.

Hyun-su’s adoption was facilitated through Catholic Charities in Maryland on the U.S. side and Holt on the Korean side. Hyun-su was one of 62 Korean children sent overseas last year by Holt, which received over $17,000 for each child. Hyun-su’s adoption was processed under the revised Special Adoption Law and was therefore approved by the Korean family court.

Brian and Jennifer O’Callaghan lived near Washington, D.C. and had one biological son already at the time of adoption. At 7:00 p.m. on January 31, 2014, Jennifer O’Callaghan went out of town, leaving her husband with the two boys. According to the arrest warrant, Brian O’Callaghan said that on January 31, Hyun-su fell backwards in the bathtub and hit his shoulder after taking a shower. He said that the next day, after normal activity, Hyun-su took a nap. He said that at 4:00 p.m., he found pink stains on the bedding and mucus coming from Hyun-su’s nose, and Hyun-su did not wake up. An hour later, O’Callaghan checked on Hyun-su again and found a large amount of mucus coming from his nose. The child began to projectile vomit and remained unresponsive. O’Callaghan washed the boy and dressed him. Only after receiving a text message from his wife did he take Hyun-su to the emergency room. By then, one hour had passed after Hyun-su did not wake up.

At the hospital, doctors were concerned that Hyun-su might be brain dead. There was bleeding in the brain and hemorrhaging in the eyes consistent with acute head trauma. The police report said that O’Callaghan could not provide an explanation about what would cause this type of medical distress to the boy.

Hyun-su died at the hospital on February 3, 2014. An autopsy showed multiple contusions consistent with impact trauma, impact trauma on the scrotum, “blunt impact to the back from a linear and triangular shaped object,” a fracture at the base of the skull, bruises to the forehead, swelling of the brain, and trauma to the head causing subcutaneous hemorrhaging of the brain, which in turn caused fluid from the brain to enter the sinus cavity and spine. The doctor who performed the autopsy ruled the cause and manner of death as homicide by multiple blunt impact injuries. Hyun-su’s organs have been distributed to four different people for organ donation.

Holt said in a Hankyoreh newspaper article published on February 19 that the American media has a lot of mistakes, and that we shouldn’t rush to conclusions yet because there has not yet been a verdict at a trial. They are waiting for a cooperative autopsy report to be issued in March and recommended prudence. They also said that the marks on Hyun-su’s body might be Mongolian spots, and that he had hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and encephalatrophy (atrophy of the brain), and therefore it might not be murder.

However, the assistant state attorney listed injuries to the boy’s head, neck, and back, saying, “Basically this child was beaten to death from head to toe.” Brian O’Callaghan has been charged with first degree murder and child abuse resulting in death, and is being held without bail.

Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/damascus-man-charged-with-killing-his-three-year-old-adopted-son/2014/02/18/4cc02e2a-98a4-11e3-9616-d367fa6ea99b_story.html (Edition downloaded 2/19/14 at 10:02 a.m. Seoul Time refers to organ donation.)

http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/world/201402/h2014021921063022450.htm

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/international/international_general/624968.html

http://www.adoptionjustice.com/arrest-warrant-charging-document-brian-patrick-ocallaghan/

http://www.adoptionjustice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/organdonation.pdf

http://www.catholiccharities-md.org/adoptions/fees.html#Korea