The Suh Siblings Are Still Tied to an Unsolved Murder Mystery

Every week, Dateline NBC brings us back to a true crime story from recent history. Now, Dateline is covering some “Twisted Loyalty.” In Chicago 1995, Andrew Suh was convicted for killing his sister, Catherine Suh’s boyfriend in 1993. But there’s much more to the story, which is why it captured the interests of Americans for years.

Both Andrew and Catherine Suh were on the hook for the murder of her boyfriend, Robert O’Dubaine, but what about the murder of their mother? Yes, Elizabeth Suh was murdered in 1987 in cold blood, and her murder officially remains unsolved, but investigators have a hunch as to who the culprit is. So who killed Elizabeth Suh?

The story of Andrew and Catherine Suh is a tragic story of an immigrant family from South Korea. Their parents moved them to Chicago in 1976 to start a new life. While Elizabeth and Ronald Suh were staunchly orthodox and religious, their kids seemed to be normal and happy.

The Suhs ran a chain of dry-cleaning stores before they were struck with tragedy. Ronald Suh passed away from stomach cancer in 1986.

At this point, Catherine Suh was already 17 years old and almost a legal adult. However, Andrew Suh was only 11. Then, in 1987, their mother, Elizabeth Suh, was found dead in her dry cleaning shop with 37 stab wounds in the neck and back.

The homicide detective who worked on the case explained to the Chicago Tribune, “There was a lot of hate there. That's somebody sitting there and [stabbing her] over and over.”

At the time, the main suspects for Elizabeth Suh’s murder were her children and O’Dubaine. Catherine Suh was already living with him at the time, and he was her sole alibi. Not only are the Suh children marred by murder, but they’ve also gained quite a bit. They collected $800,000 in life insurance payouts from their mother’s death.

However, prosecutors couldn’t get enough evidence to convict Catherine or Andrew Suh in their mother’s murder. But why would Catherine Suh have killed her boyfriend who might have aided in killing her mother?

Well, there are two reasons. The first is the same as her motive with her mother — the life insurance policy. Shortly before O’Dubaine’s death, he took out a life insurance policy of $250,000 with Catherine Suh as the sole beneficiary.

Their relationship was on the rocks, however, and authorities claimed, “[Catherine Suh] plotted to kill O'Dubaine because of his incriminating knowledge about her mother's death.”

If that’s the case, then it’s very likely Catherine Suh could have been Elizabeth Suh’s murderer. Her brother, Andrew Suh, regrets everything in regards to O’Dubaine’s murder. But she does not seem to be on the same page.

After O’Dubaine’s murder, she left her brother to fend for himself while she fled the country. She even had an alter ego, Kasia Kane, “a very private and wealthy woman with a knack for gourmet cooking,” showing her penchant for manipulation.

So did Catherine Suh kill her mother? We can’t confirm, but it’s very likely.

Catch up on this story on July 16 on Dateline at 10 p.m. EST on NBC.