Army major caught throwing body of wife off bridge in S. Korea

SEOUL, South Korea -- A U.S. Army major was arrested Tuesday after throwing a plastic bag containing the body of his wife off a bridge, police said.

A South Korean highway patrol caught the man, identified as Maj. Richard Keith Hart, before dawn on a high concrete bridge linking the coast west of Seoul and Youngjong Island, where Incheon International Airport is located.

"They first believed he was throwing away garbage and stopped him. The man drove on, stopped and then threw off the bag," said Chang Sang-hwan, a South Korean police investigator. The bag landed in the muddy salt water below.

"In the bag, we found the body of a white woman," Chang said.

South Korean police identified the victim as Hart's wife, 53-year-old Patricia Ann Hart. It was unclear how she died. It also was not known exactly where she was from in the United States.

Maj. Hart, 45, was in civilian clothes and driving his car. He said he killed his wife Saturday at a U.S. military residential complex and decided to dump her body Tuesday, when she was scheduled to return to the United States after a five-day visit, South Korean police said, citing a preliminary U.S. military investigation report.

The victim was naked and wrapped in plastic sheets and duct tape, police said.

Maj. Hart was assigned to the Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul, the headquarters of the U.S. military in South Korea.

The U.S. military confirmed that an Army officer was being held by South Korean police, and that U.S. military officials were investigating the case with local police.

"The U.S. military is cooperating fully with the Korean National Police in this matter," the U.S. military said a statement.

South Korean police planned to hand over the officer to the U.S. military. When a U.S. soldier is accused of killing another GI or a family member, the case is tried in a U.S. military court.

About 37,000 U.S. troops are based in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.