Cops Trace Missing Student to Korea

Nov. 19, 2007— -- A police investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a former Missouri University student last week found that the 27-year-old woman bought a ticket to Korea and left the country on her own.

Cops launched their investigation into the whereabouts of Ye Won Lee when she failed to show up at her parents Indiana home for a scheduled visit and the door to her Columbia, Md., apartment was found wide open.

"There were a lot of circumstances that made it appear to be suspicious," Capt. Stephen Monticelli of the Columbia Police Department, told ABC News.

Over the course of the weekend, however, authorities discovered that Lee had not been enrolled as a student in the university since 2006, despite her family's belief that she was actively taking classes.

This morning, police also discovered Lee's Honda Civic parked at a shuttle bus stop that runs between the college town and the St. Louis airport. Police also announced that they'd tracked Lee's credit card charges and found that she'd purchased airline tickets for travel from St. Louis to Korea.

"We're fairly certain that anything she's done was of her own accord," Monticelli said. "What we're trying to do now is verify that she's the one who actually got on the plane."

Monticelli speculated that Lee's student visa may have expired but said that neither her family nor authorities were knew why she'd left the United States.