Incheon District Court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for a couple who killed their 6-year-old daughter before burning and burying her body.

The court found the middle-aged couple who killed the girl while abusing her as punishment were “highly likely to run away.” It approved the warrant requested by district prosecutors a day earlier for the couple, who face charges of child abuse resulting in death and the mutilation and abandonment of a body.

The death of the girl, who the 47-year-old man and his 30-year-old wife adopted two years ago, occurred on Sept. 28, at their apartment around 11 p.m. in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province.

The victim was wrapped in duct tape and left alone for 17 straight hours without being fed, Incheon Namdong Police found. She died the next day. The exact cause of death is still being investigated.

On Sept. 30, the couple moved the body to a nearby mountain by car and reportedly set fire to the remains before burying them to hide the evidence. They then drove to a fish market festival in Sorae-pogu, Incheon, falsely telling the birth mother and police that they had lost their daughter while at the festival.

But when examining CCTV footage, police found that the couple did not accompany the child to the festival. The couple later confessed during the investigation that they had killed the child, and had routinely abused her before the incident occurred.

The couple denies that the killing was intentional, saying that the wife performed CPR before the victim died.

A 19-year-old female who police said was a daughter of the father’s close friend and living with the couple was also investigated and apprehended on the same charges.

By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)