CLAY CO. – A man who pleaded guilty to attacking a music student in Bloomington in 2021 has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder while in the Clay County jail.
The charges included plotting to kill a list of people for allegedly trying to hire his jail cellmate to kill the victim’s parents and a dozen other people.
Dongwook “Mikey” Ko, who is now 19, is accused of providing a hit list and map to a cellmate at a jail in Brazil, Indiana.
Ko pleaded guilty to several charges related to an attack on a girl two years ago at an Indiana University violin camp. He was sentenced to eight years on home detention in that case, but U.S. immigration agents ordered him to serve his sentence in jail rather than deporting him.
Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Clapp said Ko is looking at 10 to 30 years in prison for the hit list.
Ko is scheduled to deliberate his sentence on Nov. 29.
Dongwook “Mikey” Ko, was 17 when he lured the female victim from the practice room in the Music Annex building to the fourth floor of Merrill Hall, where he stabbed her 12 times with a knife and attempted to strangle her. An employee heard the girl’s screams and intervened.
Ko was arrested on charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery, kidnapping, and kidnapping armed with a deadly weapon and strangulation.
Ko is a citizen of South Korea but has lived in the United States for the past 8-9 years. His mother is in the country on a student visa at Indiana University.
