Five Years After IU Music Camp Attack, A Former Inmate Opens Up About Experiencing Dongwook "Mikey" Ko In Jail

A Former Jail Inmate of Dongwook "Mikey" Ko Opens Up About Ko, His Jail Experience, and Secrets on the Case Never Revealed

WARNING: THIS STORY MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS AS THIS STORY DISCUSSES JAIL, PRISON, INMATE LIFE, CORRUPTION, AND MURDER.

READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED

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A former cellmate of Dongwook Ko who was convicted last year of murder is now speaking out about his experience with cellmates and interacting with Dongwook Ko while in jail.

• Details About The Case

Five years ago this month on July 12, 2019, Dongwook “Mikey” Ko was 17 when he attacked and stabbed a then 14-year-old female high school IU Jacobs School of Music strings music camper on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. that he knew from a previous camp the year before.

Ko stabbed the victim multiple times and nearly sexually assaulted her in a private practice band room before leaving her cut and running away from the scene as the victim was left scared by the incident.

When police found Ko in 2019, he was questioned once booked into the Monroe County Jail in Bloomington, Ind. on whether or not he was fit to stand trial or not.

The victim’s family challenged the courts several times to make him stand trial, and the family, who was close with the judge and their family, had every hope of Ko recieving either a life sentence or deportation back to his home in South Korea.

The victim’s trauma made her sheltered from the rest of the world for several years as Ko sat in a jail cell in Morgan County, Ind. but even then he was committing crimes.

When he set up a hit list and hired a hit man while in jail that featured nine victims’ he wanted to murder including the names of the victims’ families, friends, students he attended high school with, and other affiliated family members.

Last year, after Ko violated a plea agreement, he was found guilty on all charges of Conspiracy to Commit Murder and sentenced to 24 years in prison where he now stands to this day.

As for a few of his victims like myself, I received a massive level of support thanking me for opening up about the boy I knew as Mikey.

My episodes of the 2021 four-part podcast recorded between July through December 2021 when I was a student at Vincennes Junior College University called, “UnChained: The Story of Dongwook “Mikey” Ko From One of His Victims” attracted almost 400 people to the podcast each day from all sorts of backgrounds and opinions based on the case.

This case was not a high-profile case by any stretch of the imagination, and I never expected it to be, but the love and support I received from recording this podcast has been amazing.

When I made this podcast, it was an audacious effort to hold my past in the past and move on with my future. Away from knowing this kid, now a convicted prisoner, and who he once faked becoming.

That was until more facts came out about the case.

• My Interview with a Former Inmate

Ko, who I will refer him as thanks to clarification given by former Clay County, Ind. Jail inmate, Jerry White, who commented on my podcast episode on YouTube, claimed Ko was set up by Jail staff multiple times as an unnamed and wired prisoner, and played mind tricks on him while spending time in Jail.

“He deserves what he got for the girl, but the Clay County Jail set him up.” He said in an interview, “They had a child molester, who wasn't even supposed to be housed with Ko, wear a wire on Ko. It was even on camera.”

White was no stranger to being in prison. In 2019, he was convicted of child molestation charges in Indianapolis and was booked into the Clay County Jail after being sentenced to a maximum term of 40 years in prison by a Marion County judge which he was able to appeal.

White and Ko were inmates at the Clay County Jail for the full 18 months of his stay. White said that the other inmates along with himself never messed with Ko, who they nicknamed, “Chow” while in Jail.

According to White himself, Ko and him shared a bunk together while in jail.

He said Ko doesn’t bother anyone, never says much, and is very reserved to himself and his cellmates.

There was no word on if he was doing any activity such as working in jail, getting his GED, or college diploma, or if he is advancing in his studies to occupy his time in prison.

While in jail, White said Ko admitted to hiring a hit man, and attempting his crime. He might have said even more than that to another inmate in the prison.

Similar to the case of Jimmy Keene who tried to get a confession out of a tri-state female murderer, Larry Hall, who was never supposed to be placed in jail at all, tried to get a confession out of him.

White said this was a set up by either the ICE team that extracted him to the prison or by the prison staff along with the court system.

“Ko is a spoiled little [kid], I know that, but they broke the law to get him in.” White said, “The guy wore a wire and got Ko to talk about his case in Bloomington. And he had Ko call an investigator at the front of the jail. Ko was in a pod. The guy stood over Ko as he refused to say anything over a phone in the jail, but the guy was threatening him.

“We all know that phones are recorded in prison. And I'm not stupid to prove this was a conspiracy to commit homicide, you have to have three charges against you. You need a motive, a reasonable attempt, and a money exchange. They faked all three things when questioning him. There was no money exchanged hands. Ko had his mom send a [prison staff member] $30 so he wouldn't have beat Ko up for not confessing.”

• Conclusion

To try and help Ko get more honest treatment in prison, White tried his best to look into the case for him while the staff members were beginning to close in on a confession about Ko’s whereabouts and what happened during the case.

Regardless of how many attorneys Ko and his family paid for from Indianapolis and Bloomington, their case was never a case that was winnable for Ko and his family.

One other thing that Ko confessed to was hiring the hitman while in prison and lying about his age while in both the Morgan County & Clay County Jails in Indiana.

Whether that was Ko’s narcissism or coning behavior you be the judge, but one thing that both White and I agreed on was that Ko is evil. His crimes were well planned out and Ko is a calculated and cold prisoner who should never be released back into society.

As I learned more from White, my experience with Ko was different than his, and I understand, but he found my podcast to be informative and I thank him for opening up with me because we need to all know what Ko is capable of doing as his time in jail was cold and his prison life will be even colder as White explained to me.