By Conner Board -- KING 5 Seattle | Follow the link to access the online article
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — The relatives of a 5-year-old girl who investigators believe died after enduring abuse by her father, is demanding accountability from the state agencies they claim failed to protect her.
In late May, police responded to an apartment in Federal Way where they found Soo Jin Hahn unresponsive. She later died at the hospital. Documents reveal Soo Jin had suffered severe and ongoing abuse, which investigators believe was inflicted by her father.
Woo Jin Hahn is currently in jail with bail set at $5 million in connection to his daughter’s death and is facing multiple charges including Homicide by Abuse.
“It’s as bad an abuse case as I have ever come across,” said Loren Cochran, an attorney now representing the girl’s relatives.
“They're devastated, they're absolutely devastated,” he said.
Soo Jin, who was nonverbal and had special needs, lived with her father, his girlfriend, and her children. Soo Jin’s relatives have filed legal paperwork accusing the state of Washington of failing to protect the child, despite what they claim are years of warning signs that abuse was happening in the household.
“There was three years of documented abuse before this girl was killed,” Cochran said.
According to court documents, Woo Jin Hahn called police in late May to report that his daughter had stopped breathing. When officers arrived, they observed several bruises and lacerations on her face and body.
Hahn later told investigators he had “snapped” the night before. Documents state he admitted to hitting Soo Jin multiple times with a metal cup at dinner. Then when she did not use the toilet correctly, he said he tied her arms to a pull-up bar above the toilet and punched Soo Jin as hard as he could numerous times while she hung there for hours.
“The actual torture that this poor thing went through, horrific,” Cochran said.
Records show the household had been the subject of prior CPS referrals regarding suspected abuse. Probable cause documents show that reports were made to CPS by a teacher in 2022, a relative in 2023, and a school counselor in 2025 regarding suspected abuse of the other children in the household.
“CPS should have, not only could have, but should have, been involved in that home and prevented this five-year-old's death,” Cochran said. “If you've got vulnerable kids that are within a home in which abuse is alleged, then they have a duty to make sure everybody's okay, and they failed that here.”
At one point in the investigation, Woo Jin Hahn is quoted in documents as saying that CPS told him he could not hit the children with a stick, as it was reported he used a bamboo stick in prior alleged abuse.
Cochran said state intervention was necessary long before Soo Jin’s death.
“CPS has a duty to get involved in that family,” said Cochran. “They have a duty to get involved in that family and prevent it from happening again.”
KING 5 reached out to the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) which said it cannot comment on pending litigation.
