Iowa Professor Who Canceled Class Citing 'Personal Issue' Charged with Husband's Murder Days Later

An economics professor at Simpson College in Iowa was arrested Wednesday on accusations she murdered her husband, PEOPLE confirms.

According to a statement from the West Des Moines Police Department, Gowun Park, 41, was arrested on first-degree murder and kidnapping charges and is being held on $5 million bail.

The statement indicates police were summoned to Park’s West Des Moines home on Saturday at about 6:45 p.m. on a call of an unconscious person at the residence.

When they arrived, they found Park “performing CPR on her husband, 41-year-old Sung Nam.”

Nam was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Des Moines Register reports Park was an assistant economics professor at Simpson College, who’d emailed her students Sunday, canceling classes this week.

According to the paper, Park cited a “personal issue” for the class cancellations.

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Simpson junior Thomas Mussig, an economics major who had Park as an academic adviser, said he was shocked by the news.

“She was one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever known,” he told the Register. “This is really tough.”

The paper, citing the criminal complaint, reports that Park allegedly bound Nam’s hands and feet with zip ties and then used rope to tie him to a chair in their home. She then allegedly stuffed “an item of clothing” in Nam’s mouth to prevent him from yelling and placed duct tape over his mouth before duct-taping a towel over his entire head.

Nam was found unresponsive with ligature marks on the front of his neck and throat.

There is no known motive for the alleged crime at this time.

Park has been suspended from her professor position.

It was unclear if she’d entered pleas to the charges she faces, or if she has an attorney who could speak on her behalf.