Police say that a male university student whose body was found in a suitcase in a vacant lot in Taipei on Tuesday may have been killed by his male lover.
After an autopsy yesterday, police said 21-year-old Lin Chih-hao (
Lin's body was found by a local resident in front of a small temple in Taipei City's Wenshan (文山) District. Inside a big suitcase, Lin's body was naked, and a pair of boxer shorts covered his face. According to the victim's father, the underwear did not belong to Lin, police said.
No obvious physical wounds were found on Lin's body, according to the police.
A source said that semen and bloodstains were detected around the victim's rectum, but police said they were unable to comment on media speculation that the victim had been sexually assaulted.
Police said, however, that the focus of their investigation was on the victim's homosexual relationships.
An evening newspaper said yesterday that a man named "Kevin" might be connected to the case. The report said that in an e-mail message to "Kevin," the victim had referred to sexual intercourse between the two. But police denied the story about "Kevin."
Lin's family told the police that they last saw him when he left his Neihu (內湖) District home on Sunday afternoon. They said there was nothing unusual about Lin's appearance or conduct at that time.
Police said witnesses saw the suitcase at the scene late on Sunday night. But it was not until Tuesday that the body was discovered inside.
The autopsy indicated that Lin had been dead for about two days, police said.
It has been widely reported that a witness saw two young men park a red car at the scene on Sunday night.
Lin's family told the police that they had called Lin on his mobile phone Sunday evening, and he had said that he was near the Taipei Main Station and would not be going home for dinner.
But a check of Lin's phone records showed that he was actually still in Neihu when he received the call, police said.
Lin's classmates and teachers told reporters that Lin was a diligent student with a good academic record.
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