The brother of a woman whose decapitated head was found on Friday in a lavatory has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
New Taipei City (新北市) Sanchong Police Precinct deputy director Hsu Hsin (徐歆) said the victim was confirmed to be Chen Wan-ting (陳婉婷), a woman who suffered from mental illness who lived in the city’s Sanchong District (三重) with her brother, Chen Chia-fu (陳佳富), and had been reported missing on Dec. 17.
Based on the preliminary investigation, Chen Chia-fu has been identified as the prime suspect in the case and was brought in for questioning at the Sanchong Precinct on Saturday night.
Photo: CNA
Investigators found that Chen Chia-fu, a chef who also suffered from mental illness, took out five life insurance policies on his sister last year, worth a total of about NT$5 million (US$151,000).
Investigators said that surveillance cameras in the vicinity of Chen Chia-fu’s residence captured at 4am on Wednesday a man resembling him leaving with a large, black garbage bag.
Footage recorded at about 11am on the same day by cameras near where the head was discovered captured a man wearing a face mask, sunglasses, a hat and a wig who resembled Chen Chia-fu, investigators said.
Chen Chia-fu was vague when questioned and denied any involvement in the murder. The Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office issued a warrant for his arrest yesterday to take him in for a second round of questioning in Chiayi, where his sister’s head was discovered.
The head was found sprinkled with salt and wrapped in clothing and layers of plastic bags with a piece of paper written with the name Chen Wang-ting in the men’s lavatory at Shangtian Temple in Shueishang Township (水上).
An anonymous letter from someone claiming to be a “kind-hearted man” led the police to the remains. Sent from a non-existent address in Taoyuan County to Sanchong Precinct’s Datong police station, where Chen Wan-ting’s mother had reported her missing, the letter told police that a severed head had been placed in a public washroom 200m from the Chiayi County Farmers’ Cooperative Association and asked “kindhearted police officers to help out and take care of the corpse.”
Police said they were reviewing Chen Chia-fu’s telephone records and analyzing evidence collected from his residence, adding that they were searching for the rest of Chen Wan-ting’s body, and trying to ascertain the suspect’s motive and how the victim was murdered.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative