Mystery surrounds grisly demise of a whole family

An entrepreneur and his wife may have planned the murder and cremation of their three children, a case which was at first thought to involve a suicide pact, local media reported yesterday.

The case was first discovered Wednesday afternoon, when three letters were found in the bedroom of 50-year-old Hung Jo-tan (洪若潭), the owner of the Chung Yuan Enterprise (眾源企業), a company located in Changhua County. They were discovered by an employee looking for the missing man. All of the letters were addressed to Hung's younger sister.

In the letters, Hung is alleged to have written that he and his wife decided to kill their three children because of family problems and political chaos in the country.

In one of the three letters, Hung mentioned that his three children would have been burnt and their ashes scattered at sea by the time the letters were read. He also asked that his ashes and those of his wife be dropped at sea as well.

Hung's oldest son, 24, was attending graduate school, his second son, 23, worked at a factory run by Hung and his 19-year-old daughter was attending college.

All are reported missing, police reported.

Police also said yesterday that forensics have confirmed that the charred remains of two bodies found inside a newly installed furnace in the family's backyard have been identified as one male and one female.

"If local prosecutors are able to extract DNA from the remains, the results of the DNA testing will be available next Monday," said Wu Tsui-fang (吳萃芳), a chief prosecutor at the Chang-hua District Prosecutors' Office (彰化地檢署).

Police now say it is likely one of the two, most likely the husband, used steel wire to secure the door, leaving it only slightly ajar. A pair of pliers, which are believed to have been used to tighten the wire, were found outside the furnace.

Police suspect that the two entered the furnace, and then used the pliers to twist the wires tight, locking themselves inside to prevent their escape from the flames.

According to Wu, the wife did not put up a struggle, a sign that she may have been killed before being placed inside.

The chief prosecutor stressed, however, that until the results of DNA tests are confirmed, investigators cannot be sure that the remains belong to Hung and his wife, the 47-year-old Yao Pao-yueh (姚寶月).

According to police, Hung withdrew NT$22 million from a local branch of the Taiwan Business Bank (台灣企銀) on Monday and promptly repaid debts to four friends.

The grisly crime scene attracted thousands of curious visitors to Changhua's Erlin township (二林) yesterday, despite the fact that prosecutors ordered the scene sealed off.