Hsinchu County authorities yesterday said that they have detained the prime suspect and four alleged accomplices in the murder of a 14-year-old junior-high school student, whose charred body was discovered in a riverside park in Jhudong Township (竹東) on Wednesday.
The teen, surnamed Chiu (邱), had been missing for three days.
Her remains were identified by family members based on clothing and physical traits.
Police said Chiu had been raped and beaten to death.
Investigators yesterday named Lin Chun-hsiung (林春雄), a 31-year-old who has a criminal record for gang activity, as their prime suspect in the case. They said his alleged accomplices are his 27-year-old wife, Huang Hsiao-yun (黃曉雲). and three men: Ho Wen-hsuan (何文軒), 19; Chen Che-ju (陳哲儒), 26. and Ku Chih-chiang (古志強), 22.
Police said Chiu was attacked and killed on Sunday night. They allege that Lin ordered his accomplices to beat Chiu, and that the group had brought along two youngsters, aged 11 and nine, to witness the beating.
They said the assailants punched, kicked and struck the victim with rocks and motorcycle helmets. Ho and Ku are also alleged to have raped her after she was beaten.
Lin reportedly then told the two youngsters to pick up rocks and stone Chiu, threatening to hurt them if they did not comply.
According to the police, the five adults then left the park and went to a local KTV, where they spent several hours drinking and singing. They returned the next day to the park and found Chiu dead, police said, and returned again later with gasoline and set fire to Chiu’s body in an attempt to conceal the crime.
“Chiu was involved in a minor argument with another student, which was reported to the adults. These five adults did not have any real interest in or hatred of Chiu, but they beat her up in an appalling manner and killed her,” Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office chief prosecutor Lin Lee-chia (林李嘉) said yesterday.
“They showed inhumane cruelty toward the victim, and justice must be meted out for such a heinous crime,” he said.
Chiu’s family said the teen had minor mental disabilities, which affected her verbal and social skills, and that she had sometimes been bullied in school.
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