Yunlin County authorities are investigating the murder of at least three children of the same family over a six-year period and reports that family members helped to dispose of the bodies.
The alleged filicides involve a couple from Yunlin County’s Lunbei Township (崙背). It is alleged that the suspects, a 36-year-old man surnamed Lee (李) and his 32-year-old wife, surnamed Chen (陳), beat and killed their children.
Chen gave birth to six children, but three of them — a seven-year-old boy, as well as one male and one female infant less than one year old — were likely killed and buried somewhere, Yunlin District Prosecutors’ Office spokeswoman Huang Yi-hua (黃怡華) said.
Huang said the couple’s relatives and neighbors suspect Lee killed the children, as he does not have regular employment and has been known for drinking and abusive behavior toward his children when intoxicated.
Prosecutors said Lee’s elderly father has admitted to helping the couple dump the body of one of their children near the mouth of Huwei River in Yunlin County.
The man will be listed as an accomplice, prosecutors said, adding that he and his son are expected to be charged with destroying evidence and disposal of a body to impede investigation and prosecution of a crime.
Lee has been held in a Yunlin prison for fraud since March last year.
After prosecutors launched an investigation into a missing persons case of Lee’s eldest son, they found the couple’s second child had also been missing for years.
The couple initially denied the allegations and allegedly tried to conceal information, but their eldest daughter told police that one of her brothers had been “beaten up and had died,” Huang said.
Prosecutors also discovered that one of the couple’s daughters died in 2009 and suspect that Lee killed her.
Chen is not listed as a suspect, as she has provided information regarding the case and told police that she did not report the killings to help protect her other children.
Investigators have recovered one body and are working to find the other two.
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