Police in central Taiwan yesterday continued investigating an apparent murder-suicide in which a Taiwanese man allegedly killed his Vietnamese girlfriend and threw her body from the couple’s 11th-floor apartment, before jumping to his death.
The incident occurred in Nantou County’s Caotun Township (草屯) on Monday morning.
People called the paramedics and the police after seeing the woman’s body landing on the street followed by the man falling on a parked car.
Caotun police identified the two as a Taiwanese man surnamed Hsu (許) and his Vietnamese girlfriend, surnamed Bui (裴), both 32.
“There is no sign of forced entry into the apartment where the two lived. The floor was covered in blood and we found a watermelon knife, which we believe was the weapon used in the murder,” said Hung Yu-chun (洪玉俊), head of the Criminal Investigation Division at Caotun Police Precinct.
“Based on the crime scene and the evidence gathered so far, we believe the man first killed the female victim with the knife, then threw her body out of the apartment. The man then appears to have committed suicide by jumping off the building,” Hung said.
Nantou prosecutors joined a forensic medical team to perform autopsies on the bodies at a mortuary yesterday, as Hsu’s parents and relatives waited outside.
Bui had a deep laceration on her neck, the fatal wound that had killed her, which matched with physical evidence found on the knife, the autopsies found.
They showed that Hsu died from shock to the heart and vital organs from the impact of landing on the car.
They also found that Hsu had several lacerations on his arm and neck, which Hung said were likely self-inflicted, as Hsu apparently first tried to commit suicide using the knife.
Witnesses said they were horrified to see a body falling off the building and landing on the pavement, followed a few seconds later by another landing on top of a parked white sedan, which had its top frame dented due to the impact.
Caotun police confirmed that Hsu and Bui were in a relationship for more than a year and lived together in the rented apartment, according to information given by families and friends of the two victims.
Police found that Bui first came to Taiwan through a previous marriage with a man living in Nantou County, and the couple had a son.
They later got divorced and Bui sent the boy to Vietnam to be raised by her parents there.
Hsu’s relatives said the two frequently argued, because Bui wired money back home every month to support her family.
Bui also worked as a hostess at a bar to earn extra cash, Hsu’s relatives said.
Bui’s friends said the two had not been getting on recently, because Hsu only worked occasionally at manual labor jobs and allegedly used narcotics, which caused the two to argue.
Hsu also subjected Bui to domestic violence, they said.
Police spoke to the owner of the damaged car, who said although he lived in the same building with Hsu and Bui, he did not know them.
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