Tainan police have arrested a 39-year-old man suspected of killing three elderly family members with a hammer for money.
The suspect, Kuo Chun-yi (郭濬毅), was yesterday placed in custody after he was transferred to the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office.
Local police on Friday responded to a call and found three elderly people dead in Tainan’s Nanhua District (南化). On Saturday they detained Kuo for questioning and named him as the prime suspect.
The three victims were Lee Hu Mu-nien (李胡木哖), Kuo’s 83-year-old maternal grandmother, and a couple in their late 70s surnamed Lee (李), who were Kuo’s uncle and aunt.
“Based on evidence and the suspect’s testimony, we believe Kuo was after money at the couple’s house, which was ransacked. The cash that was taken was less than NT$10,000,” said Lin Ching-jung (林清榮), vice captain of the Tainan Police’s Criminal Investigation Section.
Investigators said that Kuo was in debt and needed to pay the money back, so he tried to steal it from his uncle’s house, but was caught by his uncle, who berated him.
“The suspect was angered by the scolding and allegedly took a hammer from his car, and proceeded to bludgeon his uncle and aunt to death,” Lin said. “His grandmother who lived next door heard the noise and was going to call the police, so Kuo, trying to cover up the crime, allegedly also used the hammer to kill her.”
All three victims had their skulls crushed by five or more hammer blows, police said.
According to neighbors and Kuo’s relatives, he did not have a steady income and only took on occasional manual labor jobs, police said, adding that he had been known to borrow money.
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