The Taipei City Government yesterday announced the suspension of all activities at the Huashan Grassland (華山大草原) amid an investigation into the murder of a woman who was dismembered there last week.
The victim, a 30-year-old woman surnamed Kao (高), was allegedly murdered by her 37-year-old archery instructor, surnamed Chen (陳), who taught classes at his Yejucaotang (野居草堂) studio at the Grassland.
Chen confessed to police that he had killed Kao on June 1 after she rejected his sexual advances and that he had cut her body into seven parts and hidden them on Yangmingshan (陽明山) on June 3.
Huashan Grassland is a plot of land owned by the Judicial Yuan and leased by the Taipei Urban Regeneration Office for public use.
The office yesterday said that it had leased the land to promote urban regeneration and diversity, and that it had approved an art group called Unregulated Masses (野青眾) to use the land to create an artists’ village called 120 Grassroots (120草原自治區) from November last year to June 30.
Chen’s archery studio is one of the studios in the village.
Unregulated Masses yesterday posted a statement on Facebook saying that it maintains the facilities and conducts regular safety patrols in the area, and asked that participants manage their studios according to the rules.
It said that Chen was a volunteer participant at the artists’ village, and the group had held an open forum on May 31, which ended at 10pm.
The group cleaned up at 11pm, but did not enter Chen’s studio out of respect for each participant’s privacy.
The group said the victim’s family came to inquire about a missing person on June 2, and it provided assistance by posting the message on Facebook, sifting through surveillance camera footage and searching the area in cooperation with police.
Several residents of the neighborhood said they had complained to borough heads about the 120 Grassroots project, which they said often held noisy activities at night.
They were also concerned over security because some people are sleeping in tents or in the studios.
As the case marks the third murder and dismemberment reported in northern Taiwan in just 12 days, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday expressed regret over the murder and said that mental health problems are difficult to detect.
The city government has established a social safety net, but it is difficult to cover every corner of the city, he said, adding that the net can detect socially salient behaviors (considered deviant relative to the behavior of others), but it is hard to identify abusive relationships until a crime is committed.
The city government will continue to discuss what it can do to help prevent these cases, Ko said.
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