An archery instructor who had admitted to killing and dismembering a woman in his studio at 120 Grassroots (120草原自治區), a temporary collective adjacent to Taipei’s Huashan 1914 Creative Park, was yesterday detained pending an investigation by the police.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said it is collecting evidence and interviewing people to determine if the suspect, Chen Po-chien (陳伯謙), 37, had help in killing and dismembering the 30-year-old victim, surnamed Kao (高).
During questioning by police on Sunday, Chen admitted to killing Kao at about 4am on June 1, prosecutors said.
Kao had signed up for archery courses and attended several classes, they added.
On May 31, Chen, Kao and several other people gathered at Chen’s Yejucaotang (野居草堂) studio for drinks, prosecutors said.
“Chen said he got Kao drunk by mixing beer with Kaoliang liquor. After his friends left Chen wanted to have sex with her. However, she rejected his advances and Chen in a fit of anger strangled her,” prosecutors said.
Chen initially kept Kao’s body in the tent, but it started to smell after a while, so he cut the body into seven parts late on June 3 and placed them in plastic bags, prosecutors said.
Chen later transported the body parts on his motorcycle and discarded them along the road on the northern slope of Yangmingshan, they said.
The prosecutors also released a statement condemning the leaking of information from their investigation, which they said contravened the principle of confidentiality of cases under investigation.
Local media had earlier made live broadcasts about the body parts as they were found and reported a claim that Chen had sexually assaulted Kao’s body.
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