Two siblings in Hsinchu County’s Jhudong Township (竹東) died yesterday after the brother allegedly smothered his sister, who suffered from cerebral palsy, before committing suicide.
The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chiang (姜), had been caring for his younger sister at home, police said, adding that they believed stress to be the motivation for what they were approaching as a murder-suicide.
Chiang had said caring for his sister was “too tiring,” police said, adding that on top of cerebral palsy, a movement disorder, the sister also had osteomalacia, a disease of the bones, and was bedridden.
The evidence suggests that Chiang might have used a wet towel to smother his sister while his parents were out for the day, after which he suffocated himself by tying a plastic bag over his head, police said.
They said that before his death, Chiang wrote a message on his Line account that he scheduled to be sent to his elder sister at a later time and read: “The pressure is too great, I am taking sis away with me.”
Fearing that something might be wrong, the sister contacted an aunt who lives near Chiang, who then rushed to his house, broke in with help from police and found the bodies of the siblings on the floor, police said.
The bodies have been taken to a funeral home and investigators are still gathering information, police said.
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