An 41-year-old man in Yilan allegedly killed his 68-year-old mother on Sunday morning after an argument about missing money, police said.
Wu Chuang Yu (吳莊玉) ran a paopaobing (pre-mixed shaved ice dessert, 泡泡冰) shop for more than 30 years.
She and her husband had two sons and two daughters, and they lived above her shop with three of their children.
Her second son, Wu Wen-jung (吳文榮), has been unemployed since he quit working in the decorating trade with his father four years ago, and was said to spend a lot of time playing computer games at home, police said, adding he had reportedly stolen money from the shop previously.
Wu Wen-jung allegedly told police that at 1am on Sunday, while his mother was preparing ingredients in the shop’s kitchen, she saw him downstairs and asked if he had stolen money again and why he could not find a job.
After they argued, he grabbed a 35cm-long hammer and hit his mother three to five times from behind, he allegedly told police.
He said he then washed the blood from his clothes and returned to his room.
Nobody on the second or third floor of the building heard the fight, and Wu Chuang Yu’s husband discovered her in a pool of blood when he went downstairs to look for her at 3am, police said.
The husband called an ambulance, but it was too late to save her, they said.
When officers arrived, Wu Wen-jung appeared composed and said he did not know what had happened, police said.
However, after spotting blood under his fingernails, police questioned him further, at which point he confessed, they said.
Wu Wen-jung was sent to the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office for contravening Article 272 of the Criminal Code, which forbids killing one’s parents, police said.
Prosecutors on Sunday said an autopsy might be conducted to confirm the cause of death.
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