Chen Jui-chin (陳瑞欽), the Chiayi County man who was arrested last Thursday for murdering a Chiayi woman, reportedly confessed to prosecutors yesterday that he murdered four family members in order to collect on their life insurance policies.
Last Saturday, Nantou prosecutors announced that Chen Jui-chin had confessed to murdering his friend Chen Yi-ling (陳怡伶) on May 11.
Her body had been found on May 12 in the Shanlinshi resort area.
During their investigation into that murder, Nantou County prosecutors discovered that five members of of Chen's extended family had died in what appeared to be an unusual string of accidents over a 13-year period and that he had received an estimated NT$22 million from their life-insurance policies.
"We had a long talk on Tuesday night. Early this morning, he finally admitted that the deaths of four of family members were his work. He wanted to get money from their insurance policies," said Nantou Chief Prosecutor Wang Ching-chieh (王清杰).
"However, Chen insisted that he had nothing to do with his second wife's death. For that, we will still need more time to investigate," Wang said.
Wang said that Chen admitted to murdering his first wife Tseng Pi-hsia (曾碧霞), his son Chen Chien-hung (陳建宏), Chen Yi-chi (陳一志) -- the 15-year old son of his second wife -- and Chen Tsung-ching (陳宗慶) -- the son of his third wife.
Tseng died after a fall from her bed in 1985 and while Chen Jui-chin had been the only witness, at the time he could not explain how the accident happened.
According to Wang, Chen Jui-chin has admitted that he had pushed Tseng out of the bed.
Chen Yi-chi died of at home in 1988, reportedly of brain damage. Chen Jui-chin has told prosecutors that he choked his stepson to death.
Chen Chien-hung was reportedly hit by a car in 1995. He was treated at a hospital, but died the next day at home after lapsing into a coma.
According to Chen Jui-chin, the truth was that he beat his son in the head with a brick.
His second wife Wang Shu-ying (王淑嬰) died in a car accident in 1996; Chen Jui-chin insisted that this really was an accident.
Chen Tsung-ching died at home in 1998, reportedly from brain damage that his stepfather told doctors had been caused by a car accident.
Wang said that Chen Jui-chin has confessed to slamming his stepson's head against a wall.
Prosecutors said that Chen Jui-chin had purchased life insurance polices on all five relatives without their authorization and that he had been the sole beneficiary of all of the policies.
The 54-year-old Chen Jui-chen was a former technician for the Chinese Petroleum Corporation.
Nantou District Prosecutors' Office said that when he was arrested on Thursday, he was picked up at Chiayi Christian Hospital.
He had gone to the hospital to get treatment for wounds he suffered after getting beaten up by his creditors.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
COMPLIANCE: The SEF has helped more than 3,900 Chinese verify documents, indicating that most of those affected are willing to cooperate, the MAC said More than 3,100 spouses from China have submitted proof of renunciation of their Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The National Immigration Agency has since April issued notices to spouses to submit proof that they had renounced their Chinese household registration on or before June 30 or their Taiwanese household registration would be revoked. People having difficulties obtaining such a document can request an extension of the deadline or submit a written affidavit in lieu of it. The council said it would hold a briefing at 2:30pm on Friday at the immigration agency’s Taichung office in cooperation with the
The government-funded human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is to be expanded to boys at junior-high school starting in September, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. The Taiwan Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy, the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan, the Taiwan Head and Neck Society, the Formosa Cancer Foundation and the National Alliance of Presidents of Parents Associations held a joint news conference in Taipei yesterday to raise public awareness about the risks of HPV infection, regardless of gender. Invited to give an address, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun