Hualien police were yesterday looking for a missing couple whose five children were found dead at their Hualien home on Friday night.
Police suspect the five were murdered by their father Liu Chih-chin (
Liu's car was was found by police yesterday parked near the Chian Township (
The five deceased include Liu's 18-year-old and 17-year-old sons -- children from Liu's previous marriage -- and three daughters aged 12, 9 and 8 from his current marriage to Lin.
"The five corpses were found at a bathroom in their house. Their hands and legs were all tied with wire, and their facial features were sealed with adhesive tape, and their heads were covered with plastic bags," police officer Lin Chien-lung (
As there were no signs of fighting in the house, police suspect the five were already unconscious before they were smothered, added officer Lin.
The windows and the door of the bathroom were sealed with adhesive tape, officer Lin said.
The officer said it appeared the five had been dead for three days.
Officer Lin said Liu's wife Lin talked with the children's teachers by telephone on Wednesday and asked them to be excused from class due to illness.
Hualien District Prosecutors' Office spokeswoman Huang Yi-chun (
Liu was suspected of having debts of around NT$3 million (US$91,254), which may have led to the incident, officer Lin said.
Police suspect Liu and Lin might have left their home and committed suicide outside after killing their children.
Police also suspect the murder might have involved Liu's creditors, officer Lin added.
Police discovered the murder on Friday evening, after neighbors detected a bad smell emanating from house.
The neighbors told police nothing peculiar had happened before the incident.
Lin said that Liu ran a tourist photography business in Hualien.
Police suspect that Liu went heavily into debt to expand his business, which led to serious financial difficulties for the family.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS