A DNA test on a bloodstain from a Taipei hotel where a Singaporean couple stayed matched the blood of a newborn girl whose body was found dumped in a bin for kitchen waste near the hotel last week, police said yesterday.
An autopsy on the body is to be conducted today to determine whether the baby had been dumped before or after she died, police said.
Once the cause of death has been identified, the Criminal Investigation Bureau would request help from police in Singapore, they said.
The DNA result is just part of the evidence needed to determine the couple’s role, police said, adding that they hope to question them in Taiwan to help solve the case, in which they are listed as suspects.
The body, wrapped in a black plastic bag, was discovered by a worker at a recycling company in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) on Tuesday last week.
After reviewing surveillance footage, police traced a man who was shown dumping a plastic bag into a bin in front of a barbecue restaurant in Ximending (西門町) area in Taipei in the early hours of the same day.
The bin was picked up by a garbage truck and taken to Xindian, the footage showed.
The baby was found with her umbilical cord and placenta, but it remains unclear when she died, police said.
The Singaporean man, in his 20s, checked into a hotel in Ximending with his girlfriend on Feb. 19 after entering Taiwan earlier that day.
Hotel workers told police that the woman appeared to be pregnant upon checking in, but her belly was flat when she checked out.
Police said that the couple left Taiwan on Tuesday last week after the incident was reported by local media.
If the newborn died before birth, the suspects could be charged with abandoning a corpse, police said.
However, if she died after birth, the suspects could be charged with negligent homicide and abandoning a corpse, they said.
Singapore-based media reported that the man denied that his girlfriend was pregnant and rejected Taiwanese media reports.
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