Taichung prosecutors yesterday charged a woman and her boyfriend with the murder of the woman’s father and attempting to conceal the crime by discarding the body in the hills.
The woman, surnamed Chiang (江), 33, and her boyfriend, surnamed Chang (張), 34, have been held in detention since their arrest in December last year.
Prosecutors asked the court to impose a heavy punishment, “because the defendants used cruel means to kill Chiang’s father, lacked compassion for the father, and displayed ingratitude to the father who raised [Chiang] and gave the couple a lot of financial support,” a court filing said.
An investigation showed that the father, 57, worked as a school security guard and lived frugally. He took out a substantial portion of his savings to finance Chiang’s and Chang’s studies in the US.
After studying in the US for seven years and returning to Taiwan in 2020, Chiang and her boyfriend often squabbled with Chiang’s parents over money, the filing said.
The father sought police protection after allegedly being treated violently by the couple, it said.
The couple first studied at a language school in the US before going to university, with Chiang complaining that she was not able to complete her studies because her father stopped supporting her, an investigation showed.
After one intense argument with the father, the couple in December last year decided to kill him, buying a rope, tape, scissors, gloves, a hammer and a fruit knife, the indictment read.
On Dec. 26, the couple went to the father’s workplace at a Taichung elementary school, the indictment said.
A quarrel ensued and Chiang allegedly grabbed her father’s arms, while her boyfriend hit him several times on the head with the hammer, the investigation said.
The father fell to the ground, bleeding profusely, while the boyfriend delivered more blows to ensure that he was dead, it said.
The couple then wrapped the father’s body in a plastic bag, and Chang carried it to his scooter, it said.
Chang drove away with the body, while Chiang followed behind on her scooter, until they reached a hill, where they allegedly dumped the body to conceal the crime, prosecutors said.
Chiang’s sister later reported her father as missing.
The investigation, including street camera footage, led police to the area where the body was found two days later.
The couple were arrested as prime suspects in the murder and have been in detention since then.
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