Police said an investigation into the deaths of a man and a woman at a Taipei luxury residence found illegal substances in the room, such as mephedrone, ketamine and nimetazepam, as well as one vaping device, and the cause of death was likely drug overdose.
The case received significant media attention, as the deaths happened in a high-end residential complex in an upscale area and the deceased were young.
The man, who owned the unit and managed a venture capital company that invests in tech start-ups, was in his 30s, while the woman was 25, police said.
Photo: Screen grab from Google Maps
The father of the man, surnamed Chen (陳), said that after he could not reach his son on Saturday, he went to his home to look for him.
As he had a key to the residence, he went in and found his son and the woman, surnamed Tseng (曾), next to each other in front of the sofa in the living room, he said, adding that he then called an ambulance and the police.
When medics arrived, they found that the couple had no vital signs, and they were declared dead at a hospital.
Evidence at the scene showed no signs of a third party nor foul play, police said, adding that the building’s surveillance system showed no other person had entered the unit after Chen and Tseng came home on Friday, and that they did not go outside again.
Police said they found an unknown white powder and other materials on the table, as well as a vaping device, so they suspect that the couple had been consuming narcotics, which led to an overdose.
Initial test results from the police’s forensic science center yesterday confirmed that the white powder contained several substances classified as illegal narcotics in Taiwan, they said.
The powder included mephedrone, also known as Meow Meow (喵喵), a synthetic stimulant related to amphetamine, as well as nimetazepam, a hypnotic drug popular at parties, police said, adding that the vape pod allegedly contained cannabis.
Family members of the deceased agreed to an autopsy, which would be performed in the next few days, so that forensic doctors can determine the exact cause of death, police investigators said.
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