Police have named a 64-year-old former tenant as a suspect in a house fire in Taichung today that left a 17-year-old and her 50-year-old mother dead.
At a news conference, Wuri Precinct deputy chief Hung Ming-chiang (洪明強) said that a van without license plates belonging to the suspect, surnamed Hsu (許), was found badly damaged by the fire at the scene.
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei Times
According to police, Hsu is a tenant of a property owned by the victims' family for more than 20 years, but was served an eviction notice in July by the family.
A member of the landlord's family, who identified Hsu as a suspect to police, said he believed the family's former tenant may have caused the fire because of the contentious nature of his eviction.
The landlord's family was also seeking damages from Hsu, whom they accused of sexually harassing the deceased teenage victim, police said.
Hsu was located at 4:20am after his daughter contacted police to report that her father had tried to take his own life, police said.
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