A man in Yilan County is under investigation for allegedly concealing the death of his mother to continue collecting her pension, police said yesterday after authorities entered their residence with a search warrant and found the woman mummified.
It was estimated that she had been dead for at least four years.
According to the police, the 91-year-old woman, surnamed Chang (張), lived with her 65-year-old son, also surnamed Chang, in Luodong Township (羅東).
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
Her daughter, who resides nearby, had been unable to contact her for years. Each time she attempted to visit, her brother blocked her from entering the home, citing reasons such as their mother being asleep, sources said.
Suspicious about the situation, the daughter reported it to police, and when police officers visited multiple times, the son also refused them entry, sources said, adding that even Luodong Mayor Wu Chiu-ling (吳秋齡), who tried to present a senior citizen’s gift for the senior Chang’s 90th birthday, was stopped at the door by the son.
Concerned and suspecting that her mother might be dead, the daughter alerted the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office. Prosecutors. The prosecutors, deemed the case suspicious, swiftly applied to the court for a search warrant on Thursday evening.
Officers entering the residence found the mother’s corpse in her bedroom, dead for an extended period, her body having mummified.
The son was taken into custody for questioning. When asked about the cause of his mother’s death and why he concealed the news, he was quoted by police as being vague, saying he did not know or that he forgot.
An investigation by prosecutors and police showed that the woman’s pension, senior citizen gifts and settlement money provided by her daughter allegedly had all been concealed by the son, who continued to fraudulently claim more than an estimated NT$200,000.
Prosecutors determined there is a possibility of further offenses coming to light, including forgery and fraud.
An autopsy is scheduled to determine the cause of the woman’s death. Prosecutors said they have not ruled out the son could be charged with murder.
Killing a direct blood relative could carry the death penalty.
Alternatively, if it is found that his neglect — through “failure to provide treatment or care” for his elderly, bedridden mother — led to her death, he could be charged with abandonment of a direct blood relative, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, they said.
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