A 24-year-old Malaysian student studying in Taiwan was found dead with a rope wrapped around her neck after she was reported missing by her university on Thursday, 29 October
According to Taiwan News, the deceased student, Irene Chung, was reported missing by Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan after she did not show up for a meeting with a classmate on Wednesday night, 28 October.
An initial police investigation determined that she had been abducted while walking to her friend’s home, and the next day, police apprehended a suspect surnamed Liang, who confessed to abducting and murdering the student.
CCTV footage of Chung last seen at the underpass.
Image via SET News/Yahoo!
Tainan City Police Department found closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage that showed Chung walking alone near a railway underpass at around 8pm on Wednesday, before disappearing from sight
After reviewing the footage, police investigated the scene and deduced that Chung was taken against her will. They found her right shoe left on the road.
Surveillance footage also revealed a suspicious vehicle at the underpass at the time of her disappearance.
The vehicle registration number led police to its owner, 28-year-old Liang, who was arrested Thursday night. He confessed to strangling the student with a piece of rope and dumping her body in the mountainous Alian district in Kaohsiung.
Police found Chung’s body lying on a slope in only her underwear and the rope still around her neck.
Tainan police conducting their investigation in Alian District.
Image via Tainan Police Department/Taiwan News
The suspect has been detained and could be charged for voluntary manslaughter, sexual assault, and abandonment of a corpse
Police suspect that Liang had planned to sexually assault the student but accidentally suffocated her as she struggled against his attempt to drag her into his car.
According to initial investigations, the suspect is believed to have been preying on other women walking alone at the same railway underpass not far from the university in Tainan.
Focus Taiwan reported that at least one other Chang Jung Christian University student has related on social media that a man had attempted to abduct her at the location in September.
The prime suspect of the murder, Liang (middle).
Image via Focus Taiwan
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has since apologised to Chung’s family, as well as the people of Malaysia, for her death
“The president expressed her deepest apologies to the family of the student and the people of Malaysia,” said Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang, as quoted by Bernama.
During a high-level national security meeting on Saturday, 31 October, she said the incident has tarnished Taiwan’s image as a safe and friendly nation, and exposed problems in the society that must be assessed to ensure that such a tragedy does not occur again.
Meanwhile, Chung’s parents from Sibu, Sarawak, have made a police report regarding the incident and have flown to Taipei to make arrangements for their daughter’s funeral.