KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — A man has been detained as the prime suspect in the case of a Malaysian student who was found dead in her apartment in Taipei’s Shilin District on October 13.
According to Taipei Times, a 30-year-old man only named as Chen allegedly confessed while under police interrogation to strangling and killing the 24-year-old woman only named as Chai during a fight over money.
He was then handed over to prosecutors who succeeded in obtaining a detention order from the court.
Police were reported as saying that Chen, who claimed to be Chai’s boyfriend of roughly a week, was arrested and held for questioning after he was discharged from hospital on October 17, following a failed suicide attempt.
They also said that Chai was a Malaysian student at National Taipei University who worked part-time as a model and social media live-streamer.
She first got to know Chen in April via Instagram and began dating him on October 8, police added.
The Shilin District Prosecutors Office in Taipei, meanwhile, said that investigations to determine the circumstances surrounding Chai’s death are currently ongoing.
Prosecutors are also attempting to gain access to the information and data stored on various electronic devices seized as part of the case, it added.
An autopsy, which was performed on October 16 at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Taipei, reportedly found evidence of suffocation and strangulation, as well as drugs in Chai’s system.
This came after Chai’s parents arrived in Taiwan on October 15 and urged the local authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into their daughter’s death.
