Taiwanese Man Suspected of Murdering Thai Girlfriend Detained by Taichung Court

Rockville: A Taichung court has approved a request by prosecutors to formally detain a Taiwanese man suspected of killing his Thai girlfriend and storing her body in a freezer at his workplace. At a bail hearing on Saturday, the Taichung District Court approved prosecutors' request to detain the 43-year-old suspect, surnamed Wu, in light of the severity of the crime and the risk that he could flee or destroy evidence. According to Focus Taiwan, the Taichung District Prosecutors Office received a tip-off from police in Taipei's Wanhua District on Friday evening, leading to Wu's arrest later that night. After gathering evidence, police and prosecutors found the 36-year-old woman's body during a search in Taichung, with initial results from the investigation indicating that she had been strangled to death. In a statement on Saturday, the Taipei Police Department's Wanhua Precinct reported that Taiwanese friends of the Thai woman had declared her missing on Friday. The woman had been staying in a hotel in Taipe i's Ximending area after arriving in Taiwan on September 2, but failed to return to Thailand as scheduled on September 14. Police surveillance footage from near her hotel identified a man, later confirmed to be Wu, acting suspiciously. Wu was seen entering the hotel on September 12 and leaving early the following morning carrying a large suitcase, which he placed in the trunk of his car before driving to Taichung, where he worked in an administrative role at a technology company. The woman's body was later found in a small freezer at the company's offices. Wu confessed to the police that he had become angry when his girlfriend asked to break up with him and claimed he had killed her "accidentally" during a physical altercation. However, local media reports citing police sources suggested that Wu's purchase of the freezer and suitcase in early September could indicate premeditation. Police disclosed that Wu met the woman while traveling in Thailand, and the two had been in a relationship for about a year.