TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — New Taipei police have arrested the son of a dead man who was dumped in a suitcase.
On Monday evening, a red suitcase with a male corpse was found in a drainage ditch at the end of an alley off Xintai Road in Xinzhuang District, per CNA. Forensics estimated the victim was over 60 years old and had been dead for more than 10 days.
No obvious external injuries were found on the body. Following the discovery, Xinzhuang Precinct established a task force to investigate.
After reviewing nearly 22 days of surveillance footage, police found a video showing a man disposing of the suitcase on July 6. He was later identified as the suspect, surnamed Chen (陳), and arrested on Thursday evening on Zhongping Road in Xinzhuang District.
Neighbors reported that the suspect's father had been missing for nearly a month. His physical characteristics, small stature, limited mobility, and thinning hair, matched those of the deceased.
Although the fingerprints on the body were degraded, the police were able to use manual matching with the father's archived military fingerprints to confirm his identity. A DNA comparison will also be conducted following an autopsy on Friday.
It remains unclear if the suspect caused his father’s death or only disposed of the body afterward. Authorities are investigating and pursuing charges of abandoning a corpse and destroying evidence.
