10 SICKENING MURDER TALES FROM ASIA

Article BY LORI BELL

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Stories of horrific murders are a dime a dozen around the world. Sadly, Asia is not immune to such incidents. On the contrary, the continent has spawned a whole slew of murder tales that looked like they happened just to nauseate us. Let’s put aside the well – known case (we’re looking at you Otaku murder) and dive into some of the lesser – known Asian murder stories that will leave you wondering how our fellow human beings could be so evil.

 

Murder in Suwon:

On April 1, 2012, a shocking crime hit the South Korean city of Suwon. The perpetrator a Chinese –Korean immigrant worker named Wu Yuanchui, abducted and killed a 28 –year – old woman inside his house. When police arrived to apprehend Wu, they found that the victim’s body had been neatly chopped into almost 400 pieces. A public outcry was raised against the police after findings revealed that they had not responded promptly to the victim’s phone call for help, and that it had taken them half a day to finally find Wu’s house.

Following a trial, a South Korean district court initially sentenced Wu to death, believing that he had dismembered the body in order to sell the parts. However, an appeals court later overturned that decision and had his sentence commuted to life. That decision ---- which was upheld by South Korea’s Supreme Court ---- triggered a series of national protests calling for the imposition of the death penalty. Although still legal, the death penalty has not been enforced in South Korea since 1997.The court also ordered Wu to wear an electronic anklet for 30 years and for his personal information to be made public for 10 years.

According to police, the victim called the 112 Crime Report Center with her mobile phone at 10:58 p.m. on April 1. A check discovered that there were about 20 officers on duty at the emergency center but no responses were made in the critical eight minutes after the woman’s call – in. In a terrified voice, she told police that she had been abducted by a man and was being raped at the man’s house. The crime scene was found to be only seven minutes away from the nearest police station.

She said the house was located somewhere between a public playground and an elementary school in the Jidog area, but the officer kept asking her for an accurate address. She then began to plead for forgiveness to her attacker as the sound of a door being broken was heard before the phone was dropped. The call continued for several more minutes. She didn’t hang up in order to help detectives find her location. However, officers arrived at the scene about 13 hours after the call was made.

 

The Soumya Murder Case:

This incident, which happened on February 1, 2011, involved a one – handed Indian beggar and repeat offender named Govindachamy assaulting and raping a 23 – year – old woman named Soumya. Riding together in a train at night, Govindachamy attempted to rob his fellow passenger in a deserted compartment. When Soumya resisted, Govindachamy slammed her head against a wall and flung her out of the train. He himself jumped out after her and walked back to where her half – dead body lay motionless beside the tracks. He then dragged her to a wooded area near the railway and sexually assaulted her.

Soumya later succumbed to her wounds while being treated at the hospital. In the aftermath, authorities arrested Govindachamy and turned his case over to a fast – track court which found him guilty of the heinous crime and sentenced him to death. A higher court later upheld the verdict after he tried to appeal it, stating that his act was “repulsive to the collective conscience of society.”

DNA evidence of samples collected from the site of the crime and victim’s body were compared with suspect’s samples. A button off his shirt was found in the woman’s compartment. Traces of semen were found in the victim’s body and clothes. Her fingernails had traces of his skin cells and blood. All these and more were clinching evidence for Govindachamy’s prosecution.

 

Murder of Pai Hsaio – yen:

An especially gripping tale of violence that rocked Taiwan, came during the infamous murder of Pai Hsaio – yen. On April 14, 1997, a GA g led by Chen Chin – hsing, Lin Chun – sheng, and Kao Tien – min, kidnapped the 17 – year – oldstudent, and only child of local celebrity Pai - Ping – ping, as she was walking to school. Then they attempted to ransom her off for a whopping $5 million. Due to extensive media coverage, they changed the rendezvous point several times, but never showed up. At one point they even sent Pai her daughter’s severed finger and a picture of the half – naked girl tied up as a grisly reassurance that the victim was still alive. That would turn out to be a lie, however, as authorities who found the girl’s mutilated body in a drainage ditch during the last week of April stated that she may already have been dead during the ongoing ransom negotiations.

Consequently, the public engaged in a massive protest against the government and the police for failing to rescue the victim. They also condemned the media, saying that their unnecessarily aggressive coverage contributed to the girl’s death. A nationwide manhunt later saw two of the ring leaders commit suicide before they could be caught.

Chen was finally captured after a televised standoff wherein Chen gave self – valorizing media interviews while holding a South African ambassador’s family hostage. All this made Chen a dead man, and few in the Republic of China much pitied the serial rapist and spree killer’s fate of taking a magazine of automatic rifle ammunition in the chest.

 

Yang Xinhai’s Murder Spree:

Although his reign of terror spanned only three years, Yang Xinhai made up for the lack of time by killing an insanely large number of people, thus insuring his family as one of China’s most prolific serial killers. The drifter and habitual offender started his killing spree in 2000 after he served time in a labor camp for rape charges. His victims usually consisted of farmers and villagers living in rural areas. After staking out his target’s home, he would enter at night and kill his victims (and sometimes their families) using hammers, shovels, or axes.

Yang repeated his modus operandi throughout four provinces, resulting in the deaths of more than 60 people. His grisly career came to an end when authorities finally caught him in 2003. Yang reportedly murdered 67 people in the course of his three – year rampage. Yang was said to have bicycled from one murder to the next. A court convicted Yang of the murders and had him executed on February 14, 2004. Executions in China are usually carried out with a bullet to the back of the head. While Yang’s true motives were never found out, it was speculated that he may have snapped after his girlfriend left him. On the other hand; maybe he really was a deranged psychopath who enjoyed killing.

 

The Murder of Atlantuya Shaariibuu:

One of the controversial political scandals to ever hit Malaysia came on the heels of the particularly gruesome murder of Mongolian national and translator Atlantuya Shaariibuu in 2006. Years before her untimely death, she became the mistress of Abdul Razak Baginda, a powerful aide to Prime Minister Najib Razak. As the story went, in 2002, Shaariibuu helped Baginda broker a shady deal that involved the purchase of two French Submarines worth $2 billion. Shaariibuu ---- having broken up with Bagjnda at some point ---- went to his house in Kuala Lumpur in 2006 for her share, only to be denied by Baginda’s wife.

After being hounded by his ex- mistress for several days, Baginda sent for two bodyguards from the prime minister’s camp to deal with her. The two men shot and killed Shaariibuu before blowing up her corpse with C – 4. Although authorities arrested Baginda and the two bodyguards, all three were later acquitted in what some have called “a national embarrassment.”

One of the killers, a policeman of the Malaysian Special Branch, named Sirul Omar,replied to questions by an officer at a police station close to the murder scene.” When the Chinese woman saw that I had a gun, she begged me to spare her, saying she was pregnant. Azilah (Sirul’s commanding officer) grabbed her and threw her on the ground. I immediately shot the left side of her face. Then Azilah took off her clothes and put them in a black plastic bag. Azilah noticed that her hand was still moving. He ordered me to shoot again, which I did. Then we carried her body into the woods. Azilah wrapped explosives around her legs, abdomen, and head, and we blew her up,” said Sirul.

 

The Murder of Lucila Lalu:

One of the Philippines longest – running unsolved murder cases started after a garbage man in Manila discovered a cleanly severed pair of legs cut into four pieces in a pile of trash on May 30, 1967. The day after, authorities found a headless torso in another area of the city and established that all those body parts belonged to a 29 – year – old woman named Lucila Lalu, the owner of a local beauty shop and bar. Initially authorities suspected Lalu’s husband of committing the crime, as he knew that Lalu had a few lovers on the side. However, a dental student and boarder above Lalu’s beauty parlor, named Jose Santiana, confessed to killing her after the latter attempted to seduce him.

In another bizarre twist, Santiano later withdrew his confession and stated he had been forced by the real killers to play the fall guy. Although convicted by a court, Santiano was later acquitted by the Court if Appeals after the judges noted several irregularities in his confession. They also believed that the dental student didn’t possess the skill necessary for the surgical dismemberment carried out on the victim’s corpse.

According to police reports, the victim’s arms and legs had been wrapped in newspapers and placed atop a trashcan at Malabon Avenue and Rizal Boulevard, six blocks north of Lucila’s beauty shop and the Pagoda Club bar. A current map shows that the trash can was located directly across the street from Manila’s Department of Health.

Like the Black Dahlia murder in 1947, Lucila Lalu’s killer had performed the operation elsewhere, though Manila Police never discovered the murder site, then drove a few miles away and placed the torso in a vacant lot posing it just off a roadway.

 

The Geylang Bahru Family Murders:

In yet another unsolved case involving an extremely brutal murder, an unknown assailant killed all four children of the Tan family inside their flat in Geylang Bahru, Singapore, on the morning of January 6, 1979. Both the parents (who operated a mini – school bus) had gone off to work when the murders took place. Already suspicious because the children weren’t answering their calls or responding to a neighbor’s knocks on their door, the parents returned home to the horrific scene of their lifeless children’s mutilated bodies stacked on top of each other inside the bathroom.

Authorities who investigated the scene failed to find the murder weapon, but noted that there was no sign of breaking and entering. They also saw strands of hair on the eldest child’s hands, suggesting that he may have fought back. Although two women were detained and questioned, they were later released. To this day, the gruesome murder has remained unsolved.

The deceased children were, Tan Kok Peng, 10, Tan Kok Hin, 8, Tan Kok Soon, 6, and their sister,Tan Chin Nee, 5.

 

The Mona Fandey Murder:

This incident may be one of the few times in history that we actually had a reason to support a witch trial. In July, 1993, Malaysian witch doctor Maznah Ismail, her husband Mohd Affandi Abdul Rahman, and their assistant, brutally murdered a politician who had sought their help to boost his career. Popularly known as Mona Fandey during her glory days as a singer and a dancer, Ismail later became a witch doctor and consultant to a who’s who of VIPs. One of them would be her ill – fated victim, State Assemblyman Mazlan Idris. After the trio convinced the politician to lie down and close his eyes for a ritual inside their home, they lopped his head off and mutilated his body, chopping it into 18 pieces and burying them in a nearby hole. They then took his money and went on a shopping binge in Kuala Lumpur. Two years later a court found them guilty of the murder and sentenced them to death. The three were finally hanged in November, 2001, with no signs of regret whatsoever prior to their execution.

The hangings were set for dawn on Friday, November 2, 2001 in the newly opened Kajang prison. The trio were each handcuffed and hooded in their holding cells adjacent to the execution chamber, and then led to the gallows with its three British style nooses dangling from the metal beam. On the trap , their legs were strapped and the nooses adjusted around their necks. At 5:59 a.m., the drop fell and the three plummeted down. The bodies were left hanging for an hour before being taken down for autopsy then burial.

 

The Hello Kitty Murder:

Like something straight out of a creepy urban legend, three Hong Kong gangsters ----- Chan Man – lok, Leung Shing – cho, and Leung Wai – lun, stuffed the skull of their victim inside a large Hello Kitty doll. The victim was 23 – year – old Fan Man – yee, who had been kidnapped in March 1999 over a financial dispute. For over a month, the gang members tortured Fan regularly with steel bars and pouring hot plastic on her limbs. After she succumbed to her injuries, the gangsters disposed of her body by chopping it and boiling the pieces. In one instance , they boiled her head while cooking noodles on the adjoining burner, and even used the same chopsticks to stir both.

The gruesome murder only came to light after one of the gangsters’ girlfriends ---- who also participated in the torture ---- revealed everything to authorities after she experienced nightmares over the incident. Subsequently, police arrested the three and a court sentenced them all to life imprisonment with no parole eligibility for two decades.

The jury accepted that the men did not kill Fan Man – lee with intent, which would have meant a mandatory life sentence, but it determined she died as a result of their abuse. The exact cause and date of Fan’s death is not known as only her skull, one tooth, and her internal organs, which were found in a refrigerator in the flat where she was killed, we’re recovered.

 

The Murder of Junko Furuta:

No person should have to suffer such depravity as that experienced by Japanese student Junko Furuta. On November 25, 1988, four young hooligans abducted the 17 – year – old while she was walking home from classes and kept her in one if their homes. They made the victim tell her parents that she was staying with her friends, then subjected her to every imaginable form of torture for six weeks. Besides the usual rape and beatings, the boys mutilated her genitals with firecrackers and pliers. They also made her consume roaches and drink her own urine. After she attempted to escape, they burned her legs and ripped her fingernails out.

Meanwhile, the parents of the boy who owned the house knew about everything, yet did not tell authorities because they feared their son and his group. Junko’s ordeal became so unbearable that at one point she pleaded with the boys to just kill her. She did finally die a few days later. Subsequently, they stored her body in a concrete – filled drum and left it in a vacant lot. The saddest part of this whole story is that, as minors, the boys received relatively light sentences ---- a mere slap on the wrist for such a heinous act.

Junko Futura managed to survive all of the abuse for 44 days. She also managed to try and escape on at least two occasions. Once she reached the telephone and she almost got out. After Junko lost a game of mah – jong, the boys beat her with a bar bell and set her on fire again. She died a few hours later in pain. Junko Futura’s death was among the most painful individual deaths caused by human beings in the history of mankind.

The boys were sentenced to imprisonment ranging between four to seven years. Primarily because the boys were juveniles their identities were protected and most of the records pertaining to them were not released to the public.

It’s really hard to grasp the fact that these heinous crimes are being committed with no boundaries. To realize these unbelievable acts of mutilation and torture exist without prejudice makes it even harder to comprehend. We may never truly understand what compels someone to inflict such horrors on another human being for their own sadistic pleasures.