Taiwanese heir, 18, found dead hours after marrying man he just met
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Tue, 23 May 2023 at 9:14 am GMT+1·3-min read
File photo of people in Taiwan. An 18-year-old high school student in Taiwan, who inherited millions of dollars, fell to his death just two hours after allegedly marrying a man he met just twice, the victim’s mother has alleged (Getty Images)
An 18-year-old high school student in Taiwan who inherited millions of dollars, fell to his death just two hours after allegedly marrying a man he met just twice, the victim's mother alleged.
The student from central Taiwan's Taichung city, surnamed Lai, inherited a property portfolio worth NT$500m (£13.11m) from his father shortly before his death.
His body was discovered on 4 May lying on the ground outside an apartment building in Beitun district where his husband of two hours, identified as a 26-year-old man surnamed Hsia, lived on the 10th floor.
The death was brought to light by Lai's mother, surnamed Chen, who held a news conference on 19 May alleging foul play in her son's death.
Ms Chen claimed her son was "not gay" and only met Mr Hsia twice before his death. Lai died just a day after the cremation of his father, who died in late April, Ms Chen said, according to The Strait Times.
Mr Hsia, an escrow assistant, had taken out Lai from their home on the pretense of handling real estate business on that fatal day.
Mr Hsia and Lai then registered their marriage and after two hours of their wedlock, Ms Chen was informed of her son's death.
She told reporters that she "would never accept" that her son died by suicide because he had "no reason to". Ms Chen described her son as an “obedient boy” set to read philosophy at a local university and had just obtained a motorcycle licence and a new scooter.
Her lawyers claimed that the family believed Lai, who inherited around 30 properties, was killed because of his wealth.
Lai met Mr Hsia twice, with one of those meetings being after death of senior Lai, when the escrow assistant showed up to pay his respect at the wake, the lawyers said. Mr Hsia reportedly had a longstanding relationship with Lai's father.
Taichung district prosecutors said Mr Hsia was questioned under suspicion of homicide and later released on NT$300,000 (£7,865) bail.
Investigators later questioned him along with his father on Monday for five hours at the prosecutor's office last Monday.
Addressing the presas, Mr Hsia said Ms Chen's views were "one-sided" and not the entire picture. He was stopped by his lawyers from revealing more.
Forensic medical expert Kao Ta-cheng examined Lai and the ground where the body was found. He claimed that the injuries Lai suffered showed he was unlikely to have fallen from the 10th floor, noting that there were no haemorrhages in his head or abdominal cavities.
“Normally, injuries caused by falling (from a building’s 10th floor) could not be so slight,” he said, suspecting that Lai had been poisoned before his fall.
The prosecutor's office said their examination and autopsy of Lai's body is complete and the remains have been returned to the family. The autopsy report has not been released yet.
