A manhunt is under way for the former husband of a Hong Kong socialite after her headless body was found in a house in a suburb.
Ms Abby Choi, a 28-year-old model, was reported missing on Tuesday. On Friday, her headless body was found in a village house in Tai Po, a suburb in Hong Kong.
Parts of her dismembered body were cooked, with some kept in the refrigerator, reported South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Local police also found human tissue in two pots of soup and minced human tissue scattered on the ground in the house.
At a press conference on Friday, Superintendent Alan Chung Nga Lun of the Kowloon West regional crime unit described the killing as “premeditated” and “well-planned”.
Supt Chung said a ground-floor unit of the three-storey house had been carefully prepared as a place to cut up a body.
“The body parts that we found were inside the refrigerator. There are two legs belonging to a female,” he was quoted in an SCMP article. “We are still looking for the head, the torso and hands, which we believed were disposed of.”
Hong Kong police have arrested the parents and elder brother of Ms Choi’s former husband. They are aged between 31 and 65. They are still searching for the ex-husband, who is believed to be involved in the killing. Local media reports said he is jobless and known as Alex Kwong.
Ms Choi was last spotted in Fo Chun Road in Tai Po at around 2.15pm on Tuesday. She was wearing a white top with long sleeves, white pants, white slippers and carrying a purple handbag. Closed-circuit television footage captured Ms Choi before she went missing.
Ms Choi had two children with her former husband. It is unclear when she divorced Mr Kwong. On Tuesday, she was preparing to pick up her daughter, according to local media reports, which cited unnamed sources.
A male suspect, dressed in a black top and shorts, was captured on CCTV footage holding a large white plastic box, according to local media reports. The unidentified man then loaded the box into a white seven-seater vehicle with the rear door open. It is not clear where the CCTV footage was taken from.
Ms Choi is said to weigh about 40kg and was 1.55m tall.
Her murder is believed to be linked to a dispute over HK$100 million (S$17.2 million), according to local media reports. An unknown person has offered a reward of HK$1 million for the arrest of the culprit, according to HK01.
Supt Chung said that the Kowloon Crime Squad has taken over the case and conducted a thorough examination of Ms Choi’s background.
Police have since interviewed a private driver who claimed to be the last person to see Ms Choi alive, and happened to be Mr Kwong’s brother. It is unclear if this is the brother who was arrested.
Upon further investigation, it was found that Ms Choi had been involved in a financial dispute with Mr Kwong’s family.
Local news reports said that some individuals involved in this dispute were dissatisfied with Ms Choi’s management of certain properties worth tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars, leading ultimately to her murder.
Several people in the course of the police investigation have provided misleading information in an attempt to obstruct the inquiry. However, the police were able to decipher and analyse these false reports, and ultimately uncovered a village house unit in Lung Mei Village, Tai Po.
This unit had been rented by Mr Kwong’s father earlier in the month.
Supt Chung said the detectives executed a warrant and forcibly entered the house. Upon searching the premises, they uncovered human body parts that had been stored in the refrigerator.
The authorities also discovered some of Ms Choi’s personal items, including her pink Hermes bag, identification cards and credit cards.
Based on the evidence, law enforcement officials have concluded that Ms Choi was a victim of homicide.
According to local media reports, Ms Choi continued to financially support Mr Kwong’s family even after their divorce. However, suspicions have arisen that some individuals may have had their eyes on Ms Choi’s family fortune, which is valued at more than HK$100 million.
The suspects taken into custody will be charged with murder later.
In 2016, Ms Choi married her current husband, the son of a founder of TamJai Yunnan Mixian, a casual restaurant chain in Hong Kong with operations in mainland China. The chain was later acquired by Toridoll HK.
Hailed as a “style icon” in a recent issue of L’Officiel Monaco, Ms Choi has more than 80,000 followers on Instagram. She was frequently seen mingling with celebrities, and had attended haute couture shows during Paris Fashion Week.
