Taiwanese police have detained a 43-year-old man surnamed Wu on suspicion of murdering his 36-year-old Thai girlfriend, identified as "Art", and concealing her body in a freezer for 6 days, at his workplace in Taichung.

The woman had travelled to Taiwan to see Wu and was due to return to Thailand on September 14. When her family could not contact her, they asked a friend in Taiwan to notify police on the afternoon of September 18.

Wu is an internal employee at a technology company based in an upmarket office building in Taichung's District 7. The couple had known each other and been in a relationship for around one year, according to the investigation.

Hotel CCTV led police to Taichung

Wanhua District police checked travel records and CCTV footage after the missing-person report. They found that the Thai woman stayed at a hotel on Chengdu Road in Taipei's Ximending area on the night of September 12.

Footage showed Wu arriving at the hotel where she was staying, then leaving in the early hours of the following morning carrying a large black suitcase. He was seen placing the case in a car before driving almost 170 kilometres south to Taichung.

Investigators said the woman had arrived in Taiwan on September 2. Police also said she checked into a Ximending hotel on that date to discuss ending the relationship with Wu after the couple's relationship had deteriorated.

She was not seen or contacted again after the discussion, according to the investigation.

Suspect claims argument preceded death

Wu allegedly told investigators that an argument broke out in the hotel room after his girlfriend said she wanted to end their relationship. He is accused of strangling her with his hands, putting her body into a suitcase he had prepared, and transporting it to his office.

Police said he then placed the suitcase in a large freezer beside his desk. Most staff at the company work remotely, meaning no one allegedly noticed the body in the office during the week.

Officers said the large suitcase raised their suspicions because large cases have previously been used to move bodies in other murder investigations.

After obtaining evidence from CCTV and other inquiries, police sought a search warrant and took Wu in for questioning. Wanhua officers took him to his Taichung workplace on September 19, where they found the woman's body in the freezer.

Following a post-mortem examination by forensic doctors from the prosecutors' office, Wu was taken back to Taipei and handed to prosecutors for further action on a murder charge.

Pictures courtesy of Khaosod

Join the discussion?

21 September 2026

View full article

UPDATE

Korat woman found murdered in Taiwan after search

Picture courtesy of ThaiRath

A 35-year-old woman from Phimai district in Nakhon Ratchasima has been found dead in Taiwan after her family in Thailand lost contact with her and appealed online for help locating her.

Relatives identified the woman as Duangporn, known as Jeans, who had reportedly been living and working overseas for years. Social-media reports said her Taiwanese boyfriend allegedly strangled her after she ended their relationship, then hid her body in a suitcase and freezer, for more than six days before it was found.

Relatives raised alarm after contact stopped

Village headwoman Prapawarin Siri-at, of Samakha village in Nai Mueang subdistrict, Phimai, said Duangporn was originally from the village but had not lived there for some time.

She said Duangporn had worked elsewhere and was known to have had a foreign boyfriend. Her mother died many years ago, while information about her father was unavailable.

Prapawarin said she was contacted on the morning of 19 September by Sawai Kittithirakun, president of Nai Mueang Subdistrict Administrative Organisation. He had reportedly been contacted by consular officials, who said Duangporn's body had been found in Taiwan and that she had been murdered.

Prapawarin said she immediately passed the news to Duangporn's relatives.

A life split between Thailand and Korea

Duangporn's cousin, 49-year-old Yanisa, said the victim was an only child. Her mother died when she was young and her father had left before she was born. Duangporn was raised by her grandmother, who has since died.

After finishing secondary school, Duangporn moved to Bangkok for work. She later went to South Korea, where she lived and worked for about 10 years and had a boyfriend there.

She returned to Thailand about a year ago and rented a condominium in Bangkok, although Yanisa said she did not know where. Duangporn remained in regular telephone contact with her cousin.

The family said Duangporn returned to South Korea in August. Yanisa last spoke to her on 2 September, when Duangporn said she was travelling to see her boyfriend in Korea. Messages later went unread and her Facebook account, normally regularly updated, showed no activity.

A friend in South Korea also contacted another cousin to ask whether Duangporn had returned to Thailand, saying they could not reach her. The family then began posting appeals online, before learning she had died in Taiwan.

21 September 2026