Taiwan serial family killer case revisited in detail
SingTao · 1 SOURCESabout 5 hours ago6 MIN
Summary
A fresh retelling of one of Taiwan’s most notorious family murder cases recounts how former air force captain Chen Jui-chin (陳瑞欽) killed close relatives over 18 years, staged the deaths as accidents and collected large insurance payouts. The case fully unraveled only after the 2003 rape and murder of a newly acquainted girlfriend, which led police to arrest him and expose the earlier killings.
Key Points
- Chen Jui-chin, a retired air force captain later employed by CPC Corporation, Taiwan, was described as heavily indebted through gambling, lottery betting and drug use
- Between 1985 and 1998, he killed his first wife Tseng Pi-hsia, biological son Chen Chien-hung, second wife Wang Shu-ying, and adopted sons Chen Yi-chih and Chen Tsung-ching
- The report says he used blunt-force attacks, slammed victims into walls, or pushed them from beds, then staged scenes as traffic crashes, stair falls or other accidents
- In the killing of 16-year-old adopted son Chen Tsung-ching, he allegedly mutilated the boy’s genitals and left an opened condom to fake a crime of passion
- He fraudulently obtained NT$38 million in insurance compensation, about HK$9.24 million, before insurers grew suspicious in 1998 and jointly alerted police
- In May 2003, he met insurance worker Chen Yi-ling, drugged and bound her, sexually assaulted her with his fingers, killed her with a rock and stole more than NT$1 million
- Police in Nantou found Chen Yi-ling’s half-naked body in the Da’an mountain area on May 13, 2003; a phone number written on her palm led investigators to Chen
- During trial, the five family killings avoided death sentences because of surrender conditions and two sentence-reduction measures, but the robbery rape-murder case ended in a final death sentence
- Chen was executed by shooting at the Taichung Prison execution ground on April 19, 2013, and the report says no one later claimed his ashes
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers, the case remains a stark example of how repeated suspicious deaths can go undetected for years when they are disguised as accidents and tied to insurance claims. It also shows how a later violent crime can become the breakthrough that exposes a much longer chain of hidden killings