Social Elite Murder Case: 5 Arrested for Suspected Involvement

Police found victim's head and some body parts

(L) Model Abby Choi posed for a photo in Hong Kong on Feb. 11, 2023. (Pao Jo-yee via AP). (R) One of the suspects, with a black hood over his/her head, was escorted to court by police car. Big Mack/The Epoch Times

Abby Choi Tin-fung, a 28-year-old social elite model and daughter-in-law of the founder of the TamJai Group, was killed and dismembered. As of Feb. 26, Hong Kong Police had arrested five people, including the victim’s ex-husband’s parents, ex-husband, ex-husband’s brother, and a mistress of the ex-husband’s father.

Police Update

Police met with the media at a news conference on the evening of Feb. 26. Hong Kong Police Superintendent Chung Nga-lun told reporters they had retrieved the severed head of murder victim Choi.

The police and coroner were examining some evidence from the crime scene, including a tall stainless steel cooking pot. The police discovered a skull inside the cooking pot. Upon preliminary investigation, the police believed that the skull belonged to a young female and the victim of the murder.

West Kowloon Regional Criminal Headquarters Superintendent Chung Nga-lun provided an account of the progress of the murder case, in Lung Mei Village, Tai Po, Hong Kong, on Feb. 26, 2023. Big Mack/The Epoch Times

Police officers noted the suspected evidence placed outside the unit involved in the murder of Abby Choi, in Tai Po, Hong Kong, on Feb. 25, 2023. Big Mack/The Epoch Times

However, Chung said the police would only be able to confirm the identity after reviewing the DNA and teeth records. Additionally, the police found a hole on the right side of the skull, and it was likely caused by force trauma with a hard object. Police discovered a skinless skull in a pot of soup.

The case coroner believed that the hole could be one of the causes of death. The police found rib bones, hair, and human tissue-like substances in the cooking pot.

In a smaller cooking pot, the coroner also found human bones.

5th Person Arrested

The 5th person arrested is a 47-year-old Chinese female charged with aiding and abetting in the afternoon of Feb 26 in Tsim Sha Tsui. She was said to be working in the escort industry, met the ex-husband’s father, and later became his mistress.

Local media discovered the ex-husband’s father was a former police sergeant who had been accused of raping a female victim during an investigation case in 2005.

Four suspects, three men and one woman, were escorted by police to the Kowloon City Court on Feb. 27. One of the suspects, with black hoods over his head, was escorted to court by a police car. The Epoch Times

The two rented the house in Tai Po Village, where the crime occurred. The woman rented another unit in Tsim Sha Tsui as a hideout for the victim’s ex-husband.

Of the four people who were arrested, two of the males had been charged with murder. One female was charged with obstructing police work. The victim’s ex-husband, apprehended by the police earlier in Tung Chung, has been charged with murder.

The police suspected Choi was attacked in the car, and she was most likely unconscious when she arrived at the house in Tai Po. The time of death is still yet to be determined.

The Department of Drainage Services also sent officers to the scene to check the manholes in Lung Mei Village, Tai Po, Hong Kong, on Feb. 26, 2023. Big Mack/The Epoch Times

When police initially took the 50 cm tall stainless steel cooking pot, there was fat-solidified liquid on the top. Carrots and green radishes were found in the cooking pot; bits of meat were suspected to be human tissue. The coroner and forensic experts at the crime scene advised against on-site testing to preserve the evidence’s original conditions.

The police took the pot full of liquid to the morgue for further examination.

Police believed that they had arrested all suspects involved in the case, a total of five people. The police are still looking for the torso, arms, and other missing body parts.

The police recovered the skull of the victim, and the detectives of the West Kowloon Crime Unit collected evidence in a village house at No. 56B in Lung Mei Village, Tai Po, Hong Kong, on Feb.26, 2023. Big Mack/The Epoch Times

Chung also pointed out that all arrested suspects have been uncooperative, which makes the investigation more difficult and time-consuming to locate evidence.

4 Arrested Persons in Court

On Feb.27, four suspects, three men and one woman, were escorted by police to the Kowloon City Court. The suspects, with black hoods over their heads, were escorted to court in police vehicles. All four defendants were denied bail and remanded in custody until May 8th, pending further investigation by the police, including scientific forensic evidence and telephone records.

Socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung, 28 years old, was murdered and dismembered. Four suspects, three men and one woman, were escorted by police to the Kowloon City Court on Feb. 27. Suspects, with black hoods over their heads, were escorted to court by police vehicles. Big Mack/The Epoch Times

What We Know So Far

Choi has four children. Two of them were with her ex-husband.

According to reports, Choi boarded an SUV in Kadoorie Hill on Feb. 21, driven by her ex-husband’s brother. They headed to Tai Po Science Park to pick up Choi’s daughter. As the car neared the Lion Rock Tunnel, the SUV stopped to pick up the victim’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi. Reports said an argument occurred in the vehicle, and the victim was attacked and unconscious. There were blood stains in the car.

After that, the SUV vehicle arrived at a house in Lung Mei Village in Tai Po, where the deceased was dismembered and parts were cooked. The victim’s ex-husband later fled the scene. Choi’s ex-father-in-law drove another SUV with a China-Hong Kong license plate to dispose of some of the victim’s body parts.

Friends Responded

Taiwanese fashion influencer Doris Lin was a close friend of Choi. After Lin received the news of Choi’s murder, she revealed on Instagram that Choi still regarded her ex-husband’s family as her own, even after their divorce.

“Didn’t she care about your previous fraud case, your father’s sexual assault case, your brother’s debts, your mother’s application for bankruptcy? Choi still looked after your entire family financially!”

Lin also wondered if Choi would have gotten into the SUV Kwong’s brother drove that day if she did not trust the family.

Moka Fang, another close friend of Choi, shared her heartbreak on Weibo and Instagram on the evening of Feb. 26.

“I am devastated. I still cannot believe it. I kept on asking why a thousand times. Rest in peace.”

Fang and Choi regularly appeared in each other’s videos and photos on social media.

Choi’s Murder Timeline

Feb. 21

Choi disappeared and was murdered

Choi boarded an SUV driven by the brother of her ex-husband Alex Kwong Kong-chi.

Choi was on the way to pick up her daughter from school at Tai Po Science Park.

The SUV stopped at the entrance to Lion Rock tunnel to pick up ex-husband Kwong.

Police suspected Choi was attacked and lost consciousness inside the vehicle.

Blood stains in the car suggested that Choi might have been killed in the vehicle.

The murder suspects drove to Lung Mei Village in Tai Po, where the victim was dismembered and cooked in a house rented by Kwong’s father.

Feb. 22

Choi’s ex-father-in-law drove an SUV with a China-Hong Kong license plate. He took body parts and disposed of them.

The police announced Choi’s disappearance, pleading to the public for information.

Feb. 24

Remains found in the house at Tai Po Village

Police arrived at the house in Lung Mei Village to collect evidence.

Police seized two pots of soup believed to include human tissues.

Torso, arms, head and other body parts were missing.

Police arrested three of Kwong’s family members, including the ex-husband, Kwong’s parents, and brother.

Police believed money was the murder motive. There was an ongoing dispute involving tens of millions of HK dollars, believed to be the motive for the murder.

Police said the house of the crime was carefully arranged by the murderer(s).

The police believed the murderer(s) rented the house purely to mutilate the victim.

There is only one comb and one table in the unit; neither of the two rooms has beds, but there were tools, including meat grinders, chainsaws, plus long raincoats, face masks, and gloves. Canvas hung on the walls and windows

Feb. 25

A large-scale search for human remains.

Police dispatched about 100 police officers, including drone search teams and a police dog team, to Tseung Kwan O cemetery to search for missing body parts.

The remains of the deceased could not be located.

Police arrested four people, ex-husband Alex Kwong, his parents, and his brother.

In the afternoon, Kwong was arrested at the Tung Chung Development Pier. Police believed Kwong was trying to flee Hong Kong.

Kwong was detained for investigation at the time.

He was sent to the hospital around 6 p.m. after claiming he was feeling unwell.

He was sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for treatment.

Feb. 26

Police found a head and ribs in the soup.

Police returned to the Tseung Kwan O Cemetery for another search of the body remains.

Divers searched several reservoirs.

Police did a thorough search of the house and inspected nearby areas, including sewage.

In the evening, police discovered bones in the tall stainless steel pot they seized from the house.

Upon testing, human skull fragments, skin, tissues, and rib bones were in the pot.

Police recovered the victim’s head, but it was only a skinless, fractured skull.

Police suspected the deceased was attacked and killed by blunt force trauma on her head.

Feb. 27

The four arrested persons appeared in Kowloon City Court and were remanded until May 8.

(Big Mack contributed to the article).