Explainer | From our archives: the capture of Hong Kong’s Jars Killer
The shock discovery of female body parts in 1982 triggered a manhunt but it would be 27-year-old taxi driver Lam Kor-wan himself who would lead investigators to his door, and the grisly contents hidden behind it
“Woman’s headfound in river”, ran a headline in the South China Morning Post on February 12, 1982. “Workers constructing a bridge at Shatin had the shock of their lives when they saw a woman’s head floating in the Shing Mun River.”
Legs were also found, and the Post followed up the next day with news that two arms had been discovered.
A six-month investigation followed and, on August 19, the Post reported that suspects had been arrested, including 27-year-old night-shift taxi driver Lam Kor-wan. On August 20, it was reported that body parts had been found at his home.
“The remains of at least three women, found on Tuesday, were butchered and bottled in preservatives,” the Post told its readers. “The sexual organs of three women were preserved in formalin and neatly hidden away in boxes in the suspect’s flat. Scalpels and other surgical equipment for dissecting bodies were also found.
“Homicide Bureau investigators also seized many thousands of photographs of female bodies in various stages of being cut up and close-ups of female organs.”