Taiwan woman hides centenarian father’s corpse at home, withdraws his military pension for years
- Woman refuses to allow authorities to spray her home during dengue fight
- Behaviour sparks police search of house which finds bag of bones
Police in Taiwan have accused a woman of hiding her dead centenarian father’s body at her home for years to claim his pension benefits.
The unidentified woman from the island’s southern city of Kaohsiung reportedly lived with her father for more than 50 years and her mother had passed away before her husband.
Police suspicions were first raised in November last year when she was fined NT$60,000 (US$1,800) because she did not allow health authorities inside her home to spray the house with dengue-prevention chemicals.
The persistent refusal to allow government officials inside the home set off alarm bells for the authorities.
Officers visited the woman and questioned her about the whereabouts of her elderly father, and she initially claimed he was at a nursing home.
When the police pressed her, she changed her story and said the man had been taken to the mainland by her brother.
That story fell apart after police investigated the claim and discovered that the brother had been dead for 50 years, and there was no record that the woman’s father had left Taiwan.
She said her father had died on the mainland and, when she could not produce his death certificate, claimed to be applying for the document.
The changing story sparked a search of the property, and police found a black plastic garbage bag containing the bones of an elderly person.
The fact that the bag contained bones suggests the man had been dead for some time.
In an interview with the Taiwanese media outlet Mnews, forensic expert Gao Dacheng explained that it typically takes one to two years for a body to turn skeletal.
The most pungent odour occurs around two weeks after death, with the smell dissipating about a month later.
The woman’s father had been a military veteran who served for more than 20 years, meaning he received a monthly pension according to his rank and service history.
While details of the man’s service were unknown, the average pension for a Taiwanese military veteran is NT$49,379 (US$1,500) per month.
Police are investigating the cause of the man’s death to determine if the woman committed any crime beyond hiding her father’s body.
In Taiwan, people who damage, abandon, insult, or steal a corpse can face up to five years in prison.
If those crimes are committed against the corpse of a direct relative or close family member, the sentence can be increased by 1.5 times.
The woman’s mental health is in a poor state and she has been receiving medical treatment while under guard.
