Police continue search for rest of Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi’s body
Hong Kong police will continue the search for the missing torso and arms of murdered and dismembered socialite Abby Choi at a city landfill, while her family members are expected to identify her body parts at a mortuary on Tuesday.
More than 100 officers will be mobilised for the search operation in Ta Kwu Ling in the city’s New Territories, local media said.
Ms Choi’s skull and several ribs were found in a large soup pot taken from a village house in Tai Po on Sunday. Her limbs were retrieved last week from a refrigerator in the same residence, allegedly rented by Ms Choi’s former father-in-law with the help of his mistress.
Ms Choi’s torso and arms remain missing.
Security camera footage near Tai Po showed a suspect carrying bags from the village house to a nearby rubbish collection area. Some of Ms Choi’s body parts could be found in these bags, police from the Kowloon West major crimes division said.
The narrowed-down area of search at the landfill is approximately the size of a football field and holds thousands of tonnes of waste, local media reported. Two to three days may be required to complete the search.
Police previously scoured a cemetery and sewage over the weekend with little to show for their efforts.
Five people have been arrested in connection with Ms Choi’s brutal killing, all tied to her ex-husband Alex Kwong and his father, a former cop who is also the suspected mastermind behind this crime. Police have identified a property dispute as a possible motive for murder.
The elder Kwong and his two sons were charged with murder, while his wife was charged with perverting the course of justice for destroying evidence during a police investigation. The family of four have been remanded without bail after appearing in court on Monday, with the next hearing set for May 8.
Another 47-year-old woman suspected to be the elder Kwong’s mistress was arrested.
Investigations have been hampered as the suspects are not cooperating, police said.
Ms Choi, who was 28, has two children with her ex-husband, whom she married but later divorced at an undisclosed date. She has two other children with her partner Mr Tam Chuk Kwan, son of the founder of the TamJai Yunnan Mixian noodle chain.
While they had a wedding ceremony in 2016, Ms Choi and Mr Tam never legally registered their marriage, suggesting that her assets worth millions would be inherited by her two children with Kwong, previously cared for by her former in-laws.
Her four children are now under the care of her mother, police said. Mr Tam also vowing to raise all of them.
Ms Choi’s family members are expected to identify the body parts at a mortuary in Sha Tin on Tuesday.
The grisly murder has shaken the Hong Kong public, with a news presenter making the news for appearing to tear when reporting on the affair.
The community at Tai Po’s Lung Mei Village where the body parts were retrieved have also been planning Taoist rituals to “calm the spirit” of the deceased.
A property expert known for investing in units shunned for being linked to murders and suicides said tearing down and rebuilding the apartment block would be preferable for residents and property prices there in Hong Kong’s famously costly housing market.
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