Cordon lines are seen outside a house where parts of Abby Choi's body were found on Feb 27. - Reuters, XXABBYC/INSTAGRAM
HONG KONG (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): 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 (Feb 28).
More than 100 officers will be mobilised for the search in Ta Kwu Ling in the New Territories, local media said.
Choi’s skull and several ribs were found in a large soup pot taken from a three-storey house in Tai Po on Sunday. Her body parts were retrieved last week from a refrigerator in the same residence, allegedly rented by her former father-in-law with the help of his mistress.
Choi’s torso and arms remain missing.
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Security camera footage near Tai Po showed a suspect carrying bags from the house to a nearby rubbish collection area. Some of her body parts could be found in those bags, police from the Kowloon West major crimes division said.
The narrowed-down area of search at the landfill is about 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 work.
Police previously scoured a cemetery and sewage pipes over the weekend with little to show for their efforts.
Five people have been arrested in connection with the brutal killing, all tied to her ex-husband Alex Kwong and his father, a former policeman who is also the suspected mastermind. Police have identified a property dispute as a possible motive.
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.
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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.
Choi, 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 Tam Chuk Kwan, son of the founder of the TamJai Yunnan Mixian noodle chain.
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While they had a wedding ceremony in 2016, Choi and 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. Tam also vowed to raise all of them.
Choi’s family members are expected to identify the body parts at a mortuary in Sha Tin on Tuesday.
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The grisly murder has shaken the Hong Kong public, with a news presenter making the news for appearing to tear up 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 their links to murders and suicides said rebuilding the apartment block would be preferable for residents ensure their homes continue to profit from Hong Kong’s famously costly housing market.
