Hualien police announced yesterday they had solved the murders of two Aboriginal girls, whose bodies were found dumped on a riverbed in Hsiulin Township (
"The suspect Kao Lu-you (
"On Saturday night Kao asked Chen to talk about the matter, and the other victim, surnamed Lee -- Chen's friend -- accompanied her to meet Kao, but both were strangled," added Chen.
Police on Monday night identified the victim named Chen as a 15-year-old and the girl named Lee as a 12-year-old, both junior high school dropouts in Hualien County. This contradicted earlier reports, which said that the victims were in their 20s and 30s.
The police blamed forensic examiners yesterday for "wrongly estimating" the two victims' ages, thus complicating the investigation.
The police officer said Kao's family had paid Chen's family NT$100,000 (US$2,985) to settle the [lawsuit for under-age sex] matter out of court, but because statutory rape is a crime that must be refer-red to prosecutors, Kao became incensed when he received a court order summoning him for trial.
He added that police had identified three of Kao's friends, who helped him throw the bodies off the bridge. As of press time, police were still looking for them.
Hualien police on Sunday found the two bodies on a riverbed in the township.
Police initially thought both were sex workers murdered by their clients.
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