Taiwanese singer-actress Pai Bing-bing spent 15 years wiping away memories of daughter’s murder. A crass social media post revived the trauma
- Taiwanese star’s 16-year-old daughter was kidnapped and murdered in 1997, a crime that shocked Taiwan. The actress and TV host thought she had put it behind her
- A post saying she should ‘die in the water like her daughter’ stung Pai, who vowed to make a stand and is suing the woman who posted the comment
Taiwanese singer-actress Pai Bing-bing was recently forced to relive the brutal murder of her teenage daughter 23 years ago when an internet user posted on social media that she should “die in the water” like her late child.
The callous comment came after Pai uploaded a video to Facebook to commemorate the anniversary this month of her daughter’s death. On April 12, Pai filed a police report against the internet user, who was found to have a history of mental illness, and is pursuing charges against her.
The kidnapping and murder of Pai’s daughter, Pai Hsiao-yen, shocked Taiwan more than two decades ago, and led to a political crisis on the island, as well as a backlash against sensationalist media coverage of the incident.
Hsiao-yen was abducted while on the way to school on April 14, 1997. Her family was sent a note demanding US$5 million, along with part of a severed finger and a photograph of a bound girl. Two weeks later, Hsiao-yen’s naked body was found in a drainage ditch close to the industrial suburb of Wugu outside Taiwan’s capital city, Taipei.
An examination found that her body had been weighed down with dumbbells to ensure it stayed underwater, and investigators said the girl had been dead for 10 days before her body was found, indicating she had already been murdered when the kidnappers were negotiating a ransom with her mother. Hsiao-yen was said to have been tortured before being killed.