How Hong Kong’s famous model Abby Choi murdered?

A crime that took place last Friday, February 24, has shocked Hong Kong and the world of entertainment with the brutal murder of a 28-year-old model identified as Abby Choi, a well-known influencer in the region who had been reported as disappeared and was found dead in a house a few days later.

Abby Choi, a well-known "influencer" with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and who had been featured in various fashion magazines, was reported missing on Wednesday, February 22.

A few days later, the police indicated that parts of her body had been found in a refrigerator and in two pots where parts of human tissue would have been detected.

After following the pertinent investigations in the house where the model's remains were found, the police found what they assume is Choi's skull, as well as hair and several ribs.

Alan Chung, superintendent of the regional police crime department, told reporters that not all of Choi's body parts had been discovered. “We are still looking for the head. Other body parts are also missing, for example, the torso area, and the hands, so we believe that the suspect has already disposed of the body parts.”

Who was Hong Kong model Abby Choi

Choi was a well-known model and influencer with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. She had two children with Kwong before the couple divorced.

Abby married her ex-husband when she was 18 and had two children who are now eight and 10 years old. She has two other children with her current partner Tam Chuk Kwan, who described Abby as a "kind-hearted, good person who always wanted to help others," she said in a report in The Strait Times.

“She also raised four cute and obedient children. It has been a blessing to be Abby's family or friend," Tam said after learning of the crime.

According to The Standard, Tam, who also goes by the name Chris, has promised to look after Abby's four children, including her ex-husband's two older children, who are currently staying with Abby's mother.

Choi was the eldest of three daughters who grew up in Hong Kong. Her family was wealthy and she had a construction business with businesses in China. The model also had a personal net worth of over HK$100 million. Kwan and Choi were never legally married, but they held a wedding ceremony in 2016.

Abby Choi was an international style icon

Abby Choi was a trendsetter who loved to style herself with designer pieces from luxury fashion houses like Dior, Gucci, Chanel, and Valentino, to name a few. 

Like most international style icons, she was a regular attendee of different fashion events and shows, including Paris Fashion Week. Just a week before her death, she posted several photos and videos of her at the Dior presentation in the City of Light.

In addition, she appeared in the prestigious Vogue magazine, which only lists the most influential people in the world of fashion.

Why was Choi murdered?

According to police, Choi was having a financial dispute with her ex-husband and his family over a luxurious property. The model divorced Kwong and married Chris Tam, a member of a wealthy Hong Kong family.

Last Saturday, February 25, the model's ex-husband had been caught trying to flee the city by boat, while a fifth suspect related to the victim's ex-father-in-law was arrested on Sunday for "collaborating with criminals."

He would have been Abby's ex-husband who allegedly ended her life, with the help of her parents and her brother. The reason for the macabre way in which the model was murdered would have been economic.

It would be a dispute over a property valued at millions of dollars that would have led Choi's ex-father-in-law, a retired police officer, to hatch the dismemberment plan, since he is said to have masterminded the crime.

It should be noted that the influencer came from a wealthy family and thanks to her work in the fashion industry, she had managed to consolidate a great fortune.

Abby Choi's ex-husband Alex Kwong; her former brother-in-law Anthony Kwong and his former in-laws were arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder.

It was even known that even after ending her relationship with Alex Kwong, she continued to help him and his family financially, in fact, she would have helped her ex-brother-in-law Anthony Kwong buy a house… but she never thought that those people whom he gave them a hand, he opened his heart and the doors of his home would be able to repay him - presumably - in such a terrible way.

The authorities found the woman's legs in a refrigerator in a house recently rented by her ex-father-in-law, in addition to a meat slicer, an electric saw and some clothing allegedly related to the case.

Who has been arrested?

On her part, police authorities arrested Abby's ex-husband and two members of her in-laws' family, who were charged in Hong Kong with murdering her.

The model's ex-husband, Alex Kwong, her father, Kwong Kau, and her brother, Anthony Kwong, were charged with murder in recent hours, while Choi's ex-mother-in-law, Jenny Li, was charged with obstruction of Justice for destroying evidence.

According to the South China Morning Post, more than 100 police officers were in charge of searching the area of ​​the murder, which also included an unsuccessful search in a nearby cemetery and in sewage in Lung Mei Tsuen.

According to the investigations collected by the newspaper, there are still parts of the body that have not been recovered, such as the torso and hands of the model who would have been extracted in bags by the murderers: "It is possible that the bags contained her clothes, parts of the victim's body or other evidence," a source told the news outlet.

Hong Kong in shock

Choi's gruesome murder has affected many in Hong Kong and across the border to mainland China, as the southern Chinese autonomous city is considered safe with a very low level of violent crime.

His case is one of the most shocking murders seen in Hong Kong since 2013, when a man killed his parents and their heads were later found in refrigerators.

In another famous case from 1999, a woman was kidnapped and tortured by three members of an organized crime group before her death. She later found her skull stuffed into a Hello Kitty doll.

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