Ex-boyfriend arrested after college freshman fatally stabbed in Taichung

Taipei, Sept. 17 (CNA) A 20-year-old female college student was found dead with multiple stab wounds in Taichung on Tuesday, and her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend was arrested hours later on suspicion of killing her, local authorities said.

The victim, surnamed Yen (顏), who had recently begun attending a university in central Taiwan, was found lying in a pool of blood by a tunnel in Taichung's Shalu District on Tuesday morning, with 30 lacerations on her head, neck and limbs, according to the Taichung City Police Department.

A 17-year-old suspect, surnamed Lo (駱), was found at a hotel in nearby Changhua County at around 3 p.m., after fleeing the crime scene on an unlicensed motorcycle. Surveillance footage showed him briefly traveling north and changing clothes in an attempt to evade arrest, police said.

A passerby who spoke to CNA said she had seen the victim talking with a man wearing a motorcycle helmet earlier that morning. When she returned to the area, she saw the victim collapsed in a pool of blood, she said.

Other witnesses immediately notified the police, but the victim was later pronounced dead.

Surveillance footage released by the police showed the victim and a male individual were talking, when he suddenly stood up and slashed her multiple times. The suspect then fled the crime scene, but later returned on his motorcycle to check the victim's condition, the footage showed.

The suspected weapon, a knife found at the scene of the arrest, has been sent to forensic specialists for examination.

A CT scan is scheduled for the body on Wednesday and an autopsy will be performed on Thursday to confirm the cause of death, according to Taichung prosecutors.

The suspect will be transferred to the Taichung District Court's Juvenile Court, prosecutors said.