Victim's nephew arrested in fatal Xinzhuang stabbing

Taipei, Oct. 12 (CNA) A 33-year-old man suspected of stabbing his aunt to death in New Taipei's Xinzhuang District on Sunday was arrested Monday in Taoyuan, police said.

The New Taipei City Police Department's Xinzhuang Precinct said it received a call around 7 p.m. Sunday about a stabbing at a home on Yongan Street.

Officers arriving at the home found the victim, a 59-year-old woman surnamed Lin (林), dead in the kitchen, with more than 10 stab wounds to her neck and abdomen, police said.

The victim's husband, who found her when he returned home from work, told police that their nephew, surnamed Lee (李), had recently moved in with them and had quarreled with Lin earlier that day.

Police used surveillance footage to track Lee's movements after he left the home around 2 p.m. Sunday. He ate at a hot pot restaurant and took the MRT to Taipei Main Station, local media reported.

From there, Lee took a train to Taoyuan Station, and then switched between several forms of transport to travel to Fengming Station in New Taipei and Neili in Taoyuan before returning to Taoyuan Station, in an apparent attempt to evade surveillance, the reports said.

Lee was arrested around noon Monday near Zhongshan Road in Taoyuan City's Taoyuan District, police said.

A preliminary investigation found that Lee was unemployed. The couple had occasionally quarreled with him over his daily habits, police said.

Lee also frequently asked for money to buy alcohol and tobacco, which had led Lin to consider asking him to move out, police said.

Police believe that on the day of the killing, Lin bumped Lee with her shoulder, which he interpreted as deliberate and insulting. Enraged, Lee went out to buy a knife, returned home and stabbed Lin to death, police said.