By KHT Staff
KAOHSIUNG — A 74-year-old Kaohsiung man was sentenced to death Friday for killing three women in separate cases between 2024 and 2025, Focus Taiwan/CNA reported.
Commentators have previously noted that, from what they could ascertain, the murders marked the first time in close to half a century that a person in the city was accused of serial killing, not including cases such as setting fires leading to multiple deaths or other more “indirect” multiple killings.
The Kaohsiung District Court (高雄地方法院), using a panel of three professional judges and six citizen judges, convicted Chang Chieh-tsung (張介宗) of murder, desecration and abandonment of corpses, and theft. He was also deprived of civil rights for life.
The ruling can be appealed.
According to the court, Chang strangled his 75-year-old sister-in-law, surnamed Chang Huang (張黃), at his residence on Nov. 29, 2024, after she repeatedly asked him to leave a property owned by her son.
The court said Chang later dismembered her body and made several bicycle trips to dispose of the remains in a river.
Chang was also convicted of killing another 75-year-old woman, surnamed Chang (張), on Jan. 17, 2025, and a 71-year-old woman, Chao Lin (趙林), on Feb. 2, 2025. The court said he disposed of both victims’ remains in the same way.
He was also convicted of illegally withdrawing NT$5,000 with one victim’s debit card.
CNA reported that Chang showed no visible reaction as the sentence was read. After the verdict, victims’ relatives rushed toward him in court, yelling that he deserved death, before bailiffs intervened.
