0:00

Due to the nature of

0:02

this case, listener discretion is

0:05

advised. This episode includes discussions

0:07

of graphic violence, substance use,

0:09

assault, kidnapping, torture, and the

0:11

sexual abuse of minors. Consider

0:14

this one deciding how and when you'll listen.

0:24

In May of 1999, a girl

0:26

approaches Hong Kong police about nightmares

0:28

she's been having. She

0:30

says she's being haunted by a woman, a young

0:33

mother who died in a flat

0:35

on Granville Road in the city's

0:37

Kowloon District. The girl

0:39

is 13 years old. She

0:42

tells a harrowing story of

0:44

captivity, torture, and suffering. The

0:47

inclination is to chalk the report

0:49

up to an overactive imagination, possibly

0:51

the result of watching too many

0:54

horror films. Surely the

0:56

girl hasn't been visited by the dead.

0:59

But the officers investigate her

1:01

claims anyway. They arrive

1:03

at the apartment she described, a

1:06

seven-room flat that looks like a

1:08

drug den. The general

1:10

grime of the apartment is

1:12

contrasted by some unusual decor.

1:15

It's covered in Hello

1:18

Kitty memorabilia, including sheets,

1:20

curtains, and kitchenware. In

1:23

the hallway, there's an oversized

1:25

Hello Kitty mermaid doll. The

1:28

doll in particular draws officers'

1:31

attention. It's covered

1:33

in stains and, for whatever

1:35

reason, it's been cut open

1:39

and re-sewn. I'm

1:43

Vanessa Richardson, and this is

1:45

Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast.

1:47

You can find us here every Monday. Be

1:50

sure to check us out on Instagram,

1:52

at Serial Killers Podcast. We'd love to

1:54

hear from you. If you're listening

1:56

on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us

1:59

your thoughts. Stay

2:01

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shopify.com/serial killers. In

3:49

the mid 90s, Hong Kong is

3:52

gripped by a sense of uncertainty. The

3:55

city has existed as a British colony for

3:57

over a century now, but in 1990, 1997,

4:01

it will be returned to China. The

4:03

historic handover will mark the end of

4:07

156 years of colonial rule over the

4:09

territory. The agreement with

4:12

Britain stipulates that though Hong Kong

4:14

will once again be part of

4:16

mainland China, it will also

4:18

be unique. It will retain its

4:20

democratic systems and the liberties they

4:22

afford, like freedom of speech, freedom

4:25

of the press, and freedom of

4:27

assembly. The slogan

4:29

becomes, one country, two

4:32

systems. The decade

4:34

preceding the handover is marked by

4:36

a string of high-profile crimes perpetrated

4:39

by rival gangs. But

4:42

nothing quite captures the city's

4:44

attention, like what has become known

4:46

as the Hello Kitty murder

4:48

case. In

4:52

May of 1999, a 13-year-old

4:54

girl approaches Hong Kong police

4:56

about some horrifying nightmares she's

4:58

been having. Officials initially

5:00

dismiss the girl's concerns, but

5:02

she later makes a shocking

5:04

confession. She contributed

5:07

to the woman's death. Before

5:11

that happens, police follow the girl to

5:13

an address on Granville Road, where she'd

5:15

been living with three older men. Aside

5:19

from the bizarre presence of

5:21

some assorted Hello Kitty decorations,

5:23

the apartment is no place

5:25

for a 13-year-old. It

5:27

looks run down and likely

5:29

reeks of decomposing flesh. Police

5:32

quickly learn there are plastic

5:35

bags filled with human organs

5:37

scattered about the apartment, including

5:40

one sitting outside on the

5:42

building's canopy. It contains

5:44

a liver, heart, lungs,

5:46

and intestines. The

5:49

body itself is missing. Police

5:52

don't find any limbs or

5:54

bones, just a single tooth.

5:57

It's lying next to an oversized

5:59

hello kiddie mermaid doll that has

6:02

clearly been tampered with. Someone

6:04

ripped its head open and

6:06

re-sewed it shut with

6:09

a human skull

6:11

inside. The skull

6:13

is missing its jaw. Police

6:18

soon learned the remains belonged to

6:20

a 23-year-old mother who went missing

6:22

more than a month earlier. Her

6:24

name is Fan Man Yi. She'd

6:26

been kidnapped by the three men

6:29

who lived at the address. Their

6:32

names are Chan Man Lok,

6:34

Leung Xingqiu, and Leung Wai

6:37

Lun. All of

6:39

them are triads. The

6:42

triads are an ancient secret society

6:44

that can be traced back to

6:46

the 18th century during the Qing

6:48

Dynasty. At the time,

6:50

China was experiencing unprecedented population

6:53

growth, limited resources, and

6:55

policies instituted by the new

6:57

Qing government made life difficult,

6:59

especially for the lower class.

7:02

Secret societies formed as a means

7:04

to survive. Members found

7:06

strength in numbers, banding

7:08

together for mutual aid and

7:11

protection. While not all

7:13

secret societies are criminal enterprises,

7:15

some turned to crime to get by,

7:18

robbing, smuggling, and extorting.

7:22

The 18th and 19th century

7:24

triads are sometimes represented as

7:27

political rebels who banded together

7:29

to resist the oppressive Qing

7:31

regime. But during various

7:33

periods in Chinese history, the triads

7:36

have done the bidding of rival

7:38

governments. In

7:41

May 1999, the crime scene is

7:43

more bizarre and more gruesome than

7:45

anything officers have seen before. Bags

7:48

of organs, human skulls

7:51

sewn in dolls, muscles

7:53

stored in refrigerators. But

7:56

it's maybe not as shocking as

7:59

the explanation given to the officials.

8:02

According to the three triads,

8:04

they weren't responsible for Fan

8:06

Monyi's death. They

8:08

abducted her, they tortured her,

8:11

they dismembered her after

8:13

she died, but they

8:16

didn't kill her. They

8:18

came home one night and found her

8:20

dead. And that's

8:23

their defense when they go to

8:25

trial. This

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10:41

the fall of 2000, the murder

10:43

trial of Fan Man Yi begins.

10:46

This is the story the defense presents.

10:49

In March 1999, the three triad

10:51

members spent the night at a club

10:53

where Fan Man Yi worked as a

10:56

host. There's not much we

10:58

know about Fan Man Yi's life before

11:00

this incident. But according to

11:02

the men, over the course of

11:04

the night, Man Yi stole several

11:06

thousand dollars from one of their

11:08

wallets. That's when they

11:10

took matters into their own hands.

11:13

They abducted Man Yi from the club,

11:15

brought her back to their apartment, and

11:17

held her there in restraints. They

11:20

reportedly planned to force her into

11:23

sex work until she repaid her

11:25

debt with interest. But

11:27

things went off the rails pretty

11:29

quickly, and they ended up holding

11:31

her captive for weeks. By

11:34

April 15th, it had been more than

11:36

a month since Man Yi's abduction. That

11:39

night, the men left Man Yi in restraints

11:41

at the apartment and went out for a

11:43

night on the town. When

11:46

they came home from partying,

11:48

they said they found her

11:50

completely unresponsive, dead,

11:52

from an apparent self-induced

11:54

drug overdose. Later,

11:57

when police visited another apartment in their

11:59

building to invest in the apartment. investigate

12:01

an unrelated crime, they panicked. They spent

12:03

the next 10 hours dismembering

12:05

her body and then tried to

12:08

hide the evidence. Any

12:10

remains police didn't find during

12:12

their raid, they'd dumped in

12:14

trash bins around the neighborhood.

12:18

It's clear the story is

12:20

incriminating. It exposes the men

12:22

for having committed serious crimes,

12:25

but it also challenges any

12:27

charge of murder. And

12:29

because there's no body for officials

12:31

to examine, a definitive cause of

12:34

death can't be determined. So

12:36

the outcome of the trial ultimately

12:39

rests on the testimony of those

12:41

involved. Most significantly,

12:43

that includes the only known eyewitness

12:46

to the events, the 13-year-old

12:49

girl who first approached police

12:51

about Mani's death a year

12:53

prior. Prosecutors offer

12:55

her immunity in exchange for her

12:58

cooperation and testimony. Due

13:01

to her age, we'll use a pseudonym others have

13:03

used in the past. Aa

13:05

Fong In

13:08

conversations with police, Aa Fong

13:11

says she lived with the three men in

13:13

the flat on Granville Road. She

13:15

referred to one of them,

13:18

34-year-old Chan Manlok, as her

13:20

boyfriend. But given that

13:22

the age of consent in Hong Kong

13:24

is 16, she was a victim of

13:27

sexual abuse, and possibly

13:29

trafficking as well. At

13:31

trial, the 13-year-old sheds light on

13:34

some of what happened in the

13:36

apartment during the month Mani was

13:38

kept prisoner, connecting the

13:40

dots between her abduction and

13:42

the gruesome crime scene police

13:44

walked into. And the picture

13:46

she paints of the journey

13:48

is just as disturbing as

13:51

the ending. The

13:53

three triads ruthlessly tortured Mani.

13:55

Aa Fong admits that she

13:57

would sometimes join in These

14:00

torture sessions included beating her

14:02

with iron bars, burning

14:05

the soles of her feet, pouring

14:07

hot oil on her wounds,

14:09

and restraining her with electrical

14:11

wires. A-Fong says

14:13

the men would sometimes laugh as

14:16

they tortured her, and

14:18

afterwards, go play video games

14:20

as if nothing happened. And

14:23

that kind of lack of

14:25

regard for Man Yi's humanity

14:27

continued after her death. At

14:30

some point, one of the men apparently boiled

14:32

body parts in a pot on the stove,

14:35

while cooking noodles in

14:37

another, and stirred both

14:39

with the same spoon.

14:42

The testimony is bone-chilling.

14:44

Hong Kong had seen

14:46

triad violence before, but

14:48

never anything quite so

14:50

disturbing. South

14:53

China Morning Post, Hong Kong's

14:55

major English-language newspaper, spoke to

14:57

former Chief Superintendent Barry Smith.

15:01

Smith worked in the Hong Kong Police Special Duties

15:03

Unit in the 90s. For

15:05

him, triad violence in the 90s

15:07

could be directly attributed to loopholes

15:09

in the system. China

15:11

and Britain didn't have an extradition agreement

15:13

when it came to Hong Kong. This

15:17

loophole allowed criminals to move

15:19

freely across borders between mainland

15:21

China and Hong Kong, bringing

15:24

drugs, guns, and other trafficked

15:26

items with them. Hong

15:29

Kong cinema also glorified the

15:31

triads. Gangster films became popular,

15:33

and some triad leaders even

15:36

made their own movies, sometimes

15:38

having to strong arm directors

15:40

and actors into taking part.

15:43

With colorful aliases like Broken

15:46

Tooth, Big Spender, and Teeth

15:48

Dog, triad members were

15:50

infamous for their exploits. They

15:53

publicly flaunted their flashy cars

15:55

and glamorous lifestyles. Chief

15:57

Barry Smith told the South China Morning Post,

16:00

warning post that young girls

16:02

get attracted to the bad triad

16:04

guys, they become the girlfriend and

16:06

then they get involved with drugs

16:08

and so the cycle goes. This

16:12

seems to have been the case with A-Fong. The

16:15

young teenager had run away from

16:17

home and fallen in with Chan.

16:19

He promised her a home and

16:21

security. Instead, he took

16:23

advantage of her. Some

16:25

sources claim Chan coerced A-Fong into

16:28

sex work and acted as her

16:30

pimp. During her testimony,

16:32

A-Fong reveals she would sometimes

16:34

watch porn with her flatmates

16:37

and that they would often take drugs

16:39

together. The

16:41

use of drugs becomes crucial to

16:44

the defense's case. They

16:46

claim that all of the

16:48

inhabitants of the apartment, including

16:50

Man Yi, seriously misused methamphetamines.

16:53

Chronic meth use can create

16:55

irrationally high levels of irritability

16:58

and paranoia. According to

17:00

reporting by the South China Morning

17:02

Post, meth use is the only

17:04

way to make sense of the

17:06

brutality that happened inside that Granville

17:09

Road apartment. The only

17:11

real explanation for how and

17:13

why the defendant's actions could

17:15

have spiraled so completely out

17:17

of control. Drug

17:20

use also becomes central to the

17:22

defense's case for innocence. They

17:24

argue that because no one can

17:27

prove Man Yi died as a

17:29

result of torture and not from

17:31

an overdose, the three triads can't

17:33

be found guilty of murder beyond

17:35

a reasonable doubt. In

17:38

the end, the jury agrees

17:40

with them. They

17:42

dismiss the murder charge. Instead,

17:45

they find the defendants guilty

17:47

of three other crimes. First,

17:50

unlawful imprisonment. Second, preventing

17:52

a lawful burial. And

17:55

third, manslaughter, meaning

17:57

the jury believed the men

17:59

actions contributed to Man Yi's

18:02

death, but not that they

18:04

killed her directly. Officials

18:08

make it clear the decision doesn't

18:10

detract from the severity of the

18:12

three men's crimes. Psychiatric

18:15

reports describe them as being

18:17

remorseless. The judge addresses

18:19

them saying, quote, never

18:22

in Hong Kong in

18:24

recent years has a

18:27

court heard such cruelty,

18:29

depravity, callousness, brutality, violence,

18:31

and viciousness. The

18:33

public is entitled to protection from

18:36

people such as you. He

18:39

sentences all three to life in

18:41

prison, but ultimately the

18:43

jury's decision means the men could spend

18:45

as little as 20 years

18:48

behind bars. Per Hong Kong

18:50

law, that's when they'll be

18:52

eligible for parole. Unless,

18:54

of course, they win

18:57

on appeal first. This

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19:49

News is directed. The

19:54

crimes perpetrated by the so-called

19:56

Hello Kitty killers shook Hong

19:59

Kong. A cause of

20:01

death could never be determined for the

20:03

victim, Fan Man Yi. Due

20:05

to the state of her remains, there

20:07

was no body from medical professionals to

20:10

examine. And in the spring

20:12

of 2003, that fact

20:14

becomes central to a new

20:16

trial, when the three so-called

20:18

Hello Kitty killers appear before

20:20

a court of appeals. Their

20:23

defense is simple. They

20:26

should never have been charged with manslaughter in

20:28

the first place. How could

20:30

a jury decide their actions contributed to

20:32

Man Yi's death when no one could

20:34

say how she died in the first

20:37

place? Once again, drug

20:39

use plays a pivotal role in the

20:41

appeal. The defense claims that

20:43

on the night she died, Man Yi

20:45

was seen picking up what looked like

20:48

sugar crystals from the apartment floor. The

20:51

implication being she had access to meth

20:53

that could have caused an overdose. It's

20:56

the first of many appeals brought by

20:58

the Hello Kitty killers. But

21:00

as of this recording, all have

21:03

been unsuccessful, except one.

21:06

Leng Xingqiu ultimately wins a

21:08

case on appeal. He's

21:10

released from prison in 2011, after serving only 11

21:13

years of his original sentence. He's

21:18

later arrested and imprisoned again

21:21

for an unrelated crime involving

21:23

the indecent assault of a

21:25

minor, proving that maybe

21:28

the original judge was right.

21:30

The public deserved protection from

21:33

men like him. As

21:37

The Washington Post pointed out in 2000, if

21:40

Man Yi's abductors committed their

21:42

crimes just a few miles

21:44

away in mainland China, the

21:46

outcome would have been completely

21:48

different. The Hello Kitty

21:50

killers would have been subject to the

21:52

death penalty, and likely would have been

21:54

quote, speedily executed, which

21:56

would have been true even

21:59

if they committed lesser crimes.

22:01

So in no small way, this

22:03

case could have only played out

22:06

the way it did in Hong

22:08

Kong during a chaotic transition period.

22:10

And over time, the triad's relationship

22:12

to Hong Kong and

22:15

to mainland China has continued

22:17

to evolve. After

22:19

the handover in 1997, officials

22:22

in Hong Kong cracked down on

22:24

the triad's illegal activities. But

22:27

as that was happening, mainland officials

22:29

reached out to them expressing a

22:31

desire to present a united front.

22:34

The idea was, so long

22:36

as the triads remained patriotic

22:38

and loyal to mainland authorities,

22:40

they could continue operation. In

22:43

some cases, mainland authorities even

22:45

provided members with legitimate, non-illegal

22:47

business opportunities as a way

22:49

to support themselves. As

22:52

a result, triad criminal activity has

22:54

gone down since 1997. Leaders

22:58

moved their gambling dens to Macau, where

23:00

they could operate legally. Others

23:03

pivoted to focus on other

23:05

ventures like restaurants, tea houses,

23:08

and transportation companies. And

23:10

as the triads have evolved,

23:12

they've continued to make headlines

23:14

in surprising ways. In

23:17

February 2014, around 10 a.m.,

23:20

Kevin Lau-Chun-To steps out of

23:22

his car in the Sai

23:24

Wan-Ho neighborhood of Hong Kong

23:26

and is suddenly attacked. His

23:29

assailant stabs him once in the back

23:31

and twice in his legs before jumping

23:34

on the back of a motorcycle driven

23:36

by an accomplice and fleeing the scene.

23:39

The injuries leave Lau in

23:41

critical condition. According

23:43

to reporting by The Guardian, the

23:46

police called the assault a classic

23:48

triad hit. Lau had

23:50

recently been let go as the

23:52

chief editor of a Hong Kong-based

23:54

newspaper, and his colleagues suspected the

23:56

move was meant to quote, muzzle

23:59

independent thinking journalists. journalists. His

24:01

removal had sparked protests in the

24:03

city, led by those who feared

24:05

the Chinese Communist Party was trying

24:07

to silence a free press. Laos'

24:10

attackers were eventually identified and

24:12

claimed they'd been paid 100,000

24:15

Hong Kong dollars to, as

24:17

they put it, teach Laos

24:19

a lesson. Laos'

24:22

assault was won in a string

24:25

of recent attacks on Chinese journalists.

24:27

A year prior, someone had driven

24:29

a car through the front gates

24:31

of media executive Jimmy Lai's home,

24:34

whoever it was left behind two

24:36

items in Lai's driveway, a machete

24:39

and an axe, presumably as

24:41

a warning sign. A

24:44

week later, masked men intercepted

24:46

a delivery van and set

24:48

fire to bundles of newspapers

24:50

his company published. The

24:53

Foreign Correspondence Club released a

24:55

statement saying, quote, Hong

24:57

Kong's reputation as a free

25:00

and international city will suffer

25:02

if such crimes go unsolved

25:05

and unpunished. But

25:08

similar attacks have continued. Gangs

25:11

of men with suspected ties to

25:13

triad groups assault pro-democracy protesters during

25:15

the Umbrella Movement at the end

25:17

of 2014. They

25:19

sought more transparent and

25:21

fair elections, free

25:23

from government intervention. In

25:27

the spring and summer of

25:29

2019, hundreds of thousands of

25:32

pro-democracy activists flood Hong Kong

25:34

again in what quickly becomes

25:36

the largest demonstrations the city

25:38

has ever seen. This

25:41

time, they come out to protest

25:43

a new bill proposed by China

25:45

that would effectively end the One

25:48

Country Two System Agreement. As

25:50

an expression of peaceful dissent,

25:53

demonstrators wear black. On

25:55

the evening of July 21, many stand at UN railroad

26:00

station waiting for a ride home.

26:03

Seemingly out of nowhere, around 10.45 p.m., dozens of

26:05

men dressed

26:08

in white and wearing surgical

26:11

masks flood the terminal. The

26:13

mob carries iron bars, clubs,

26:15

and poles, and begins attacking

26:18

the commuters. Their

26:20

primary targets are the protesters

26:22

dressed in black, but their

26:24

violence seems indiscriminate. Young,

26:27

old, pregnant, all

26:30

fall victim to the attacks, even

26:32

as they beg for mercy. Dozens

26:35

of calls are placed to

26:37

authorities, but police reportedly don't

26:39

arrive in full force until

26:41

35 minutes after the

26:44

first call. And

26:46

by the time they do, the

26:48

mob has already dispersed. In

26:52

total, 45 people are

26:54

injured. 14 need

26:56

medical attention. That includes pro-democracy

26:58

lawmaker Lam Chuk Ting, who

27:01

requires 18 stitches

27:03

for cuts to his face. To

27:06

him and many others, the timing

27:08

of the authorities' response feels

27:11

convenient, like the police

27:13

allowed the attack to happen. He

27:16

tells the New York Times, quote, the

27:18

police and the triads

27:21

now rule Yuanlong, together.

27:25

Similar sentiments have been echoed since, but

27:28

it's not just the police who've been

27:30

accused of collusion. As we

27:32

mentioned, the Chinese government made a

27:34

point to forge relationships with the triads

27:36

beginning in the 90s. Some

27:39

academics believe the goal was to

27:41

tighten China's sovereignty over Hong Kong,

27:44

but others go even further,

27:46

suggesting that the triads have

27:49

essentially become henchmen for the

27:51

Chinese Communist Party, deployed

27:53

whenever they want to quash

27:55

or intimidate their opposition. Regardless

27:58

of where the truth is, lies, force

28:01

isn't the only tool out there. Hong

28:03

Kong police quashed the protest movement in

28:06

2020 and passed

28:08

the new legislation demonstrators hoped to

28:10

kill. The new law has led

28:13

to the arrest of 47 pro-democracy

28:16

leaders, including activists,

28:19

academics, politicians, and

28:21

journalists, accusing them

28:23

of conspiracy to commit subversion.

28:26

This included Lam Chuk-ting, the

28:28

lawmaker who was beaten in

28:30

the UN-long train station attack.

28:33

Many experienced lengthy years-long

28:35

detentions without trial, 31

28:38

ended up pleading guilty, and in

28:40

May of 2024, another 14 were

28:42

found guilty. As

28:47

of this recording, most still

28:49

await sentencing. They face

28:52

anywhere from three months to life

28:54

in prison, which, at the

28:56

end of the day, is more than

28:58

what at least one of the Hello

29:01

Kitty killers served after

29:03

abducting Fan Monyi, ruthlessly

29:05

torturing her for weeks

29:08

and dismembering her body until

29:11

pretty much all that was left

29:13

to bury was a skull.

29:24

Thanks for tuning in to Serial

29:26

Killers, a Spotify podcast. We'll be

29:28

back Monday with another episode. To

29:31

learn more about this case, we recommend

29:33

checking out reporting done by the South

29:35

China Morning Post, as well as

29:37

Peng Wang and Sharon Ingrid Kwok's 2023 article

29:39

on the triads for Cambridge

29:43

University Press. Among the

29:45

many sources we used for this episode,

29:48

we found them extremely helpful to our

29:50

research. Stay

29:52

safe out there. This

29:55

episode was written and researched

29:57

by Connor Sampson, edited by

30:00

T.M. TTU, fact-checked by Lori

30:02

Siegel, and sound designed by

30:04

Alex Button. Our head

30:06

of programming is Julian Barrow. Our

30:08

head of production is Nick Johnson. And

30:11

Spencer Howard is our post-production

30:13

supervisor. I'm your

30:15

host, Vanessa Richardson. This

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episode is brought to you by Buzzballs.

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