Mariko Iguchi was a Japanese female college student who went on a self-guided trip to Taiwan in April 1990. She was unfortunately killed and abandoned. The plot was bizarre and twisted, and even spawned many "supernatural events", which were made into movies.
This incident not only attracted great attention from Taiwan and Japan, but also had a serious impact on Taiwan's tourism industry, which relies heavily on Japanese tourists.
The beginning and end of the case
On April 2, 1990, Mariko Iguchi, a fourth-year female college student studying at Ochanomizu Women's University in Tokyo, Japan, took a plane to Taiwan alone for a self-guided trip and stayed at the International Youth Home.
html I went sightseeing in Taipei on the 3rd; I sent postcards to my family on the morning of the 4th, and took the Ziqiang train south to Tainan at noon. I met a young man named Li and stayed at his home that night. On the 5th and 6th, I was accompanied by a man named Li for sightseeing in Tainan City. html On the morning of the 7th, after Mariko sent a letter to her family, she was driven by a young man named Li to Tainan Station to take the Fuxing Express to Kaohsiung. She walked out of the ticket gate of Kaohsiung Station at about 12 noon, and her whereabouts have become a mystery since then. html On 018, Mariko Iguchi was scheduled to take United Airlines flight 828 back to Japan. No one canceled her reserved seat, and the Immigration Bureau also found no departure record of Mariko.
html On the 25th, Mariko’s mother Hisako Iguchi arrived in Taiwan to look for her daughter, and was accompanied by the Japan Exchange Association to formally report the case to the Police Station of the Ministry of the Interior.
After receiving the report, the Police Administration ordered police agencies in all counties and cities across the province to coordinate the search, but found nothing.
On June 27, the Criminal Police Department and the Kaohsiung City Police Department formed the "0407 Joint Task Force" and offered a reward of NT$50,000. Family members also provided a reward of NT$500,000.
Because the man surnamed Li from Tainan City was the last person Mariko Iguchi came into contact with, he was listed as an important person of interest by the task force. However, his story and whereabouts were explained in quite detail, and he was released.
htmlOn July 7, the police received a tip alleging that Mariko Iguchi had been brutally murdered and her body was buried in a cemetery in Xinshi Township, Tainan County. The next day, the police sent out a large-scale search, but found nothing. html On July 18, Hisako Iguchi went to Taiwan to look for a girl for the second time, but still found nothing. html On September 6, Hisako Iguchi went to Taiwan three times to look for a girl and established the "Mariko Iguchi Search Support Association", but still found nothing.Faced with her daughter’s body, Mariko Iguchi’s mother cried bitterly.
In October, the task force interviewed taxi driver Liu Xueqiang based on the tip. However, due to his unstable mental condition and repeated confessions, nothing was found.
On December 6, the Commissioner of Police ordered that the reward be increased to NT$1 million, and that the reward must be "see the person alive, and the body must be seen dead."
So far, half a year has passed since the case, and the police still have made no progress.
On January 4, 1991, an unknown female corpse with highly similar features to Mariko Iguchi was found in a sugar cane plantation in Houli Township, Taichung County. However, after comparing the dental X-ray photos, it was confirmed that she was not missing. Mariko Iguchi.
nearly a year after Mariko Iguchi disappeared.
On March 4, 1991, based on reliable information, the task force believed that taxi driver Liu Xueqiang, who had been interviewed previously and lived in Xiaogang District, Kaohsiung City, was suspected of serious crimes and went to his residence to arrest him.
After the taxi
driven by Liu Xueqiang was arrested, Liu Xueqiang confessed to committing the crime in his confession.
He pointed out in his confession that on April 7 last year (1990), he saw Mariko Iguchi carrying a backpack alone at the arcade of Jianguo 3rd Road in front of Kaohsiung Station. He approached her and struck up a conversation, only to find out that Mariko was Japanese. Later, he learned that Mariko was looking for a place to live, so he took Mariko back to his residence in Xiaogang District on a motorcycle.
The two then went to Chengcheng Lake, Fengshan, Datong Department Store and other places together. Mariko accompanied Liu Xueqiang back to his residence to rest that night.
Regarding the murder, Liu Xueqiang confessed that he held a crossbow in the early morning of the 8th and fired four arrows at the head of Mariko Iguchi, then cut off her head and put it in a plastic bag. The body was wrapped in a sheet, along with the bloody clothes he wore during the crime. , the crossbow used in the crime, and Mariko Iguchi’s backpack were scattered and discarded in different locations.
Mariko Iguchi was a Japanese female college student who went on a self-guided trip to Taiwan in April 1990. She was unfortunately killed and abandoned. The plot was bizarre and twisted, and even spawned many "supernatural events", which were made into movies.
This incident not only attracted great attention from Taiwan and Japan, but also had a serious impact on Taiwan's tourism industry, which relies heavily on Japanese tourists.
The beginning and end of the case
On April 2, 1990, Mariko Iguchi, a fourth-year female college student studying at Ochanomizu Women's University in Tokyo, Japan, took a plane to Taiwan alone for a self-guided trip and stayed at the International Youth Home.
html I went sightseeing in Taipei on the 3rd; I sent postcards to my family on the morning of the 4th, and took the Ziqiang train south to Tainan at noon. I met a young man named Li and stayed at his home that night. On the 5th and 6th, I was accompanied by a man named Li for sightseeing in Tainan City. html On the morning of the 7th, after Mariko sent a letter to her family, she was driven by a young man named Li to Tainan Station to take the Fuxing Express to Kaohsiung. She walked out of the ticket gate of Kaohsiung Station at about 12 noon, and her whereabouts have become a mystery since then. html On 018, Mariko Iguchi was scheduled to take United Airlines flight 828 back to Japan. No one canceled her reserved seat, and the Immigration Bureau also found no departure record of Mariko.
html On the 25th, Mariko’s mother Hisako Iguchi arrived in Taiwan to look for her daughter, and was accompanied by the Japan Exchange Association to formally report the case to the Police Station of the Ministry of the Interior.
After receiving the report, the Police Administration ordered police agencies in all counties and cities across the province to coordinate the search, but found nothing.
On June 27, the Criminal Police Department and the Kaohsiung City Police Department formed the "0407 Joint Task Force" and offered a reward of NT$50,000. Family members also provided a reward of NT$500,000.
Because the man surnamed Li from Tainan City was the last person Mariko Iguchi came into contact with, he was listed as an important person of interest by the task force. However, his story and whereabouts were explained in quite detail, and he was released.
htmlOn July 7, the police received a tip alleging that Mariko Iguchi had been brutally murdered and her body was buried in a cemetery in Xinshi Township, Tainan County. The next day, the police sent out a large-scale search, but found nothing. html On July 18, Hisako Iguchi went to Taiwan to look for a girl for the second time, but still found nothing. html On September 6, Hisako Iguchi went to Taiwan three times to look for a girl and established the "Mariko Iguchi Search Support Association", but still found nothing.Faced with her daughter’s body, Mariko Iguchi’s mother cried bitterly.
In October, the task force interviewed taxi driver Liu Xueqiang based on the tip. However, due to his unstable mental condition and repeated confessions, nothing was found.
On December 6, the Commissioner of Police ordered that the reward be increased to NT$1 million, and that the reward must be "see the person alive, and the body must be seen dead."
So far, half a year has passed since the case, and the police still have made no progress.
On January 4, 1991, an unknown female corpse with highly similar features to Mariko Iguchi was found in a sugar cane plantation in Houli Township, Taichung County. However, after comparing the dental X-ray photos, it was confirmed that she was not missing. Mariko Iguchi.
nearly a year after Mariko Iguchi disappeared.
On March 4, 1991, based on reliable information, the task force believed that taxi driver Liu Xueqiang, who had been interviewed previously and lived in Xiaogang District, Kaohsiung City, was suspected of serious crimes and went to his residence to arrest him.
After the taxi
driven by Liu Xueqiang was arrested, Liu Xueqiang confessed to committing the crime in his confession.
He pointed out in his confession that on April 7 last year (1990), he saw Mariko Iguchi carrying a backpack alone at the arcade of Jianguo 3rd Road in front of Kaohsiung Station. He approached her and struck up a conversation, only to find out that Mariko was Japanese. Later, he learned that Mariko was looking for a place to live, so he took Mariko back to his residence in Xiaogang District on a motorcycle.
The two then went to Chengcheng Lake, Fengshan, Datong Department Store and other places together. Mariko accompanied Liu Xueqiang back to his residence to rest that night.
Regarding the murder, Liu Xueqiang confessed that he held a crossbow in the early morning of the 8th and fired four arrows at the head of Mariko Iguchi, then cut off her head and put it in a plastic bag. The body was wrapped in a sheet, along with the bloody clothes he wore during the crime. , the crossbow used in the crime, and Mariko Iguchi’s backpack were scattered and discarded in different locations.
was afraid of being discovered when he abandoned the body, so he poured gasoline on it and burned it. He also burned the bed board where Mariko was sleeping.
Liu Xueqiang was detained by the court on the 5th after confessing to the crime. Subsequently, the police repeatedly mentioned Liu Xueqiang to inquire about the location of the abandoned body, but Liu Xueqiang gave repeated confessions. Sometimes he said it was in Tainan County, and sometimes he said it was in Tainan City. The police made several trips between Tainan and Kaohsiung, but found nothing.
html On March 7, Liu Xueqiang admitted that the body was abandoned in an open space on Chongming 13th Street in Tainan City, and the head was dumped in a garbage truck near Nanmen Street. html On March 9, the task force went to the site where Liu Xueqiang's body was abandoned and excavated. They dug out more than a hundred bones of various sizes under the roots of the chopped tree and sent them to Taipei for identification. However, because the head was discarded, It was transported to the landfill in Rende Township, Tainan County. It had been a long time and the excavation was expensive, so the plan to find the head was canceled.Subsequently, based on Liu Xueqiang's confession, they successively recovered Iguchi Mariko's flashlight, multipurpose knife, umbrella and other relics as well as the crossbow used in the crime.
On March 14, Hisako Iguchi arrived in Taiwan again. After identification by well-known forensic doctor Yang Risong and international criminal expert Li Changyu, it was determined that the bones excavated were that of Mariko Iguchi, who had been missing for a long time.
On April 11, the task force transferred Liu Xueqiang to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor’s Office for investigation on suspicion of homicide, embezzlement, infringement and abandonment of corpses under the Criminal Code. The
task force quoted secret witness testimonies in the transfer letter and determined that Liu Xueqiang coveted the beauty of Iguchi Mariko and intended to molest her when she was rejected. Therefore, he became angry and killed Mariko while she was sleeping. He also defiled her body after the murder and took it away. The cash on Mariko.
The transfer letter also pointed out that although the head of Mariko Iguchi could not be found, the blood type, height, relics, witnesses, etc. were sufficient to prove that the deceased was Mariko Iguchi.
On November 24, Kaohsiung District Court sentenced Liu Xueqiang to death on suspicion of murder and abandoning a corpse. Because Liu Xueqiang met the commutation conditions for mental disorder, he was commuted to life imprisonment and deprived of public rights for life.
On May 3, 1993, the remains of Mariko Iguchi were cremated in Taiwan, and her mother Hisako Iguchi made a special trip to Taiwan to transport them back to Japan.
Impact
After Mariko disappeared, the Japanese media made continuous reports. Taiwan's image of "good security and humaneness" in the minds of Japanese people was severely affected. In the first three quarters of 1990, the number of Japanese tourists to Taiwan dropped by 10% year-on-year.
In 1994, Japanese director Hayashi Hiroyuki used the murder case of Mariko Iguchi as the main story to shoot the film "Sea Ghost Lantern". The whole film is full of suspenseful atmosphere.
In 1996, China Television "Taiwan Supernatural Incident" adapted it and named it "Legend of Flying Head". The following year, CTV's "Taiwan Strange Tales" adapted it and named it "I Want to Go Home".
Because this case is the most high-profile among taxi driver crimes, it has attracted public attention to the problem of taxi driver crimes. Taiwan has revised its regulations so that those with criminal records are not allowed to obtain a practice registration certificate.
In 2004, while serving his sentence in Taichung Prison, Liu Xueqiang was ridiculed and beaten seriously by other prisoners. He was later moved to Yilan Prison.
In 2007, Liu Xueqiang sued Crown Culture head Ping Xintao (husband of writer Qiong Yao) for embezzlement because Ping Xintao failed to return Liu Xueqiang's NT$24 return postage. Prosecutors ruled against prosecuting the case.
Supernatural incident
After arriving at the case, Liu Xueqiang confessed that when sleeping at night, he would suddenly wake up. When he opened his eyes, he saw the head of Mariko Iguchi close to his facial features, and her eyes kept staring at him. This happened every night, and he was so scared that he did not dare to look back. He had no choice but to sleep in a taxi and put many charms on the car.
In addition, more than one resident living near the place where Liu Xueqiang abandoned his body received a call, and there was a girl speaking Japanese on the phone. At first, the residents thought they had dialed the wrong number. After the case was solved, everyone felt creepy when they talked about it.
The police also discovered that Liu Xueqiang's taxi license plate "034-4498" also "revealed the mystery": 034, March 4, was the day Liu Xueqiang was arrested; 4498, "Dead No. 9 No. 8", the police found on 8 The location of the abandoned body was discovered on the 9th, and Mariko's bones were dug up on the 9th.
However, as a murderer, Liu Xueqiang had a psychological breakdown, and it was normal for him to scare himself. As for other claims, there is no evidence to verify them. You can just read them as stories.
As for the location of the head, I'm afraid no one will ever know. However, this case also gave the deceased an explanation.
However, as a murderer, Liu Xueqiang had a psychological breakdown, and it was normal for him to scare himself. As for other claims, there is no evidence to verify them. You can just read them as stories.
As for the location of the head, I'm afraid no one will ever know. However, this case also gave the deceased an explanation.
