Last Tuesday (February 21st, 2023), 28-year-old Hong Kong model and socialite Abby Choi was reported missing after she had gone out to fetch her daughter from her first marriage. She was later discovered to have been brutally murdered and dismembered at a residential home in the Tai Po district.
But who was Abby Choi exactly, and how did the harrowing crime transpire? What motivated the cruel butchery of the young woman, and who were those implicated in her murder?
Who is Abby Choi?
28-year-old Abby Choi Tin-fung (蔡天鳳) was a popular influencer, model, and socialite who was well-known within Hong Kong’s high society members. As Next Apple Taiwan reports, she was born into a family of considerable means who owned a major construction company back in Mainland China. She possessed a net worth of over HKD $100 million (RM57,154,241.00).
A close friend to Abby, Bernard Cheng Hei-chung, told Hong Kong newspaper The Standard that she first met her ex-husband, Alex Kwong, when she was just 15-years-old. They would eventually wed when she turned 18 and have two children together.
However, the marriage was not meant to be and the couple separated, sharing custody of both kids. With that said, Choi vowed to continue to take care of Kwong’s family even after their separation. Over the years, she not only bought his parents a luxury apartment, but her family also gave Alex’s elder brother a job working as Choi’s chauffer while helping him purchase his first home, reports CNA.
Abby would eventually meet Tam Chuk-Kwan, the son of the founder behind popular Chinese food chain TamJai Yunnan Mixian. The couple wedded in December of 2016 according to DimSum Daily HK, and have two children together.
Property dispute
Even when one of her friends was quoted by SCMP as saying that she never once uttered a bad word about her in-laws, it was believed that the vicious murder was motivated out of a dispute that they had with Abby over the sale of a piece of property that she had bought in her former father-in-law’s name for their family to live in.
The property, which was located in the highly coveted Kadoorie Hill neighbourhood of Ho Man Tin, was bought by Abby at a price of HKD $73 million (RM41,712,538.69). She elected to make the purchase under the name of Alex’s father, Kwong Kau, to save on stamp duties for the apartment. He is still listed as the sole registered owner of the unit.
Abby would later decide to sell off the Kadoorie Hill property against the wishes of her former in-laws for investment purposes, a move which was said to have infuriated Kwong Kau. This is in spite of the fact that she promised to relocate them elsewhere upon the sale of the unit.
Timeline of Abby Choi’s murder
Abby had left to fetch her daughter from her first marriage on last Tuesday (February 21st, 2023). At the time, she was seen wearing a white top with long sleeves, white pants, white slippers and carrying a purple handbag, reports The Straits Times.
Police sources claim that she was collected by her chauffer and former brother-in-law, Anthony Kwong, who was supposed to have driven her to meet her child. But when she failed to show up, a missing persons report was filed.
Local authorities would then reach out to her former in-laws to notify them about her disappearance and begin investigations into the case, but were met with challenges when the family gave false and misleading statements.
According to The Online Citizen, Kwong Kau was later seen driving a seven-seater vehicle to the Junk Bay Chinese Permanent Cemetery in Tseung Kwan O.
Police would eventually decipher the false statements given by her former in-laws and identified a residential unit in Lung Mei Village, Tai Po that was being rented under Kwong Kau’s name.
On February 24th, police raided the home and found dismembered legs believed to belong to Abby in a refrigerator, alongside a meat slicer, an electric saw, a cleaver, a chopper, a meat mincer, face-shields and raincoats. The spartan home was not furnished and had its windows covered with tarp, indicating that it had been rented for the sole purpose of disposing Abby’s corpse.
Kwong Kau, his wife Jenny Li, and Anthony were all arrested by the police on February 24th.
A search of the surrounding area for the rest of Abby’s remains was promptly carried out by over 100 members of the Hong Kong police on February 25th, which involved expert divers from the Special Duties Unit, tracer dogs and drones, but failed to yield any results. It was called off on February 26th, 2023.
Alex on the other hand, was detained at Tung Chung Development Pier just as he was about to board a speedboat. He was found to be carrying HK$500,000 (RM284,335.05) in cash and several luxury watches worth about HK$4 million (RM2,274,680.40) at the time of his arrest on February 26th.
Kwong Kau, Anthony and Alex are all facing murder charges, while Jenny is being charged for perverting the course of justice for allegedly destroying evidence.
On February 26th, 2023, a skull and ribs allegedly belonging to Abby were found in two large pots of soup. Her torso and hands still remain missing.
Suspects
Alex Kwong, 28 (Abby’s ex-husband)
Alex Kwong was said to have met Abby for the first time when they were just teenagers, and would eventually wed when they became 18. But his background was far from spick-and-span, as China Times reports that Alex was in fact a known scammer who was arrested back in February 2015 for targeting male users of dating apps and persuading them to put money into gold investments that did not exist.
Kwong Kau, 65 (Abby’s former father-in-law)
65-year-old former detective sergeant Kwong Kau is believed to be the mastermind behind the entire plot to murder Abby. A former member of the Hong Kong Police, he received the Hong Kong Police Long Service Medal in 2001 according to The Standard and was promoted to the position of detective sergeant after four years.
However, he was embroiled in a scandal after it was alleged that he had abused his authority and met a female suspect on numerous instances under the pretext of carrying out an ‘investigation’ before raping her, reports Liberty Times Net. Kwong was subsequently released on bail over the sexual assault case and resigned from the force.
Anthony Kwong, 30 (Abby’s former brother-in-law)
The older brother to Abby’s ex-husband, Anthony was said to have enjoyed an opulent lifestyle and appears to have shared a close relationship with Abby, even after the dissolution of her first marriage. On his Instagram page, he often colloquially referred to Abby as ‘sis’.
In 2019, he reportedly owed a debt of more than HKD $230,000 (RM131,432.80) to Citibank and was sued by the company, claims Hong Kong 01.
Jenny Li, 63 (Abby’s former mother-in-law)
Wife to Kwong Kau and mother to Alex and Anthony, Jenny not much is known about Jenny asides from the fact that she was detained by the police for allegedly destroying evidence. According to The Star, she was declared bankrupt in 2017.
All members of the family have since been arrested.
Tap here to give us a ‘Like’ on Facebook and stay up-to-date on the latest news!
Also read: Head & ribs believed to be belonging to murdered HK socialite Abby Choi found in pots of soup
