Lu Ziyang deceived and cheated Lieu Le emotionally and financially, using their child to threaten her when she decided to divorce him. He planned to murder his wife, meticulously disposing of her body, but miscalculated the tide.
At 4:00 PM on January 10, 2020, residents in Chonburi province found a suitcase on the beach containing the rolled-up body of a woman with her hands and feet tied.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the victim was strangled with a rope, thrown into the sea for disposal, and the suitcase washed ashore.
Through a tattoo on the body, the victim was identified as Lieu Le, 33 years old, from Guangdong province, China. Her family reported her missing on January 9th.
Lieu Le married a man from Taiwan named Lu Ziyang and gave birth to a son in October 2019. She frequently traveled between Thailand and China for her clothing business. Lu Ziyang mostly lived in Thailand, involved in tourism services, shopping assistance, and running a bubble tea shop.
Lieu Le’s close friend last spoke to her at noon on January 8th. Later, her family and friends saw her social media post saying, “I’ll be going on a long trip to Taiwan with my family. Don’t worry if you can’t reach me.” She also posted a photo at the airport, claiming her phone was broken, hence unable to contact anyone. However, her family found her tone suspicious.
Many relatives and friends in China called looking for her, but Lu Ziyang always answered, claiming his wife was bathing, fetching items for delivery, or shopping without a phone.
Later, an old photo of Lieu Le with her son surfaced on her social media, but her family realized it was dated. When they called again, Lieu Le’s phone was turned off, and Lu Ziyang couldn’t be reached too. Realizing that Lieu Le may have been in trouble, the family immediately called the police.
Upon receiving news of the body discovery, Lieu Le’s family suspected Lu Ziyang as the perpetrator. According to them, Lieu Le had conflicts with her husband as he continually borrowed money from her, resorting to violence if she refused to lend or lent insufficiently.
Shortly after giving birth, Lieu Le once returned to China alone. She confided to her friend that she discovered Lu Ziyang constantly lied and cheated money from his wife’s relatives and friends.
During this time, Lu Ziyang continuously used their child to threaten her and force her to return to Thailand. He once messaged that the child was sick and would not eat if she didn’t return. Lieu Le decided to return to Thailand to file for divorce, demand repayment from her husband, and take their child back to China, severing all ties completely. She then went missing.
On the afternoon of January 12th, police traced Lu Ziyang’s whereabouts through surveillance cameras. After being arrested, he confessed to strangling his wife to death in a fit of rage during an argument. Lu Ziyang recounted stuffing his wife’s body into a suitcase, taking it to the beach, and hiring a boat to dispose of the corpse at sea.
Lieu Le met Lu Ziyang through social media when they both traveled to Chonburi for vacation in January 2018. After two weeks of chatting, they became a couple. Despite family advice, Lieu Le moved to Thailand to live with her boyfriend. In February 2019, they got married in Thailand.
After their son was born, Lu Ziyang began to change. He interfered in Lieu Le’s work, demanding involvement in every aspect and equal sharing of income. Thinking her husband wanted to help with the business so she could take care of their child, Lieu Le didn’t suspect anything.
Later, Lu Ziyang borrowed money from Lieu Le’s relatives and friends, claiming the need to rotate capital. When pressed for repayment, he claimed to be short of money and asked her to cover for him.
Through Lu Ziyang’s sweet talk, Liêu convinced over 20 relatives to transfer over 100,000 yuan to her husband’s travel company, promising to arrange trips for them, but in reality, no tours were arranged. Lu Ziyang also deceived Lieu Le’s friend into transferring over 30,000 yuan under the pretext of buying concert tickets in Thailand, only to later claim the tickets were sold out and refused refunds.
Additionally, Lu Ziyang deceived Lieu Le’s friend into depositing money for merchandise that was never delivered. To cover up his fraudulent activities, he claimed to have sent the goods, fabricated tracking numbers for express delivery, and ultimately declared the items lost with no compensation.
Despite being deceived multiple times, Lieu’s friends and relatives demanded explanations from her, but she, unaware of Lu Ziyang’s actions behind her back, continued to help him, saying, “He only has US dollars, which cannot be transferred directly; he can only exchange them for yuan when he returns home.”
However, after a long period, Lu Ziyang continued to make excuses, such as the company facing difficulties, to placate his wife. Lieu Le gradually became suspicious. The two began to argue over money, straining their relationship.
Police found surveillance footage on January 6, 2020, of Lu Ziyang buying ropes, nails, duct tape, a 34 cm-long knife, and a black suitcase. On the evening of January 7th, he rented a vacation apartment.
On January 8th, Lu Ziyang lured Lieu Le to the apartment and then murdered her. He deliberately kept Lieu Le’s mobile phone to pretend that she was still alive.
According to the police, Lu Ziyang believed the disposal plan was perfect, but he miscalculated the ocean currents and tide times. Initially, the suitcase containing Lieu Le’s body was supposed to drift to the other side of Chonburi province, but it was washed ashore on a private beach locally.
After the crime, Lu Ziyang transferred all the money from Lieu Le’s account. When arrested, all the money had been transferred to his parents.
On April 3, 2020, the Thai prosecutor charged Lu Ziyang with premeditated murder, murder with cruelty, murder, and destruction of the body.
During the investigation, the police found that Lu Ziyang’s visa had expired for 5 years. He illegally immigrated to Thailand, so he couldn’t legally marry Lieu Le, meaning their marriage certificate was fake.
To trap Lieu Le, Lu Ziyang designed a perfect marriage certificate acquisition process, from signing, witnessing, guarantor to receiving the marriage registration, without missing any steps. They initially planned to hold the wedding in Thailand, and Lieu Le had booked the venue in advance, but as the wedding approached, Lu Ziyang suddenly changed his decision.
Before being with Lieu Le, Lu Ziyang had a child with a Thai woman. The child’s mother left shortly after giving birth. Lu Ziyang used this woman’s name to buy a car and rent a house because he was a fugitive from Taiwan, illegally immigrating. Lu Ziyang’s parents came to Thailand on a tourist visa and then stayed illegally.
In the trial on September 16, 2020, Lu Ziyang claimed he had no intention to kill Lieu Le, as the victim attacked him first. He only admitted to the act of manslaughter and disposal of the body, denying intentional murder and torturing Lieu Le to death.
On February 10, 2022, the court sentenced Lu Ziyang to life imprisonment due to admitting to some facts.
Lieu Le’s parents did not accept the verdict and appealed, as Lu Ziyang showed no remorse in court and did not apologize after the incident was revealed.
On November 25, 2022, the appellate court rejected the reason for reducing the death penalty to life imprisonment by the trial court, and Lu Ziyang was sentenced to death.
