After model’s gruesome killing, suspicion falls on her ex-husband and his family

Model Abby Choi in Hong Kong on February 11, 2023. Photo / Pao Jo-yee via AP

Hong Kong police have detained four people in connection with the killing of a model and influencer in a case that has horrified the city.

The victim, Abby Choi, 28, had appeared in the pages of fashion magazines and enjoyed a wide following on social media, where she posted images of herself attending fashion events around the world dressed in couture. A young mother, she had divorced and remarried.

Her ex-husband, along with his parents and brother, are suspects in her death.

Choi was reported missing early on Wednesday. Superintendent Alan Chung of the Hong Kong Police Department, who is leading the investigation, said on Friday officers discovered her partial, dismembered remains, along with a meat grinder and an electric saw, in a seaside residence that the father of Choi’s ex-husband had begun renting this month in Lung Mei Village.

A police van transporting relatives of Abby Choi arrives at the Kowloon City Law Courts Building in Hong Kong, February 27, 2023. Photo / TVB Hong Kong via AP

Chung, in a news conference on Saturday, said Choi had had disputes with members of her ex-husband’s family over the handling of finances, and that those relatives had given the police misleading information that had slowed the investigation. Choi’s former father-in-law and brother-in-law, who worked as Choi’s chauffeur, were arrested Friday and charged with murder Sunday.

Choi’s former mother-in-law was charged with perverting the course of justice.

On Saturday, officers intercepted Choi’s ex-husband — whom police identified only by his family name, Kwong — at a ferry pier.

“We believe he was planning to abscond from Hong Kong by sea,” Chung said. “We have reason to believe that this man, along with his father and elder brother, had a part in killing the deceased.”

Kwong, 28, is being questioned, he said.

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A post shared by Abby Choi (@xxabbyc)

Police also began a sweeping search on Saturday for the rest of Choi’s remains in a hillside cemetery that her former father-in-law and brother-in-law visited after she had been reported missing. More than 100 people were deployed, including divers who went into a drainage ditch near the cemetery. The effort continued on Sunday.

Choi prided herself on her sartorial taste. When she was the digital cover model for L’Officiel Monaco, a fashion magazine, two weeks ago, she wrote on Instagram: “My journey as a style icon continues.”

“I am a person who keeps absorbing inspiration and always tries new styles,” she said in an interview with the magazine. “Sometimes I also try to dress up more extravagant, by mixing and combining different looks.”

Choi’s children with her ex-husband are now in the care of her mother, according to police.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Written by: Tiffany May

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