Case #001 — Taiwan, January 2008: A mother took her sick 4-year-old, left her wallet/ID/phone at home, parked her moped with keys in the ignition, and walked into a fully-surveilled building. The cameras ▎ all worked. 17 years later, neither has been seen.
Note: This is NOT the Elisa Lam case. Liu Hui-chun disappeared in Taiwan in January 2008 — five years before Elisa Lam. Chinese media later called this case "Taiwan's Elisa Lam" which caused the confusion.
They are entirely separate.
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Who she was
Liu Hui-chun (劉慧君), 37 years old. From Shetou, Changhua County, Taiwan. A mother of three. By all accounts living in a long-term abusive marriage to an alcoholic husband.
January 20, 2008 — the last 24 hours
The night before, a severe domestic dispute. The next afternoon, Liu loaded her youngest daughter (4 years old, who had been sick for days) onto her moped and rode 7–8 km to Yuanlin.
She left behind:
- Her wallet
- Her national ID card
- All bank cards
- Her cell phone
- Her two older children (left with her parents)
She parked outside the Yuanlin Finance and Economics Building (員林財經大樓), a 16-story mixed-use high-rise in central Yuanlin —
a building she had no known connection to
.
She left the moped keys in the ignition.
8:10 PM — the elevator
CCTV shows Liu and her daughter entering the elevator. What happens next has been analyzed for 17 years:
- She presses buttons for multiple floors seemingly without clear purpose
- She and her 4-year-old
remove their red jackets and shoes in under 30 seconds
— in cold January weather
- The clothes are left in the corner of the elevator
- They exit on the
11th floor
and rush toward a stairwell
This is the last confirmed sighting of either of them.
What's on Floor 11?
1. A Buddhist shrine — one caretaker on duty that night
2. A human resources firm — all staff had already left
3. Two permanently vacant units
The Buddhist caretaker reported seeing and hearing
nothing
— despite a woman and a 4-year-old child appearing in the hallway at night, in January, with no shoes.
The search
Police combed the entire building:
- Water tanks ✗
- Elevator shafts ✗
- Ventilation systems ✗
- Rooftop ✗ —
padlock confirmed dusty and undisturbed. She did not go to the roof.
- Neighboring rooftops ✗
- Surrounding streets and drainage ✗
Nothing. No bodies, no belongings, no blood, no witnesses.
What investigators found — and didn't find
Detective Zhong Zhenbang (鐘振邦), the specialist who later reopened the case, checked every database available: health insurance records, bank ATM activity, retail membership cards, immigration/travel
records, beauty industry registrations (she was formerly a hairdresser).
Zero activity since January 20, 2008.
His on-record statement:
"She may have been picked up by someone."
The B2 blind spot
The building's underground parking ramp (B2 level) had
no CCTV coverage in 2008
. The stairwell Liu entered on Floor 11 connects directly downward to B2. A vehicle at B2 could exit without appearing on any
recording. This detail received minimal attention in 2008.
The husband
Police confirmed on record that the husband:
- Never filed a public missing persons appeal of his own
- Arrived noticeably drunk to every interview police scheduled
- Showed what officers described as "indifferent and unconcerned" attitude
- Gave no media statement, made no public appeal for 15 years
He died in December 2023 — from a fall, at a rooftop location.
After his death, Liu's older children filed for a legal death declaration for their mother and sister. Approved in 2024. The civil case is closed. The criminal mystery is not.
What we can't explain
- The building manager noted Liu appeared "frantic and pale" — she arrived 50 minutes before the 9PM access card cutoff. Was this a meeting window?
- A suitcase of women's clothing was reportedly found in the stairwell — by whom, when, and whose?
- Liu reportedly told a friend she wanted to go to China and work in a factory. Combined with Changhua County's documented cross-strait criminal networks in 2008 — is this relevant?
- She had pawned her TV and phone weeks before she disappeared
- The elevator stopped operating after she used it. It "ceased operation for unknown reasons" that night.
What we need from this community
If you're Taiwanese, lived in Yuanlin or Changhua County, remember this case from 2008, or have any connection to the Finance Building or the area —
your local knowledge matters here
. Court documents, news
clippings, local rumors, things that never made English-language coverage. We want everything.
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Poll: What do you think happened after she entered that stairwell?
- She escaped — coordinated exit through B2 with someone waiting
- Foul play inside the building — body concealed and disposed of over time
- She walked out through an unmonitored exit alone and died somewhere outside
- Mental health crisis — wandered and died, remains undiscovered
- Something else (explain in comments)
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★ Insight ─────────────────────────────────────
The suitcase of women's clothing in the stairwell is one of the most underreported details in this case. If it was placed there before Liu arrived, her contact had prior knowledge of her arrival, her size,
and the specific location — which means this was coordinated, not improvised. That single detail, if verified, changes the entire investigative frame from crisis to extraction.
"The building has 13 above-ground floors plus at least 2 underground parking levels — officially registered as 16 floors total. The elevator goes up to floor 13, not 16. Liu exited on floor 11."
u/Extra-Boysenberry-73 — 3 days ago