Hong Kong police are investigating the murder of socialite and model Abby Choi, whose remains were found on Friday (Feb 24) at a rented three-storey house in Lung Mei Tsuen district of Tai Po, a suburb in Hong Kong.
Four people – her ex-husband Alex Kwong, 28, his father, 65, his elder brother, 31, and his 63-year-old mother – have been arrested and charged in connection with her death. The three men were charged with murder while the ex-husband’s mother was charged with perverting the course of justice.
Another suspect, a 47-year-old woman said to be the lover of Choi’s ex-father-in-law, was also arrested.
On Saturday, police said they believe the victim and her ex-husband’s family had “financial disputes involving huge sums”.
“Someone was dissatisfied with how the victim handled her assets, which became a motive to kill,” superintendent Alan Chung told reporters.
Her ex-father-in-law, a former police sergeant who left the force in 2005, was allegedly the mastermind behind the murder plot, South China Morning Post reported, quoting a source.
Choi was the daughter of a wealthy family running a construction business with dealings in China, according to Hong Kong media reports, and had a personal net worth of more than HK$100 million (S$17.2 million).
She appeared on the cover of fashion and luxury lifestyle magazine L’Officiel Monaco last month, where she was described as a “style icon and media personality who took the world by storm with her impeccable sense of style and her unbridled passion for fashion”.