top of page
Search

The Vanishing Liu Huijun: Two Red Coats and a Seventeen-Year Mystery in Taiwan

ree


The Vanishing of Liu Huijun (劉惠君) and her daughter inside a Changhua high-rise Elevator

In 2008, a mother and her little girl rode an elevator to the 11th floor of a building in Yuanlin, Taiwan—left a pink coat and a pair of sandals—and stepped into a stairwell. They were never seen again.


Case Snapshot

  • Victim(s): Liu Huijun (劉惠君), 36, and her four-year-old daughter

  • Date: January 20, 2008

  • Location: Yuanlin Finance/Economics Building (員林財經大樓), Yuying Road, Yuanlin, Changhua County, Taiwan

  • Catalyst: Domestic argument earlier that evening in Shetou Township (社頭鄉); family believed Liu would cool off at her mother’s home.

  • Physical evidence captured: Elevator CCTV to 11F; pink/red coat, child’s outerwear, and sandals left neatly in the elevator corner; mother and child enter the stairwell; no further footage in common areas.

  • Vehicles: Family scooter found nearby with the key still in the ignition.

  • Status: Unsolved — disappearance without a trace.

  • Local refrain: “她們就這樣消失了——在人來人往的大樓裡。” / “They vanished—inside a busy building.”


The Last Known Minutes

The elevator doors open on 11F. No panic, no visible pursuer, no fumbling. Liu calmly removes the bright coat and the child’s sandals. She takes her daughter’s hand and turns into the stairwell. The camera never sees them again.

From a storytelling perspective, it’s a clean three-beat sequence:

  1. Ascent — Mother and child ride to the top floor.

  2. Shedding — Outerwear/sandals placed with intention.

  3. Exit — A turn into a blind zone.

That third beat—the blind zone—is the heart of this case.


The Building As an Accomplice

Two structural facts matter:

  1. 2008 camera coverage was incomplete. Stairwells weren’t monitored.

  2. Multiple egresses existed, including B1 (commercial) and B2 (vehicle access). A person could travel down a camera-free stairwell and leave directly from B2 to a waiting car without crossing a monitored lobby.

Searches of rooftop tanks, mechanical rooms, shafts, and adjacent alleys turned up nothing. Over the years, investigators also checked health insurance, banking, border, and school records. The bureaucratic trail went dark in 2008—and stayed dark.

“十一樓，安全梯，然後沒了蹤影。”Eleventh floor. Stairwell. Then—no trace.


Why Leave Clothes in the Elevator?

Three viable reads:

  1. Misdirection: Bright garments and slappy sandals are memorable on video and audibly distinct on concrete. Leaving them masks identity and sound, nudging observers toward a “confused mother/self-harm” narrative while preparing for a quiet stairwell transit.

  2. Acute crisis behavior: Under extreme emotional strain, people ritualize. Removing/arranging objects can feel controlling when life feels out of control.

  3. Coercion: An off-camera voice says “Lose the coat. Quiet the shoes. Move.” It’s a quick way to reduce visibility and noise before guiding them through blind zones.

All three hinge on the same architecture: if you know the building, you can disappear from it.


What Fits the Evidence (and What Doesn’t)

Most Consistent: Assisted Departure via Stairwell → B2 → Vehicle

  • Explains absence of remains on site and lack of lobby footage.

  • Aligns with the domestic conflict context: Liu could have sought a clean break.

  • Hard part: staying gone with a child for 17+ years without medical, school, or financial footprints. Possible—but it requires planning, help, and discipline.


Less Convincing: On-site Homicide or Accidental Entrapment

  • Repeated top-to-basement sweeps found no odors, leaks, insect activity, or utility anomalies—the usual tells when remains are concealed in a structure.

  • A murder-suicide off-site still requires extraction—the very piece already explained by a B2 pickup—and has no corroborating trace (note, remains, witness).


The Emotional Geometry

Why this case haunts:

  • Visual grammar: the ding of the elevator, a pink coat in the corner, a child’s sandals.

  • Cultural resonance: in fast-urbanizing Taiwan, a mixed-use high-rise becomes a character that keeps secrets.

  • Human stakes: a mother protecting a child vs. a building with missing footage.

  • Cruel postscript: Years later, the husband died in an unrelated rooftop fall while repairing a tower—taking whatever he knew, or didn’t, to the grave.

“如果你知道什麼，請說出來。”If you know something, say it.


H2H Working Hypothesis (and the Questions It Must Survive)

Hypothesis: A pre-arranged pickup via camera-free stairwell to B2 removed mother and child from the site. Either (A) a domestic-violence escape with outside aid, or (B) coercion by a known party exploiting the building’s blind routes.


  1. Who knew 11F’s layout and B2’s coverage? Tenants, security, frequent contractors, or anyone familiar with stairwell door alarms and service routes.

  2. Which non-resident vehicles were repeatedly in B2 that week? Logistics, delivery, ride services, acquaintances.

  3. Who could facilitate a life “off ledger”? Cash-based employers, religious/charitable shelters, rural networks, or cross-strait contacts circa 2008.

  4. Why the neat garment placement? If it’s misdirection, whose idea was it? If coercion, whose voice would she obey?

  5. Childcare and schooling: Any unregistered intake stories from 2008-2012 within bus/train range of Yuanlin?


If you lived or worked on Yuying Road in early 2008, think back: a mother with a small child who arrived out of nowhere—no records, no story. Your memory may matter more than you think. In Taiwan: Contact your local police with any credible information referencing Yuanlin Finance/Economics Building, January 2008, and Liu Huijun (劉惠君).


Sources used for this podcast:

 

·       Death of Elisa Lam. (2025, October 27). In Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elisa_Lam

  • Ficarra, G. (Director). (2011). Crazy Stupid Love [Film]. Warner Bros.

  • Station 19. (2021). The ghosts that haunt me (Season 3, Episode 14) [TV series episode]. In S. Weber (Producer), Station 19. ABC.

  • The Big Bang Theory. (2008). White asparagus triangulation (Season 2, Episode 9) [TV series episode]. In C. Lloyd (Producer), The Big Bang Theory. CBS.

  • Modern Family. (2012). Three dinners (Season 3, Episode 13) [TV series episode]. In S. Levitan & C. Lloyd (Producers), Modern Family. ABC.

  • Smiling Friends. (2020). A silly Halloween special (Season 1, Episode 4) [TV series episode]. Adult Swim.

  • Modern Family. (2009). The Help (Season 5, Episode 6) [TV series episode]. In S. Levitan & Co. Lloyd (Producers) Modern Family. ABC.

·       KOINCH. (n.d.). [YouTube Channel]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2iTtz1hbl


ree

DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY

All information contained in this audio podcast or video presentation is provided for entertainment purposes only. The authors leave any and all conclusions to individual members of the audience. The author offers no statements of fact beyond those available through diligent private research or through information freely available in the public record. To the extent that pending or settled criminal matters or crime or possible crimes, are discussed in this audio podcast or video presentation, all parties or defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. To the extent that any pending or settled civil matters are discussed in this video presentation, all parties or defendants are presumed not liable unless proven liable in a court of law. Copyright for material incorporated and presented under Fair Use is retained by the original author or copyright holder where applicable. Our cases are researched using open source and archive materials, and the subjects are real crimes and people. We strive to produce each episode with respect to the victims, their families and loved ones. At Hitched 2 Homicide we are committed to always discussing how victims lived, and not just how they died. All podcast information is gleaned from sources given. All opinions in the podcast are solely of Hitched 2 Homicide and are for entertainment purposes only.

 

Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of some content, including descriptions of violence and criminal behavior.

 

Copyright & Ownership                                                                     

This podcast episode, including all audio, video, and written content, is the property of Hitched 2 Homicide and its creators, © 2025 Kris Calvert & Rob Pottorf of RP Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

Do not copy, reproduce, or distribute any part of this content without express written permission.

For licensing, press inquiries, or collaboration requests, contact: kris@hitched2homicide.com

For more true crime episodes, visit: www.Hitched2Homicide.com

Thanks for listening and remember… Southern charm won’t save you from true crime.

THIS PODCAST IS FILMED AT RP STUDIOS, INC.

© 2025 RP MUSIC, INC. FOR HITCHED 2 HOMICIDE

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page