The gruesome fate that Hong Kong model and influencer Abby Choi met with has shaken the world. The 28-year-old went missing on Tuesday last week. Two days later, parts of her dismembered body were found in a fridge in a house in the city's Tai Po district. But the investigators say the crime was not committed in a rage or happened suddenly, adding that a meticulous plan was already set in motion weeks before to make her disappear, Independent reported.
On February 14, Ms Choi posted a few photos on her Instagram, posing on a balcony against the Paris skyline and dining with friends.
"From Hong Kong to the cover of L'Officiel Monaco, my journey as a style icon continues. Grateful for this recognition and the continued support along the way," she said in the post.
But her former husband Alex Kwong Kong-chi and two members of his family were already plotting to murder the model when she returned, claim the investigators.
Ms Choi was last seen at a luxury housing estate at the city's exclusive Kadoorie Hill in Ho Man Tin area last Tuesday, as per a report in South China Morning Post (SCMP). Video captured on a CCTV installed in the premises later showed she was picked up at the estate by a seven-seater car driven by her ex-brother-in-law, who worked as her chauffeur. Ms Choi went missing after that.
Hong Kong Police deployed more than 150 detectives to find out the whereabouts of the model. They zeroed in on Tai Po village after checking records from the seven-seater vehicle's GPS.
SCMP said the officers conducted door-to-door interviews at the village and analysed video footage from local houses and dash cams of vehicles and identified a three-storey building as the crime scene.
The detectives found tools used to dismember human bodies, including meat grinders, chainsaws, long raincoats, gloves and masks.
Then began the search for her body parts. While the legs were found inside a refrigerator in the flat, the head ''without any skin or meat'' was recovered from a big pot containing soup and human remains.
The police are still looking for her torso and hands.
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While Alex Kwong, his father and elder brother were arrested and charged with murder, the man's 63-year-old Jenny Li Sui-heun was also charged with destroying evidence, according to Independent.
Ms Choi was the eldest of three daughters, coming from a wealthy family who ran a construction business with dealings in mainland China.
She married Mr Kwong in 2012, at the age of 18, but the marriage did not last long and the couple divorced in 2016. They had two sons together, the oldest of which is not 10. Before her death, Ms Choi was in a relationship with Tam Chuk Kwan, the owner of a restaurant chain.
Still, the model maintained god relations with Mr Kwong's family. Independent said she bought a four-bedroom, 1,820-square-foot luxury apartment for the family and the two children in Hong Kong's exclusive Kandoorie Hill. Ms Choi also helped her former brother-in-law buy another home.
But the police said the relationship turned sour when Ms Choi decided to sell the Kandoorie Hill apartment. After many heated arguments, and the model consulting a lawyer, Mr Kwong's father began masterminding a plot against his former daughter-in-law.
