Latest / Crime and Horror / The police publicly admit to paranormal forces solving this case - MrBallen

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The police publicly admit to paranormal forces solving this case - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today's story is a good old-fashioned spooky story.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: It's about a missing person in Taiwan, and it takes
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: a totally bizarre turn. And I will say, probably most
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: of you will get the biggest thrill out of the
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: apartment scene.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: You'll know that scene when you get to it.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: And that's towards the end of the video. So make
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: sure you stick around if you enjoy being spooked. But
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: before we get into that story, if you're a fan
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: then you've come to the right place because that's all
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: we do and we upload once a week. So if
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: that's of interest to you, the next time the like
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: button is at work, sneak into their house and crawl
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: into their bed and then open up a Nature Valley
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: crunchy granola bar and very sloppily eat it so crumbs
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: go everywhere. And then without cleaning up, just pull the
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: covers up and cover up your mess and leave. Also,
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• 0:53
  Speaker 2: let's get into today's story. On the morning of February 4th, 1991,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: a taxi cab driver named Wang was chatting with the
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: taxi dispatcher at headquarters when suddenly, for no clear reason,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: the dispatcher stopped talking to Wang and just began staring
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: intently at something behind Wang. And so Wang noticed this
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: and right away he turned around to see what it
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: was he was looking at. But all Wang could see
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: was just a window that looked out to this huge
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: fenced-in parking lot that was full of taxi cabs and
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: their drivers. This is where they would go to wait
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: for fares. And where the taxi headquarters were located was
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: right near the airport in a very busy city called
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Kaohsiung City in Taiwan. And so taxi cabs in this
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: area were really in high demand. And so as Wang
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: looked out at the very busy parking lot full of
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: drivers talking to potential customers.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: You know, to Wang, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: It was just a typical busy day.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: But when Wang kind of looked at the dispatcher like,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: I don't really see what you see, the dispatcher just
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: raised his finger and kind of pointed in the direction
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: that he was staring. And so Wang turned around again,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: and this time, when he looked in the direction the
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: dispatcher was pointing, he could see immediately why.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: The dispatcher was reacting the way he was.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Because the dispatcher was pointing at one of their colleagues,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: so another taxi driver, whose name was Leo Shui-Chung, And
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: as Wang looked out at him, he saw Leo was
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: sprinting across this very busy parking lot full of all
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: these cabs and drivers and customers. And Leo was clutching
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: this big golden statue of Buddha in his arms as
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: he ran. And so Wang and the dispatcher watched Leo.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: And what he did is he kept running all the
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: way across the lot.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Until he got to his taxi cab.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: At which point he practically dove inside of it, he
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: slammed the door, locked every door, and then began looking
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: around frantically like he was expecting someone to show up
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: who had been like chasing him or something. But there
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: was nobody around his car, and Wang and the dispatcher
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: kind of scanned the parking lot, and they didn't see
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: anybody who seemed remotely interested in Leo. And so Wang
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: and the dispatcher continued to watch Leo from the window,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: and they saw eventually Leo stopped kind of scanning around
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: for other people, and at that point he took that
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: golden statue of Buddha... And he placed it up on
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: the dash of his cab. And this was not the
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: first Buddha statue that he had put up there. From
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Wang and the dispatcher's perspective, it looked like he had
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: at least two or three that were right up there
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: alongside this new one. And then after Leo placed this
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: new golden statue, he sort of sat back in his chair.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: And from Wang and the dispatcher's perspective, it sort of
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: looked like he had closed his eyes and was praying
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: or mumbling something. But, you know, whatever he was doing,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: it just seemed kind of odd. And so eventually Wang
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: and the dispatcher stopped watching Leo, who still just continued
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: to sit back in his chair and.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: You know, mumble or pray or something.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: And then Wang and the dispatcher looked at each other
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: and they exchanged very concerned looks because they both knew,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: you know, Leo was kind of a weird guy. But
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: from his behavior today, it just seemed like, you know,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: something must be wrong with Leo. There has to be
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: some issues. So for context, Leo was this 35-year-old guy
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: who lived alone, and he had this reputation of being
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: very antisocial and.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Kind of just rude, like he had terrible manners.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: But recently, Wang and the dispatcher and other taxi drivers
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: who worked at this company had noticed that Leo's behavior
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: had gone from being kind of awkward and antisocial to
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: being kind of menacing, like not even including the weird
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: behavior he was exhibiting now, just like in his day-to-day
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: interactions with people.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: He was just really aggressive.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Like, he always would tell his colleagues at the taxi
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: company how much he hated stray cats and dogs. And,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: you know, a lot of people found these stray cats
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: and dogs in their neighborhood in the city to be
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: a bit of a nuisance. You know, they'd rummage through
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: trash and make noise or whatever. But nobody really paid
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: them much attention. They were just stray animals trying to survive.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Like, it wasn't a big deal. But for Leo, he, like,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: obsessed with.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: over hating the stray cats and dogs and how much
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: he wanted them to get out of his neighborhood. And
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: somewhat recently, he had come to work and told his
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: colleagues that he had gone out and gotten a crossbow.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: And at night, he had begun shooting at the stray
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: cats and dogs, which totally horrified his colleagues. And now,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Leo had this weird thing going on with his Buddha
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: statues that he was putting inside of his cab. And also,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: in addition to those statues, he had begun putting on
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: the windows inside of his cab These things called Fulus,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: which are these little strips of yellow parchment paper that
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: basically ward off evil spirits. And so Leo had basically
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: transformed the interior of his cab into this sort of
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: like weird shrine or temple. And in fact, Leo had
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: put up so many of these Fulus on the inside
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: of the windows. And again, all those statues that sat
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: on the dash. that when he drove, he could barely
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: see because his view was totally obstructed. But despite everybody
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: at the company seeing this totally weird behavior playing out
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: with Leo, nobody went up to him and said, hey,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: what are you.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Doing with these statues and pieces of paper?
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Like, what's going on here? Because nobody wanted to interact
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: with him. He seemed like kind of a menace, and
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: so people just kind of let him do his thing.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: But now, as Wang and the dispatcher are watching Leo, like,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: run across the lot and act totally psychotic, looked at
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: each other and they were like maybe we should do
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: something and so wang volunteered to call the police and
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: as wang turned to go walk out and make the
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: call he saw leo peeling out of the parking lot
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: nearly smashing into cars and people just driving like a
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: total maniac and so leo really felt like okay yeah
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: this really is the time to step in someone's gonna
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: get hurt here the following day wang would contact his
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: friend in the police department and he would explain what
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: was going on with Leo. And to Wang's surprise, his
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: friend told him that actually the police were well aware
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: of Leo. And that was because not all that long ago,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Leo was actually.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: A suspect in a murder case.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: So about 10 months earlier, in April of 1990, a
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: 23-year-old woman from Japan named Mariko Eguchi had visited Taiwan
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: on vacation, and during this vacation, she had gone missing. Now,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: at the time, the Taiwanese economy really relied heavily on
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Japanese tourism. And so Taiwan really aggressively marketed to Japan,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: you know, come visit, come on vacation here. And so
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: it was pretty common for Japanese college students to visit
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Taiwan on vacation to celebrate things like a graduation or
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: a birthday party. And so that's what Mariko was doing.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: She was here celebrating and she was traveling alone. Also,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: one sort of quirky thing about Taiwanese culture at the
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: time was was it was pretty common for taxi cab
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: drivers to open up their own personal homes to their fares,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: basically saying, hey, don't stay at a hotel.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I'll give you a ride wherever you're going to go.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: But then at night, you can stay at my house
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: with my family.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: And so it was just kind of a thing in
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Taiwan that people visited and stayed at the homes of
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: their taxi cab drivers.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: So when Mariko came to Taiwan on this.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Vacation, this is what she did. She stayed in the
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: home of the taxi cab driver, and it was during
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: this period of time that she went missing. And so naturally,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: when the investigation began into her disappearance, the first place
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: police went were the taxi cab drivers. And so first,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: the police focused on a driver in the capital of
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: Taiwan who said he had given Mariko a few rides.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: He had brought her.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Sightseeing, and then he had let her stay in his home.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: But he said, you know, after that, she left, and
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: he didn't see her again. He had no idea what
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: happened to her. And the police would actually discover that
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: after Mariko left that particular driver's house, She would send
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: a postcard to her family that was dated after she
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: had left.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And so basically this ruled out the first driver as
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: a suspect.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: And so for a little while, this case went cold
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: because the police couldn't find any other taxi cab drivers
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: that had given Mariko a ride. But then a few
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: months later, the police offered a reward for information about
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: what happened to Mariko. And it was then that police
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: got a tip that Mariko had been seen speaking to
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Leo at the train station before she disappeared. But when
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: police spoke to Leo, he immediately said, yes, I did
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: give Mariko a ride, but that was it. She didn't
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: stay at my house. It was just this one ride
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: from the train station into town. And, you know, after
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: she got out, I have no idea what happened to her.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: And so police would ask Leo dozens more questions and
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: they would try to get more information from him, but
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: he just didn't have any. And then at the same time,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: there was this flood of all these new tips that
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: began coming into the police station about this case. But
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: it would turn out a lot of these leads, like
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: all of them, were just terrible tips. People were calling
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: in totally random stuff just because now there was this
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: monetary reward for information.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: And it was kind of incentivizing people to just call
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: in anything.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: And it was actually making the investigation much harder because
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: now the police had all these bad tips.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: And so they really weren't getting anywhere.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: But despite the slow progress the police were making in
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: this case, this case had really been elevated and become
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: like a huge international news story.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: And lots of people all over the world were following it.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: And during this time, when all these people are tuned
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: in to this case, really weird things began happening surrounding
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: this case. People in the city began receiving all these
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: strange phone calls from this kind of frantic woman speaking Japanese.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: And in Taiwan, people predominantly speak Taiwanese and Mandarin, not Japanese.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: So this is a weird phone call to be getting
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: in Taiwan. And also at this time, you need to
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: remember that Mariko's disappearance was kind of all over the news.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: And so to get these weird calls from a woman
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: speaking Japanese who sounds totally frantic, it made people in
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: the city believe that it was Mariko placing these strange
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: phone calls. But these calls, they didn't make any sense.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: It was just a woman kind of yelling in Japanese,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: and then she would just abruptly hang up. And also,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: there were all these reports of people claiming to have
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: seen Mariko or heard Mariko.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Just in the city walking around.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: None of it was substantiated, but there was just kind
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: of this eerie quality to the case. And so when
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Wang called his friend at the police department to report
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Leo for his totally weird behavior.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: This.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Was at a time when the Mariko missing person case
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: was still totally front.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Of mind in Taiwan and around the world.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: And also the police were still actively investigating this case.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: And frankly, Leo had not been ruled out as a
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: suspect in this case. He was not considered a primary
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: suspect by any means, but he wasn't ruled out yet.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: And so the police are hearing that Leo's acting really
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: funny and it made them think, hey, maybe we should
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: reinvestigate this guy and see if he really is connected
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: to the Mariko missing person case. And so ultimately, after
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Wang hung up, his friend in the police department got
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: in touch with the lead detective on the Mariko case
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: and told him about what was going on with Leo.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: And this lead detective, whose name was Lin Xiaoji, decided
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: he would just put Leo under surveillance to see what
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: he was doing. Last year, my wife and I decided
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: to do some home renovations. However, we didn't really have
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: the cash to pay for.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: It, so we knew we would need a loan.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: But when I began looking into getting a loan, it
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: was obvious there were lots of opportunities to be taken
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: advantage of by predatory traditional lenders. So I decided I
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: would seek out the funds in another way, and that
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: was to leap into the ocean and see if any
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: of the various sea creatures out there would be willing
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: to give me the money. And luckily, after being in
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: the ocean only for a couple of minutes, I spotted
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: a very suave-looking 13-foot-long mako shark in a leather jacket
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: smoking a cigarette, who quickly flagged me.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Down and said, yeah, I'll happily lend you the money.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: No problem.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: I was thrilled. That is, until I got home and
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: checked my bank account, and I could see very clearly
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: that that very cool shark was no good Samaritan. He
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: was a predatory loan shark. And he was already drastically
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: hiking my rates. And so I knew I would have
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: to consolidate my debt ASAP if I ever wanted to
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: extract myself from this evil shark's grasp.
• 12:48
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• 13:12
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• 13:18
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• 13:31
  Speaker 2: So starting sometime in the middle of February of 1991,
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Detective Lin and a few of his colleagues began taking
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: turns trailing Leo basically 24-7. And so the police just
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: kept their distance and they followed Leo all around the
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: city as he picked up his fares.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: And, you know, the police never got out to talk.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: To any of the fares, you know, to get insights
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: into whatever Leo might have been saying inside the cab.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: They just kind of watched from.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: A distance and just wanted to see if there was
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: any obvious red flags. Detective Lin figured, you know, if
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Leo was somehow involved in whatever happened to Mariko, let's
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: say she was killed, and let's say Leo was responsible
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: for killing her, maybe if they followed Leo long enough,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: he might drive to an area that was kind of
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: connected to her murder, maybe her gravesite or the place
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: where he killed her or something. You know, going to
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: kind of strange random locations without a fare would likely
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: be an indication to police that that was a place
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: of interest. But as the police tailed Leao, that's not
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: what he did. Leao basically never ever left his cab.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Leao basically just picked up a passenger, drove them where
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: they needed to go, and then repeated over and over
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: and over again all day long. And then at the
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: end of the night, instead of going home to his
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: apartment that police knew he had, he would just sleep
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: inside of his cab, just like in parking lots and stuff.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: And the only times he would go into his apartment
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: appeared to be just so he could go to the
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: bathroom or maybe shower or something because they would see
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: him through the window. But whenever Leia went into his apartment,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: he went through the same totally weird ritual every time.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: He would be in his cab parked out front of
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: his apartment and the police are, you know, parked far
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: enough away that they can watch this. and Leao at
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: some point would begin kind of frantically looking all around
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: him as if he was looking for somebody who was
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: trying to hurt him or who was spying on him
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: or something. And then after kind of making sure the
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: coast was clear, Leao would open up his door and
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: sprint like absolutely as fast as he could into his
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: apartment building. And he'd only be in there for like
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: a couple of minutes before he'd come bombing back out
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: and practically dive into his cab and even shut all.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: The doors, lock all the doors. And then, you know,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: he'd clutch his golden statues, and he'd.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Rub his Fulus that were taped all over the inside
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: of his cab, and he'd continue frantically looking around, you know,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: to make sure nobody was there to hurt him or something.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: And then after a little while.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: He'd kind of calm down, he'd put his statue back
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: on the dash, he'd kind of make sure his Fulus
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: were all in place, and then he would drive away. So,
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: of course, Leao's behavior, you know, from the police's perspective,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: was totally bizarre, but in Detective Lin's mind... it didn't
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: really seem like the behavior of a murderer. It seemed
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: more like the behavior of someone who had lost their mind. Finally,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: on March 4th, 1991, Detective Lin decided that he just
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: needed to speak to Liao, which required, you know, basically
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: ambushing Liao. So Detective Lin coordinated with his officers who
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: were out surveilling Liao, and he had them tell him
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: when Liao was at his apartment, you know, going.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: In to use the bathroom.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: And when they called in to Detective Lin that, hey,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: he just got to his apartment, he's about to run inside,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Detective Lin and some other officers raced to the apartment,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: and they were all ready outside for whenever Leao came
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: running back out to dive back into his cab.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: They were going to intercept him.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: And now Detective Lin and his colleagues didn't really know
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: how Leao was going to react to having all these
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: police standing there ready to grab him.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, was this guy going to be hostile? Was
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: he going to be aggressive? Was he going to be scared, sad?
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: They had no idea.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: It just seemed like Leao was totally unstable, so they
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: all kind of had to be ready for whatever reaction
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: he was going to have.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: However, the way Leao.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Ultimately reacted to this was not the way any of
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the officers suspected. When Leao came bombing out of his
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: apartment after a very short bathroom break, he began charging
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: down the stairs towards his cab, and then seemed to
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: kind of realize there were all these detectives and police
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: officers all standing in front of him, literally getting ready
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: to grab him, and Leia just collapsed to his knees
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: and began sobbing and thanking them over and over and
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: over again.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Now, Detective Lin had no idea what this was.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: He didn't really understand what Leia was thanking them for,
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: but he didn't waste any time trying to figure out
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: what was going on. Instead, Detective Lin just went up
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: to Leia and said, We need to speak to you
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: at the station.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Will you come with us?
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: And Leia was like, of course I will.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Of course I will. And so Detective Lin drove Leia
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: to the police station.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: And when they got there, Leia was saying things like, oh,
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: I wish I could just stay at the police station
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: with you all.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Like, this is where I'm safe. I want to stay here. Now,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Lin didn't really respond to this. He just kind of said, OK, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: And then they went inside together to head towards the
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: interview room.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: And as they're walking there, Leia was saying over and
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: over again to Detective Lin and any of the officers
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: he passes by, you know.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, you're my savior, thank you.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Now, the police had no idea why Leia was treating
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: them like his saviors, because to them, they're like, dude,
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: we just ambushed you and brought you to the police
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: station to question you about potentially being involved in a murder,
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: so I don't know how we saved you. But it
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: would turn out Leia had a really compelling reason to
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: believe they really had just saved him. Because it would
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: turn out, Leo had this absolutely terrifying thing happening inside.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Of his apartment.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Just several minutes earlier, when Leo had run into his apartment,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: so right before he charged back outside and police grabbed
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: him and took him to the station, you know, when
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: he was still inside of his apartment, he stepped inside
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: and the apartment was totally dark.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: All the lights are off, all.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: The shades are drawn, and immediately Leo felt his heart
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: starting to race. And he looked around his apartment and
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: it was totally silent, but then he heard it. He
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: could hear on the far side of his apartment in
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: a room that he couldn't quite see into the sound
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: of breathing, but layout lives alone. There shouldn't be anybody here.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: He has no pets. There's nobody here, but he hears
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: breathing in another room, but layout knew there was nothing
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: he could do.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: The only thing he could do was just try to
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: get in there, go to the bathroom and get out
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: as quickly as possible. And so very slowly layout began
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: kind of tiptoeing across the living room floor. kind of
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: making sure to stay out of eyesight of the doorway
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: that led into the room where the breathing was coming from.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: And as soon as he kind of got past an
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: area where he could be seen from the doorway, he
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: ran the rest of the way down the hallway, he
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: cut into the bathroom, and shut the door and locked it.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: And then as quickly as he could, you know, he
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: did his business. He used a washcloth to clean himself
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: because he didn't have time to take a shower because
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: of what was going on inside of his apartment. And
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: then once he was all done, you know, he took
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: a deep breath and then he opened up the door.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: And this time, the apartment was absolutely silent. There was
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: no more breathing. And so Leao, thinking he had this
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: opportunity to get out of here without being caught by
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: this thing inside of his apartment, he turned and just
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: started running towards the door. And as soon as he did,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: he began to hear a voice, a hoarse female voice,
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: screaming at him from the other side.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Of his apartment, screeching, why, why, why?
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: And as Leo is just about to get to the door,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: he turns and he sees Mariko, the missing woman, running
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: with her hair all knotted and matted, hanging over her face,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: sprinting towards him from that back room.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: And Leo, he only managed to barely.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Get out of his apartment and shut it and lock
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: it before she ran into the door.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: And then it went silent again. This is why Leia
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: was acting totally crazy. Because he was terrified of what.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: He believed was like this demonic entity inside of his apartment.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: He didn't think that was a real person. He thought
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: it was like the spirit of Mariko or something.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: And she was haunting him. And so he had no
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: idea what to do. He didn't know who to tell.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: And he just began living out of his cab instead
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: of dealing with whatever was going on in his apartment.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: And so when Leia charged outside after this latest encounter
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: with Mariko... You know, he sees the police and Leia
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: is just overwhelmed with relief. Hopefully, he's thinking they can
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: get rid of her and.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: His life can go back to normal.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: But as overjoyed as Leia appeared to be and now
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: having the police on his side, you know, finally being
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: able to deal with whatever was going on, When push
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: came to shove, Leo actually did not feel comfortable immediately
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: giving up details of whatever was going on with Mariko
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: inside of his apartment. But as Leo was brought by
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Detective Lin to the police station to tell them what
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: was going on with how Mariko was in his apartment
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: and she was haunting him, you know, it seemed like
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: it was the ghost of her or something. You know,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: as Leo was having that conversation, other police officers were
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: sent to Leo's apartment immediately.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: To go see if maybe Mariko really was in his apartment.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Maybe that's where she had been this whole time. Maybe
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: she broke into this guy's apartment and was just squatting
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: there and harassing him.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: And that was the mystery. That's where she's been. But
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: when police went into.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Liao's apartment, there was no sign whatsoever that anybody else
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: besides Liao was living in that apartment.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: There was no sign of a break-in. I mean, there
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: was nothing. It was just Liao's apartment.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: And so this made police really suspicious of Liao because
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: his story was so outrageous And also he's talking.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: About a person who's actively missing, Mariko.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: And so the police really pressured Leao to, you know,
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: come forward, give us more information. Why did you say
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: this is Mariko in your apartment? Because there's nobody in
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: your apartment, you know, tell us what's going on here.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: And so finally, after four days of intense questioning of Leao,
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Leao did finally admit to police that there was more
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: to this story. It would turn out Leao really did
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: pick Mariko up at the train station and when she
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: arrived in Taiwan for her vacation. So he did give
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: her a ride, just like he said he had. But
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Leao had lied about what happened after that. It would
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: turn out, after giving her this ride, Leao stayed with Mariko,
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: and they went sightseeing together, and then Leao invited Mariko
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: to stay with him at his apartment, which, again, was
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: customary in Taiwan.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: And so Mariko said yes, and she.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Went to his apartment in the evening, and while they
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: were there, Leao did proposition Mariko, and she rejected him.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: And at first, Leao just let it go.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: But then after Mariko fell asleep that night, he got
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: his crossbow that he used to shoot dogs and cats,
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: and he went into her room, and he shot her
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: four times with the crossbow, and then cut her head off.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Leao would bury her body the following night.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: But that same night was the first time Leao began
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: hearing the breathing. In his apartment, he couldn't quite place it.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: And then, not long after that, the head of Mariko,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: the severed head, would chase him all.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Around his apartment, screaming, why, why, why, at him.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: And so basically, Mariko's severed head began haunting Leia incessantly.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: to the point where he moved into his taxi cab
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: and put up all those Fulu papers to protect him
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: from evil spirits, and also put up all those statues
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: of Buddha for the same reason. I mean, he was
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: living in his cab to protect himself from what he
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: believed was this evil spirit. And so when people saw
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Liao in his cab kind of sitting back and muttering
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: to himself, That was him praying that he would live through.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Whatever was going on with this head.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Leao would tell police where he buried Mariko's body, and
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: he would tell police he buried her entire body in
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: one location, including her head.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: But when police dug her up, it was only her
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: lower half. Her head was missing.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Leao was convicted of murder, and to this day, he
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: is still in prison. Many people in Taiwan believe that,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: you know, this case was ultimately solved because of Mariko's spirit,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: that she played a big role. You know, her head
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: haunting Liao is what drove him crazy to the point
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: where he admitted to police what he did.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: And then also, people in Taiwan.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Think all those strange phone calls they were getting from
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: that woman who was speaking Japanese and acting frantic and
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: then hanging up, they say that was Mariko's spirit too.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: That that was maybe one of her attempts just to
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: keep people engaged with the story.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: So that it wouldn't fade and become a cold case.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: And in fact, even some of the police, including Detective Lin,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: say they do believe Mariko's spirit played a role. And
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: in fact, Detective Lin said at one point when he
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: was inside of Liao's apartment, he was by himself and
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: he felt someone push him on the back.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: And when he turned around, there was nobody there.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: And so he was convinced that Mariko's spirit was inhabiting
• 25:41
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