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Abby Choi was a gorgeous fashion model & beauty influencer from Hong Kong; she loved style & wasn’t afraid to experiment with different looks. Her gorgeously captured photos led her Instagram followers to grow to over 100k from all over the world. Being a style icon, Abby regularly attended various fashion events & shows, which included Paris Fashion Week.
As her popularity grew, Abby was eventually featured in international publications such as Vogue, Elle & Harper’s Bazaar & even made the cover of L’Officiel Monaco’s February 2023 issue where she was described as one of the most sought-after influencers in the industry. Abby considered herself a person who absorbed inspiration & always tried new styles. She was not intimidated by dressing up in a more extravagant way & often combined different looks. She carried herself with unwavering confidence which was apparent in her photos & the mother of four appeared to have the picture of a perfect life.
Abby was born on July 15, 1994 & was the oldest of three daughters. After Abby’s mother & father divorced, her mom went on to remarry & the couple later made a fortune by operating a construction & mining business in China. Even at an early age, it was obvious that Abby was someone who was born to stand out & was destined for the spotlight. Her own net worth at the time of her death was estimated at over $100 million Hong Kong Dollars which is $12,785,000 US dollars today. Despite her wealth, she was an incredibly humble & generous person.
In 2012, when Abby was 18-year-old, she caught the attention of 18-year-old Alex Kwong & the two went on to have a whirlwind romance, marrying the very same year & having their first child together, a daughter. Despite their rocky relationship, they did go on to have a second child together. Abby was the breadwinner in the relationship & financially provided for not only her own family of four, but also Alex’s family. After four years, the marriage ended in divorce.
In the meantime, Alex was running a scam by using a dating app to con strangers out of over $5 million Hong Kong dollars or $639,000 USD. He was implicated in the crime but never arrested. In 2015 a warrant was issued for his arrest & soon after, Abby filed for divorce.
When Abby was 22-years-old, she went on to start a relationship with Chris Tam, whose wealthy father was well-known for founding a popular fast casual rice noodle restaurant chain based in Hong Kong. The two held a wedding ceremony in 2016, but were not legally married as they never registered their marriage. The couple went on to have two children together. Chris described Abby as a kind-hearted & good person who always tried to help others. She raised four obedient children & loved & supported Chris.
Abby was exceptionally close with her in-laws & Chris’ father was said to treat her like an actual daughter rather than a daughter-in-law. Abby treated her mother-in-law to regular dinners & sent her gifts each Mother’s Day & birthday. Despite the fact that Abby had been divorced from Alex Kwong for seven years at this point, she continued to support him & his family, providing her ex-in-laws with a $9 million USD luxury apartment to live in. Despite the fact that Abby paid for the apartment, mortgage records list her former father-in-law as the registered buyer in July 2019 with the property fully paid for in October of that year in order to avoid paying nearly $8 million Hong Kong dollars ($1 million US dollars) in stamp duty. It was important to Abby that when the children spent time with their grandparents, they were all comfortable. Despite her divorce from Alex, because they were part of her children’s lives, they were still her family & her elders so she felt a personal obligation to take care of them.
Abby even helped her ex-brother-in-law, Alex’s older brother, Anthony Kwong, who was unemployed. The two remained close & in order to help him out, she hired him as a personal driver & also assisted him in purchasing a home. She also financially assisted Anthony with various side businesses he was interested in & he often posted photos of himself & Abby on his Instragam account, referring to her as “sis” or using the tag ‘#family’ on their captions. Abby & Anthony were directors of companies that owned Bear Bear Snack, a pancake stall.
When Abby was hosting family events, she often included her ex-in-laws as well as her current in-laws so that her children could experience love & support from both sides. It appeared to be an ideal situation for a blended family.
Sadly, not all was as it seemed on the outside. Because Abby had such a generous nature & continued to support her ex-in-laws, she was being financially drained which was causing issues within the family. Not only did she cover all of their living expenses, but she also gave them spending money & in the meantime, they were allegedly involved in several scams that placed them in severe debt.
As with her in-laws, when she purchased the home for her ex-brother-in-law Anthony, she agreed to put the home in his name. When she began to discover the alleged illegal money troubles her in-laws were in, it’s alleged that she began looking to sell the home for investment purposes which was something Alex’s father, Kau Kwong, vehemently opposed despite the fact that she promised to find them a new home upon the sale of the unit. Abby contacted a lawyer who informed her that as long as she could prove that she paid for the property, she could receive money from its sale.
On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, Abby planned to have her driver, Anthony, take her to pick her 8-year-old daughter up from school, but she never showed up which was absolutely out of character. When she didn’t come home later that evening, her family began to worry & reported her missing the following day, Wednesday February 22. She was last seen on Fo Chun Road in Tai Po on Tuesday afternoon when CCTV footage captured an image of her before she went missing. Abby was seen carrying a purple handbag while wearing a long sleeve shirt, white pants & white sandals. It was believed that Anthony was the last person to have seen Abby, so police questioned him & he explained that he was never supposed to be driving her that day & he hadn’t seen her.
When police spoke with Abby’s ex-husband’s family, they gave them misleading information about her whereabouts leading up to her disappearance. Police soon discovered that Abby’s ex-father-in-law had rented a three-story condo for about $1200 USD per month in Lung Mei, a village in the area of Tai Po, just weeks earlier. When the police raided the condo three days after Abby was reported missing, on Friday, February 24, they were met with a scene from a horror movie. As they entered the unit on the first floor, they noticed that it contained no furniture & instead, was essentially converted into a butcher shop. They found the walls were covered with a tarp & there was a meat grinder, an electric saw, two types of choppers & a hammer in the room. Clothing located included a face shield & a raincoat. The windows of the unit were covered with a tarp.
In the living room, they found a couch & a table while the two bedrooms were completely empty. As police entered the kitchen, they were horrified to see what appeared to be two pots of soup sitting on the stove top, containing human remains. The pots were almost full & in addition to the remains, contained radishes & carrots. When they opened the refrigerator, they found human legs. They also came across a purple handbag that seemed out of place amongst the horrifying scene. When they opened the bag, they found Abby’s ID & credit cards. DNA testing proved that the legs & remains, which included a human head that had been boiled down to the skull found in one soup pot & suspected flesh, several ribs & hair in the other, were also identified as Abby’s.
A large hole measuring 6.5cm by 5.5cm was found on the back of Abby’s skull behind her right ear & was determined to be the blow that likely resulted in her death. Investigators searched for Abby’s torso & hands, scouring a landfill, though failed to locate them. They also searched a hillside cemetery that her former father-in-law & brother-in-law had visited after she was reported missing where he was seen driving a white seven-seater van. More than 100 people searched which included divers that also searched a drainage ditch near the cemetery & in the sewage system around her former father-in-law’s apartment. A white 7-seater van was removed from the scene & brought in for examination & was believed to be the location where Abby was murdered by blunt force trauma as there was a copious amount of blood inside. Later testing proved that bloodstains found inside the van matched Abby’s DNA.
It’s alleged that Anthony Kwong picked Abby up on February 21 so they could retrieve her daughter from school. As they were approaching the entrance to the Lion Rock Tunnel which passes through the mountains north of downtown, the 7-seater car stopped & Abby’s ex, Alex Kwong, boarded. It’s unclear what happened next but we know that Abby never arrived to pick up her child & was later reported missing.
Only two weeks before Abby’s death, her digital cover for L’Officiel Monaco fashion magazine had been released. On February 15, 2023, six days before she disappeared, she wrote on Instagram, “My journey as a style icon continues. Grateful for this recognition & the continued support along the way.”
The police quickly went on to arrest Abby’s ex-father-in-law, 65-year-old Kau Kwong, her ex-mother-in-law, 63-year-old Jenny Li & ex-brother-in-law, 30-year-old Anthony on Friday, February 24. Abby’s ex-husband, 28-year-old Alex, was arrested the following day while trying to flee via speedboat at a pier in Tung Chung, an area on the northwest coast of one of the city’s outlying islands, Lantau Island. When he was apprehended, he was found with roughly $64,000 USD & about $510,000 in luxury watches.
Police indicated that Alex had a criminal history & had been on the run for six years for an unrelated gold investment scam where he reportedly defrauded victims of about $639,000 USD from 2014-2015. At the time he was apprehended, he told arresting officers that he was feeling unwell, so he was initially taken to the hospital for medical clearance. While investigators continued to search for Abby’s remaining body parts, the group of four were held in custody. After the arrests, Abby’s son & daughter from her ex-husband, were placed in her mother’s care.
All were charged with murder, except Jenny Li, who was charged with perverting the course of justice for allegedly destroying evidence that would have implicated her in the murder. It’s believed that Abby’s father-in-law Kau Kwong, who is a former police sergeant, was the mastermind behind the murderous plan. He resigned from the force in 2005 after he was arrested on rape charges. It was alleged that he had abused his authority & met a female suspect on various occasions on the pretense that that he was carrying out an investigation before he went on to rape her; he was released on bail & never prosecuted for the alleged crime.
He rented the condo specifically for the purpose of murdering his daughter-in-law. The scene was set with the walls being lined with tarp & the necessary tools for the dismemberment. He relied upon his professional knowledge of crime scenes to cover the evidence, not realizing just how quickly the investigation would move.
It’s believed that Jenni Li did not participate in the murder or dismemberment but that she was aware of the entire plan. The home that Abby purchased in her ex-father-in-law’s name in the exclusive enclave of Kadoorie Hill on Ho Man Tin was said to be a big point of contention since she wanted to sell it while the family did not. It’s also likely that Anthony was burning through his money faster than he could make it & was on the verge of bankruptcy. Since Anthony worked as Abby’s driver, it’s likely that he lured her to her death under the pretense of picking her up to retrieve her daughter as planned. Witnesses reported seeing people carrying garbage bags from the condo which may have contained the remaining body parts, Abby’s phone & even the murder weapon.
After Abby & Alex divorced, he became involved in an investment scam & had been charged with scamming five innocent people out of their savings. Abby continued to fund the family’s lives after the divorce & maintained a relationship with them for the greater good of her children, however, she was beginning to change her thinking about the way she was supporting them. Her relationship with Alex & her in-laws began to crumple when they felt that they were losing her financial support.
Police believe that the anger of Abby moving toward cutting off the funding had infuriated the family, leading them to brutally murder her. Despite the horrific nature of her murder, Kau Kwong asked her current father-in-law, Chris Tam’s father, to pay for his lawyer’s fees. Since she was not legally married to Chris Tam, her assets would go to Alex & their two children upon her death. Her heirs will have to wait for the conclusion of the murder case, which could take years if the involved parties seek an appeal.
The list of arrests continued to grow & in addition to the original four, Abby’s ex-father-in-law’s unnamed 47-year-old mistress,Ng Chi Wing was arrested after she assisted him in renting the condo though released on bail. She also allegedly helped Alex Kwong rent a luxury apartment in mid-February in the Arch Sky Tower development in West Kowloon for $5,000 USD per month to house Alex who was aware of his father’s extramarital affair. She is said to be a masseuse at a massage parlor in Prince Edward district & some report she had been in a relationship with Kau Kwong for six months.
A 29-year-old woman, Irene Pun, who was assisting Alex to flee by boat was also arrested while trying to flee to mainland China to avoid prosecution. A 41-year-old man, Lam Shun, who also allegedly tried to help in Alex’s boat escape was also arrested; he is an employee of a yacht rental company. Irene Pun & Lam Shun were released on an $8,500 bail when they first appeared in court Pun did receive a travel ban to prevent her from leaving Hong Kong despite her request to travel to Japan for work.
An additional charge of preventing the lawful burial of a body was added to the charges against Alex, Kwong Kau & Anthony who will eventually be tried before a High Court judge & jury. Jenny Li will stand trial in the lower District Court where a sentencing cap of seven years of imprisonment applies. Alex is also facing seven separate theft charges spanning nearly a decade to which he is expected to plead guilty.
The trial has been postponed due to incomplete forensic tests on 150 pieces of evidence after only 100 of the 250 pieces of evidence from 30 boxes had been tested. The prosecution indicated that because the case involves incomplete body parts, testing takes time, while the defense contended that the body had been cremated thus, testing body parts would not be necessary.
Murder convictions in Hong Kong carry a mandatory life sentence as the death penalty was abolished in 1993.
Abby’s funeral was held on June 18, 2023 only a dozen miles south of where her remains were found. The entrance was decked out in pink since it was her favorite color. Her remains were later cremated & brought to a famous monastery on a nearby island. Abby’s loved ones remember her as a kind-hearted, warm person so always put others above herself.
References:
- L’Officiel: From Hong Kong to Paris: The rise of the style icon Abby Choi
- Preview: 10 things you need to know about Chinese socialite & fashion model Abby Choi
- CNN: Ex-husband of dismembered model Abby Choi arrested at pier in Hong Kong trying to ‘abscond,’ police say
- Thaiger: Police find Abby Choi’s head cooked in soup pot
- Inside Edition: Seven people have now been arrested in the grisly dismemberment of model & social influencer Abby Choi, whose body parts were found in a soup pot & refrigerator
- New York Post: Legs, skull found in fridge & soup pot belong to model Abby Choi: DNA tests
- Medium: The killing & dismembering of a Hong Kong socialite
- The Straits Times: HK socialite’s murder: Even after divorce, Abby Choi kept close ties with ex-husband & family
- The New York Times: After model’s gruesome killing, suspicion falls on ex-husband & his family
- Forbes: Family members charged in Abby Choi’s death: Everything you need to know about the model’s grisly suspected murder
- Independent: Abby Choi: Sixth suspect arrested in 28-year-old Hong Kong socialite’s murder
- Today: Slain Hong Kong model Abby Choi’s ex-husband, 2 former in-laws slapped with extra charge of preventing body’s burial
- The Star: Abby Choi murder trial postponed for forensic tests
- CNN: Slain Hong Kong model Abby Choi mourned at pink-themed funeral
- Medium: Abby Choi’s ex-in-laws accused of murdering, dismembering & cooking her
- What’s on Weibo? Hong Kong police find head of murdered model Abby Choi in soup pot
- Freshers Live: What happened to Abby Choi? Why was she murdered?
- The Student Movement: The murder of Abby Choi: A spotlight on relationship violence against women
- Wau Post: From rape allegations to scams, here’s all you need to know about the Abby Choi murder & those involved
- The Straits Times: Children of murdered HK socialite Abby Choi may take 5 years to inherit $51m estate: Report
- Independent: A family feud, gruesome ‘kill room’ & pots of ‘human soup’: How the murder of Abby Choi shocked Hong Kong
