On April 15, the Sixth Precinct of the Taichung City Police Department received a missing person report from a mother urgently searching for her 15-year-old junior high school daughter. The girl went missing on the 12th of last month after leaving home, and her family discovered multiple photos of her with a woman surnamed Zhang on the victim’s Facebook page. Suspecting that she had been taken by a female hiking guide nicknamed "Bai Lin," they reported the case to the police.
Yesterday, police found "Bai Lin" near Tianxiang in Hualien while she was coming down the mountain to restock supplies. During questioning today (the 10th), "Bai Lin," who had been in the mountains for half a month, was found to be reeking of body odor. She initially denied having gone hiking with the victim but eventually confessed after being persuaded with moral reasoning.
In March of this year, a 19-year-old female hiking guide surnamed Zhang, who had been rescued by helicopter after suffering from hypothermia during a hike, was subsequently exposed online for allegedly using the name "Bai Lin" to lure underage girls. Regarding her gender, she had originally insisted that she was not "Bai Lin" and even claimed to have hiked with "Bai Lin." However, police investigations later confirmed that she is indeed female and is the person known as "Bai Lin."
Chen Chun’an, head of the investigation division at the Sixth Precinct of the Taichung City Police Department, stated that after receiving the mother’s report about her missing daughter, they found the case to be more complex than it seemed and immediately launched an in-depth search and investigation, also requesting guidance from the Taichung District Prosecutors Office.
During the investigation, police discovered that the woman surnamed Zhang had allegedly taken the victim on various hiking trips and reported the case to the Seventh Brigade of the National Police Agency on the 27th of last month for assistance in the search. After receiving the report, the Seventh Brigade immediately began analyzing clues and focused their search on the Yanhai Forest Trail and Qilai Mountain Trail in Tianxiang, Hualien, based on where Zhang had parked her car.
Chen Chun’an said that yesterday afternoon, the woman surnamed Zhang was found in the Tianxiang area of Hualien as she was entering a supermarket to shop. Since she was planning to buy rice, vegetables, and other supplies and enter the city, police successfully located her when she went to get her car. Upon receiving the report, the Sixth Precinct immediately sent officers to Hualien to escort the woman back to Taichung.
After confirming that the woman was in good health, police escorted her to the Tianxiang area for a brief rest. However, the female hiking guide surnamed Zhang still could not clearly explain the whereabouts of the victim. She only told police that the victim still had over a week’s worth of food in the mountains and that the two had been staying in tents in the forest for the past half month.
The woman surnamed Zhang told police that she, the victim, and another hiker, a total of three people, had climbed Qilai Mountain together in late April. The other adult hiker had recently gone down the mountain due to feeling unwell and returned home. Yesterday, she went down the mountain alone to buy daily necessities, while the victim remained in the mountains.
The woman claimed that the two of them planned to live in the mountains together. The victim was hiking for the first time, while she had extensive hiking experience. When police expressed concern about whether the two were not afraid of encountering bears in the mountains, the woman immediately responded, “That’s because you all lack experience—there are no bears there!”
Chen Chun’an said that since the victim’s whereabouts remain unknown, to prevent her from being alone in the mountains and facing danger, the Ninth Unit of the Seventh Brigade of the National Police Agency will continue to dispatch personnel to search the Tianxiang area in hopes of locating the victim as soon as possible.
(China Times)