TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Autopsy results have revealed that a Witchita, Kansas woman found dead inside an empty shipping container in central Taiwan last month had likely died from starvation and her family members have yet to claim her remains.
On Nov. 16, the body of a 41-year-old woman was found inside a shipping container at wharf No. 323 in Taichung Port. Police found that the container was largely empty, with the exception of a few of the woman's belongings, including a black-red handbag, jewelry, and a wallet, which contained information that enabled authorities to confirm her identity.
In the month since the news broke, the woman's body remains in storage at a funeral home in Taichung as her family members have yet to come to claim it. The Taichung District Prosecutor's Office conducted an autopsy on Nov. 22 and the prosecutor on Wednesday (Dec. 21) pointed out that no residue of food was found in the woman's stomach or intestines, indicating long-term starvation.
As there were no signs of trauma, forensic pathologists reportedly concluded that the woman died from starvation, reported ETtoday. There were also signs that the woman had been pacing around the container, indicating that she was alive while inside for an extended period of time.
Shipping container in which police found woman's body. (CNA photo)
When the autopsy was conducted, prosecutors sent the woman's internal organs, blood, bone marrow, and other specimens to the Institute of Forensic Medicine to clarify the cause of death.
Because the results of blood tests and other diagnostics have yet to be completed, the official report on the cause of the woman's death has not yet been released. Officials say it is still not possible to conclude whether the case is a homicide or an accident, nor confirm when exactly the woman died.
The container was shipped from the Port of Los Angeles in late October and did not arrive in Taichung until Nov. 16. Although the American Institute of Taiwan, the de-facto US embassy, has notified police in the U.S. to contact the woman's family, and her relatives have been located, there is no news as to when they will come to claim her body.
