TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A child discovered the remains of a dead newborn at a playground in a neighborhood park in Tainan’s Annan District on Thursday (Feb. 8).

After reporting the discovery to authorities, it was determined that the body belonged to a baby girl who had been buried days earlier. Tainan police investigated the incident and used surveillance footage from nearby cameras to identify the mother of the infant, who was arrested on Sunday (Feb. 11), reported UDN.



The mother of the child is a 32-year-old woman surnamed Weng (翁), who buried the child in the shallow soil of the children’s play area early in the morning on Feb. 6. She has been transferred to the Tainan District Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of murder.

Investigators will work to determine whether the child was alive or deceased at the time of birth before moving the case forward, and an autopsy has been scheduled to determine the time and cause of death. The woman claimed that she buried the child’s body to keep her boyfriend, with whom she was cohabitating, from discovering the child.

The boyfriend, and likely father of the child, is a 30-year-old man surnamed Wu (吳). Wu was also arrested on Sunday on suspicion of being an accessory to murder.

However, Wu claimed that he had no knowledge of Weng’s pregnancy, the birth, or the disposal of the child’s body. Investigators later released Wu Sunday evening on a bond of NT$30,000 (US$1,000).

Both Weng and Wu reportedly work as laborers in the construction industry and do not earn a large or stable income, per UDN.