The Hello Kitty murder case was the 1999 abduction, month-long torture, and killing of 23-year-old Fan Man-yee in Hong Kong by three men who, after her death, boiled and dismembered her remains and sewed her skull inside a large Hello Kitty mermaid doll in the Tsim Sha Tsui apartment where she had been held. The crime came to light in May 1999 when a 14-year-old girl who had been present during the captivity walked into a police station and said she was being haunted in her dreams by the ghost of a headless woman.
Who Fan Man-yee Was
Fan Man-yee’s life had been difficult from the start. Her family left her as a child, and she was raised in an orphanage until she aged out at 15. She experienced homelessness, developed a drug addiction, and eventually turned to sex work. She married one of her clients, also a drug user, in 1996, and gave birth to a son in late 1998, only months before her death. At the time she was killed, she was working as a nightclub hostess.
She came into the orbit of Chan Man-lok, a local triad member, through a debt of around HK$4,000. She paid it back, but Chan insisted that once interest was added she still owed roughly HK$20,000. That disputed sum became the pretext for her abduction.
The Month of Captivity
In early 1999, Fan was taken to an apartment on Granville Road in Tsim Sha Tsui and held there for about a month. Three men carried out the abuse: Chan Man-lok, then 34; Leung Shing-cho, 27; and Leung Wai-lun, 21. A 14-year-old girl referred to in court as Ah Fong, whom Chan had taken in as a runaway, was also present and, by her own later testimony, at times took part.
Fan was beaten with metal pipes, kicked, burned with hot objects, and had melted plastic dripped onto her skin. Her captors rubbed spices into her open wounds and forced her to eat human waste. At one point she was tied to a rack with her hands bound above her head for hours to keep her from peeling scabs off her burned feet.1The Mirror. Teen Feared She Was Being Haunted, Then Woman’s Skull Was Found Inside Doll
She died in the apartment sometime in April 1999. The cause of death was disputed: prosecutors argued her body gave out from the sustained trauma, while defense attorneys later contended she may have died from a self-induced drug overdose.2South China Morning Post. Hello Kitty Killers Fight Convictions
The Skull in the Doll
After Fan died, the three men dismembered her body and boiled the remains to destroy evidence. They disposed of most of what was left, but kept her skull, which they sewed inside a large Hello Kitty mermaid doll in the apartment. When police eventually searched the flat, that skull, a single tooth, and some internal organs were all that remained of her.
How Police Found Out
The case broke in May 1999. Ah Fong walked into the Yau Ma Tei police station and told officers she was having nightmares in which the ghost of a headless woman was haunting her. Police initially dismissed her, suspecting she was making it up.1The Mirror. Teen Feared She Was Being Haunted, Then Woman’s Skull Was Found Inside Doll
She persisted, and eventually led officers to the Granville Road apartment. The smell of decomposition met them at the door. Inside they found the Hello Kitty doll containing Fan’s skull, along with the other remains. Chan Man-lok, Leung Shing-cho, and Leung Wai-lun were arrested soon after. Ah Fong was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for her cooperation and testimony.3People. Inside the Hello Kitty Murder, Unearthed After Teen Said Ghost Was Haunting Her
The Trial and Sentences
The trial began in late 2000 and ran about six weeks. With so little of Fan’s body recovered and the cause of death in dispute, prosecutors could not prove the men had specifically intended to kill her. They were charged with manslaughter and unlawful imprisonment rather than murder.4ABC News. Life for Hello Kitty Killers
Ah Fong’s testimony was central to the prosecution, giving a firsthand account of what happened inside the apartment across the month of Fan’s captivity. In November 2000, the jury found all three men guilty of manslaughter. In December, Justice Peter Nguyen sentenced each of them to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for 20 years, saying the court had never in recent years heard of “such cruelty, depravity, callousness, brutality, violence and viciousness,” and that the public was entitled to protection from people like the defendants.5The Washington Post. Hello Kitty Murder Case Horrifies Hong Kong
What Happened on Appeal
All three men appealed. Defense attorneys argued Fan may have died from a drug overdose rather than the injuries, challenging the basis for the manslaughter verdict itself.2South China Morning Post. Hello Kitty Killers Fight Convictions
Leung Shing-cho’s life sentence was reduced to 18 years, and he was reportedly released around 2014 after serving that term. The outcomes for Chan Man-lok and Leung Wai-lun are less clear from available records; both received life sentences with parole eligibility after 20 years, so the earliest they could have been considered for release would have been around 2020.4ABC News. Life for Hello Kitty Killers