On the evening of May 21, 2015, in a quiet neighborhood in Hong Kong, a 16-year-old girl named Lily walked into her home gym expecting an empty space to complete a workout. Instead, she found her father, Dr. Kakim’s Son, a well-respected hospital physician, finishing a workout of his own—cooling down on a yoga ball.
Lily was surprised to see him there. Her father typically spent his evenings upstairs in his study or out for work-related matters. When she asked about the unusual appearance, he casually explained that he had taken the day off due to a slow day at the hospital, played tennis, and was just winding down with some stretching. He told her he’d be out of her way shortly—and true to his word, he left the gym a few minutes later.
What seemed like a harmless, even healthy, father-daughter interaction would later reveal itself to be part of a calculated and horrifying murder plan.
A Normal Day Turns Tragic
The next afternoon, on May 22, Lily sat at the dining table with her mother, Wong Su Fing, studying from an open textbook. Typically, Lily would have been at school, but that Friday was a holiday. She hoped to enjoy her time off with friends, but her father insisted she stay home and study. He appeared supportive of her education, urging her to remain indoors and focus.
Shortly after 1:00 PM, Dr. Kakim’s Son came downstairs, kissed both Lily and her mother goodbye, and told them he was heading to work. Once he left, Lily’s mother leaned over and broke the rules: “Let’s go shopping instead.”
Excited, Lily quickly changed, and the two left in her mother’s yellow Mini Cooper. Just over two hours later, at around 4:15 PM, a local jogger passing by noticed the familiar yellow car idling by the roadside. It seemed off—two women slumped in the front seats, motionless.
Panicked, the jogger banged on the windows but got no response. Emergency services were called. Both Lily and her mother were rushed to the hospital—but tragically, it was already too late.
A Baffling Investigation
The Hong Kong Police launched a thorough investigation. The car was clean. No signs of trauma. The women’s purses were untouched. Nothing inside the vehicle seemed suspicious—except, perhaps, for some exercise equipment in the trunk, including a deflated yoga ball.
For six long months, detectives probed every angle: family interviews, medical history, vehicle inspections, and a full examination of the home. But they were left with no clear answers. The case teetered on the edge of going cold—until one final review of the Mini Cooper changed everything.
The Yoga Ball Murder Plot Unfolds
Detectives revisited the deflated yoga ball that had been sitting in the trunk and followed up on a chilling theory. It would turn out that Dr. Kakim’s Son had filled the yoga ball with carbon monoxide gas, a deadly and odorless toxin.
Two days before the incident, when Lily found him in the home gym, he wasn’t simply working out—he was using the yoga ball, already filled with the gas, under the guise of stretching. His true intention was sinister: place the carbon monoxide-filled yoga ball into his wife’s car and let it slowly leak lethal gas into the sealed cabin.
His plan was for his wife to get into the car alone, unknowingly inhaling the invisible poison. He explicitly told Lily to stay home and study, not to protect her academic future—but to save her life.
However, Lily’s mother defied her husband’s instructions, bringing their daughter along. Within a short drive, the gas overtook them. Both died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Justice Served
In 2018, Dr. Kakim’s Son was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. The court found him guilty, and he was sentenced to life in prison. To this day, he has never disclosed his motive for the murders.
Conclusion
The tragic deaths of Lily and her mother sent shockwaves through Hong Kong and beyond. What appeared to be an unexplained accident turned out to be a meticulously planned act of domestic homicide, executed with cold precision and involving an everyday object twisted into a murder weapon.
The yoga ball murder case remains one of Hong Kong’s most haunting and bizarre crimes—a painful reminder that evil can sometimes hide behind a familiar face and a doctor’s white coat.