A woman and her four-year-old daughter entered a high-rise building in Taiwan one cold January night in 2008. Security cameras captured them entering the elevator and getting off on the 11th floor.
Then they disappeared.
There was no footage of them leaving the building. Their coats and shoes were left behind. Police searched the building and surrounding area but could not find them.
The case has remained a mystery, leading to years of speculation about what happened to Liu and her daughter.
Liu Leaves Home With Her Daughter
A little after 8 p.m. on January 20, 2008, a 37-year-old woman identified as Liu rode a scooter through Yuan Lin, a small city in Taiwan.
Her four-year-old daughter was sitting in front of her on the scooter.
Liu was not simply taking her daughter for a nighttime ride. She had just left her husband after another serious argument.
According to the account, Liu had experienced years of problems in her marriage. That night, another fight became the final breaking point.
When she had an opportunity to leave, Liu grabbed her coat, took her daughter and rode away.
She apparently did not plan to return home.
But it was January, and the weather was cold. Her daughter was becoming tired and falling asleep against her.
Liu needed somewhere to stop.
Liu Enters a High-Rise Building
A few minutes later, Liu stopped outside a high-rise building in the city’s financial district.
She switched off her scooter and carried her daughter toward the entrance.
Liu rang the buzzer.
The building manager opened the door and looked at her with some curiosity. Liu told him she was visiting a friend who lived on the 11th floor.
Before he could ask many questions, Liu walked into the lobby.
She then went directly toward the elevator.
The building manager did not stop her.
Liu entered the elevator while still holding her daughter.
This was the last time anyone appears to have seen them outside the security footage.
The Strange Elevator Footage
Eight days later, the building manager received an unexpected visit.
Two police officers arrived at the building and showed him photographs of a woman and a young girl.
He immediately recognized them.
They were Liu and her daughter.
Police explained that Liu’s husband had reported them missing. Investigators had now found Liu’s scooter parked outside the building.
They believed the mother and daughter might still be inside.
The building manager remembered his strange encounter with Liu.
He took the officers to his office and showed them the security footage.
What they saw made the mystery even stranger.
Liu Looks Directly at the Security Camera
The elevator camera showed Liu standing in the middle of the elevator with her daughter.
At first, she looked toward the control panel.
Then she looked directly at the security camera mounted in the upper corner of the elevator.
A short time later, something unusual happened.
Liu put her daughter down.
She calmly removed her own jacket and placed it in a corner of the elevator.
Then she took off her shoes.
She placed them beside the jacket.
Liu then removed her daughter’s coat and shoes as well.
Both mother and daughter were now barefoot.
Liu picked up her daughter again and waited.
When the elevator reached the 11th floor, the doors opened.
Liu quickly walked into the hallway with her daughter.
They left their coats and shoes behind.
That was the last recorded image of them.
They Never Appeared on Another Camera
The building had security cameras covering its elevators and exits.
Investigators reviewed the available footage.
Liu and her daughter were seen leaving the elevator on the 11th floor.
But there was no footage showing them leaving the building.
They did not appear in another elevator.
They did not appear at the main entrance.
They did not appear at the other exits.
They simply seemed to disappear after walking away from the elevator.
This raised an obvious question:
Where did Liu and her daughter go?
Police Search the Building
Logically, investigators first had to consider that Liu and her daughter were still somewhere inside the building.
The building manager searched the 11th floor.
The police later conducted a much larger search.
Investigators examined apartments, stairwells, the roof and other parts of the building. They also reviewed security footage and searched areas around the property.
The search reportedly continued for weeks.
Investigators even considered unusual possibilities, including whether the pair could have reached another building or accessed an area such as the basement or water tower.
But no trace of Liu or her daughter was found.
Why Did Liu Choose the 11th Floor?
One of the strangest details in the case was Liu’s claim that she was visiting a friend on the 11th floor.
Police reportedly questioned residents of the building.
Nobody appeared to know Liu or her daughter.
That made her choice of the 11th floor difficult to explain.
Why did she specifically say she was visiting someone there?
Was it simply an excuse to get inside?
Or did she actually know something about the building?
There is no confirmed answer.
Theories About the Disappearance
The lack of evidence has led to many theories about what happened to Liu and her daughter.
Suicide Theory
One possibility suggested over the years is that Liu may have taken her own life and that of her daughter.
However, no bodies were found.
Without physical evidence, this remains only a theory.
Husband Involvement
Another theory suggests that Liu’s husband may have followed her.
According to this idea, he could have located her at the building and harmed her and their daughter.
Again, there is no conclusive evidence establishing that this happened.
Planned Escape
Another theory takes a completely different direction.
Perhaps Liu had planned to disappear.
She may have known that her husband would report her missing and that police would search for her.
Under this theory, the high-rise may have been part of a plan to confuse investigators before she left the area.
Her decision to leave her clothes and shoes behind has also fueled speculation.
But there is no confirmed evidence showing that Liu successfully escaped.
What Makes the Case So Strange?
The mystery is not simply that Liu and her daughter went missing.
People are especially fascinated by the security footage.
The cameras captured them entering the building.
They captured them riding the elevator.
They captured them leaving the elevator on the 11th floor.
Then the trail stopped.
Their coats and shoes remained behind.
No later footage showed them leaving through the building’s monitored exits.
And despite searches, investigators could not locate them inside.
That combination of circumstances has made the case particularly difficult to explain.
Was the Building Really a Dead End?
It is important to separate what is known from what is speculation.
The available account establishes that Liu and her daughter entered the building and were later seen on the 11th floor.
The disappearance afterward is the unexplained part.
Claims that they escaped, were killed or died by suicide remain theories unless supported by additional evidence.
There is also no reliable basis for concluding that anything supernatural happened.
The mystery comes from the lack of an obvious physical explanation.
The High-Rise Became Associated With the Mystery
Over the years, the building became associated with the disappearance.
The story has circulated online because of the unusual security footage and the fact that Liu and her daughter were never located.
For some people, the unanswered questions have turned the building into a supposedly haunted location.
But the central mystery remains the same.
What happened after Liu and her daughter walked out of that elevator?
What Happened to Liu and Her Daughter?
The disappearance of Liu and her four-year-old daughter remains an unsettling mystery.
On January 20, 2008, they entered a high-rise in Yuan Lin.
Eight days later, police learned that they had been there.
Security footage showed their final known movements.
They left the elevator on the 11th floor.
Their coats and shoes remained behind.
And then the trail disappeared.
Without their bodies, a confirmed sighting after that night or clear evidence explaining how they left, the case leaves more questions than answers.
The final footage of Liu and her daughter remains the most important piece of the mystery—and also the part that raises the most questions.