On the evening of February 1, 2009, Luo Jinfa, a 32-year-old man, stood quietly in the doorway of his cramped apartment in Taiwan. His landlord was mid-lecture, berating Luo for being late on rent payments. Luo had moved into the small, air-conditioner-less apartment just two months earlier, in December. Despite its uncomfortable conditions, it was all he could afford. Luo was unemployed at the time and struggling to make ends meet.
The landlord, growing increasingly frustrated, reminded Luo of his right to evict him and lamented the leniency he’d already shown. Luo, however, stood silently, waiting for the lecture to end—not because he cared about the rent but because he had a pressing question to ask. Finally, when the landlord paused to calculate potential late fees, Luo interjected softly:
“Excuse me, I need to ask you something. Has anyone ever been murdered in my apartment?”
The landlord, taken aback, stared at Luo in disbelief before brushing off the question with visible annoyance. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I’ll be back in a month. You better have the rent.” With that, the landlord stormed off, leaving Luo without an answer.
While Luo worried about his looming rent payment, his bigger concern was the inexplicable phenomena occurring inside his apartment. At night, he claimed to hear footsteps above him, even though the apartment directly above was unoccupied. Shadowy figures seemed to wander through his living space, heightening his paranoia.
Luo, who had a history of mental health issues and substance abuse, became convinced his apartment was haunted. He speculated that a previous tenant might have been murdered there, leaving behind a vengeful spirit. To protect himself, Luo took an unusual measure—he transformed an old freezer, positioned in the middle of his living room, into a makeshift bedroom. He would climb inside, leaving the lid slightly propped open to allow air circulation, and sleep there at night, believing it shielded him from the ghostly presence.
On March 2, 2009, the day after Luo’s rent was due, the landlord tried to contact him but received no response. Frustrated, he visited the apartment and, when knocking yielded no answer, used his key to enter.
Inside, the landlord was stunned by what he saw. The apartment was in complete disarray, with furniture stacked haphazardly against walls and empty bottles scattered across the floor. Yellow and red prayer papers, stabbed into the walls with knives, adorned the space, creating an unsettling atmosphere.
The landlord quickly determined that Luo wasn’t there and decided to evict him. He replaced the locks, ensuring Luo couldn’t return. However, Luo didn’t attempt to come back—and for months, the apartment remained vacant.
Seven months later, in October 2009, the landlord’s brother expressed interest in renting the unit. The landlord agreed, but the apartment needed cleaning first. On October 18, the brothers worked together to clear out Luo’s belongings, loading them into a truck and taking them to a recycling facility.
It was there, as workers processed the items, that a horrifying discovery was made. Inside the freezer, they found Luo’s body.
Investigators determined that Luo had tragically died shortly after his conversation with the landlord in February. On the night of his death, Luo had gotten drunk, climbed into the freezer to sleep, and accidentally closed the lid without propping it open. The airtight container became a death trap, and Luo suffocated.
For seven months, Luo’s body remained inside the freezer, unnoticed until it was transported to the recycling facility.