#392: High School Boy Inherits $500M, Then Marries Stranger - 2 Hours Later Falls 10 Floors To Death

26:41And she's just so traumatized by what happened with her previous daughter-in-law that she's overanalyzing every single person inside this house. Well, one day grandma like comes back from grocery shopping and she goes to the back door. She yanks the handle. Nothing. The handle doesn't get the doors locked. This is very, very strange. Grandma light always for the past decades that she's been living here, leaves this door unlocked when she goes grocery shopping so that when she comes back, it's easy for her to open. She doesn't have to pull out her keys with all these groceries around her arm. Never in all the years that she's been living here has the door been locked when she goes grocery shopping.

27:16She's about to knock or shout for someone to open the door for her, but she decides against it. Instead, she gently places all the bags onto the ground, goes to check the side window of the house. She stacks two chairs on top just so she can try and see. She doesn't end up seeing anything much, but she could hear everything. You can clearly hear the sound of the bed moving in a rhythmic pace and soft moaning. The only people home right now are Chen, her son's new wife, and Grandpa Lai, her husband. But because she didn't record it, she didn't even see it with her own two eyes. Nobody really believed her or perhaps she was gaslit into thinking that she imagined it all.

28:01And now she's looking at Lai. She's looking at Chen. She's looking at her son. She's looking at her husband. And it is so very clear that Grandpa lie does not just favor lie because he's the newest grandchild he favors lie because he is his child that's his son not his grandson whoa so okay so the grandpa is actually the dad yes wow okay i see yeah and the grandma knows about this yes well she knew that a year before chen gave birth that she's heard very suspicious things she thought she was going crazy somehow convinces herself to get rid of this thought and then a year later chen gives birth to a baby boy and she's analyzing the whole situation and she's like this is weird so this is shared by grandma yeah this was actually shared by grandma during a court process that we're about to get into but it's now becoming re-dug up now that 18 year old lie has been found suspiciously dead okay so this is not like public information this is information that grandma finally shared today oh yeah this is not public information i mean they try it's a little bit public in the fact that i'm sure if you go down i don't know taiwan's foia process if they have some sort of process where you can get access to court documents i don't know if this would be sealed court documents i don't know the laws over there but it did take place in court there was a whole court proceeding at the time 18 years ago but not many people knew about it it was not common knowledge so like the way grandma is sharing this story it made it sound like she didn't confront anyone say hey this is your son right she's about to right right i'm saying when they were all alive it wasn't like in the whole family it wasn't like everyone treated him like he's the son he was still treated as a grandson well once everybody finds out the truth everything falls apart oh okay okay so once she sees this she grabs lye and she's like i'm gonna be back i'm bringing my grandson to a dentist appointment on the way there she's swabbing his saliva sends that in along with dna from grandpa lye she is right lye is grandpa lye's biological child not biological grandchild this is when like 18 years ago yes when Lai was a baby yes she does a DNA test yes grandma Lai wastes no time she immediately brings her husband to court with this new DNA test in hand she's not filing for divorce but rather she's trying to get her husband convicted for adultery she's like you're going to jail this is where the theories slightly diverge some say that Chen the mom has always been involved with Grandpa Lai that he had gone to China, met Chen, started an affair with her, and as a way to get her to come live in Taiwan, and not just in the same neighborhood as him, he's just like, let me take it one step further.

30:56How can she live with me in the same house with my wife? Ah, marry my son, so that you can get Taiwanese citizenship and we can do nasty things together on the side in the same house and no one will ever know. Other sources state that just like his son's first wife, Grandpa Lai started making advances towards Chen after she married the second son. But most netizens seem to lean towards the first version. One comment reads, so this whole thing might not be an affair between the father-in-law and daughter-in-law. It's more like a man and his mistress coming up with a scheme to pose as his daughter-in-law by marrying his disabled son so that they can continue the affair.

31:35Damn, that's a netizen comment. Either way, ultimately Grandpa Lai and Chen were fined and sentenced to three months in prison for adultery. They do their best to hide this from everyone else to make sure nobody finds out that something so bizarrely incestuous has happened in their home. But you can't really hide it from the rest of the Lai kids. The family is not having a good time digesting this shocking piece of information. I don't even think that this is something you can go online and try to get some mental help with. You would need specialized therapy to deal with a specific level of trauma like this.

32:09Lai's half siblings that he's been calling aunt and uncle for most of his childhood, they felt really betrayed by Grandpa Lai. They say, we don't even know how we should refer to this boy anymore. Is he our nephew? Is he our little brother? They did notice that Grandpa Lai was always doting on Lai, being overprotective, but they thought maybe he's just the star grandchild, the one that always hangs out with Grandpa Lai so he gets favored. They didn't realize it's because Grandpa knew it's not his grandchild, but his son until, you know, this trial, of course. They'd always been this very tight family that loves spending time together, but one of the adult children of Grandpa Lai said after this announcement, their whole family turned into a battlefield.

32:51All the adult children had come back to the house to confront their dad about the news. One of the daughters said, my father refused to come downstairs and wanted us to leave. I told my father that since the child now calls him grandpa, if he and his daughter-in-law have another child in the future, what would they call him? Before I could finish, my father got so angry he threw a flower pot at me and tried to attack me. My brother and mother intervened, which resulted in my father chasing us all out of the house. Eventually, the family reaches an agreement of sorts, if you can call it that. Grandpa Lai would stop his adulterous relationship with Chen and he will transfer property to Grandma Lai.

33:26Grandma Lai does try and get Chen to leave her family, but allegedly she states Chen asked for nearly a million dollars in order to leave. Grandma Lai decides if that's how it's going to be, I'm just going to leave. Grandma Lai leaves the house, but she never divorces her husband. And this is important later. And from there, the family just starts drifting apart. Grandma Lai never speaks to her husband again unless it's through a representative. Grandpa Lai's relationship with his kids are never the same. And he just chooses to live in that family home with Chen and his new son Lai for the next 18 years.

34:02so it's grandpa chan and the grandson so technically grandpa daughter-in-law and son or mom and dad and son but does the grandson calls him grandpa or dad he keeps calling him grandpa because that's what he's used to but it does seem like he knows that's his dad eventually i don't think he found out when he was a kid i don't know how long they shielded him from it but it's a little unclear. But he does eventually find out. But by that point, it had been long enough of calling him grandpa that he doesn't stop. Now, side note, during this point, Chen's husband, so grandpa Lai's second son, ends up passing away.

34:41He wasn't in great health. He had liver cancer before this whole family found out what was going on. So it seemed like he passed away before realizing what his father had done. From the outside, because he passed away, everyone just assumed, it's grandpa Lai living with his deceased son's wife, the widow, and his grandchild Lai, helping raise him since his son is no longer around. But in reality, like I said, he's living with technically his mistress and their son. He'd also quietly adopted as his own son. This is where the case gets even more strange. There's a Chinese saying which translates to dirty family secrets, stay home.

35:17Essentially, don't air your dirty laundry outside. The Lai family sticks by this rule. Nobody talks about it outside. The only people outside of the attorneys, the court, the judges that know this dark family secret. I mean, they know that grandpa and grandma are no longer together, but that's about it. The only people that know the truth that this is grandpa lies, actual biological kid, our junior and his dad, the property managers, because they're the notaries for grandpa life for the past 20 years. They're also his estate planners. If anyone is going to be trusted by Grandpa Lai, it's going to be them.

35:52So not only do they know that Lai is Grandpa Lai's biological son, but they also know that Lai is going to be inheriting everything after Grandpa Lai's death. They know that the other grandchildren, his other kids, his wife, they're getting nothing. They are aware of the fact that Lai is going to be worth over 15 and a half million dollars the moment that Grandpa Lai dies. And interestingly enough, a week after he dies, Junior and Lai get married. So people have this question of, well, maybe it's love. Maybe throughout all of this, they end up falling in love. Like, why wouldn't that be a case?

36:26Why is it so suspicious? Is that even up for debate? You know, but then why would Lai be dead? Was it some sort of freak accident? Was it self-exit? Is it murder disguised as a self-exit? What's going on? From Junior's perspective of this relationship, he states that the day of their marriage, the day that Lai dies. They went and got Starbucks for breakfast. They drove to the courthouse and it's more like a household registration office. It's nothing fancy or romantic. It looks like a DMV. You register your marriage, just the papers. They did that around nine in the morning, got legally married, went back to Junior's 10th floor condo and started watching Demon Slayer, the anime.

37:04Then they drank a little bit of beer and that was it. Part of this can actually be verified through CCTV footage from inside the elevator in the building. You can see that the day that Junior and Lai enter the elevator, the first time is around 8 45 a.m., likely after breakfast. Then they go out through the stairs to get married. Then when they come back, it's around 10 a.m. and they're in the elevator going back up to the unit. But Lai didn't tell anyone that he's getting married that day? No. Nobody. Nobody. But through the CCTV footage, it doesn't look like he's being held hostage. He's not being kidnapped.

37:39He's not being dragged and tied up. It's just the oddest thing. And then they get up at 10 a.m. An hour later, Laya's dead outside the apartment building. If this is all true, then he fell from the balcony. I mean, how does he just fall from the balcony? Was he very drunk? Because his toxicology reports do not indicate that he was heavily intoxicated. So Junior is just explaining the day to the authorities and now to the public. but people are still confused. Sure, you're telling us exactly the steps, but nothing makes sense. And Junior's like, hold on, listen, I'm not done. So around 11 a.m., I decide I'm gonna get into the shower.

38:14Junior's like, I'm sweaty, it's been a long morning, it's just been a rough day. So he leaves Lai alone in the living room with Demon Slayer playing on the TV, goes to the restroom, showers. When he gets out, the living room is empty. Lai is not there, he's just gone, vanished. There's nothing amiss, there's no signs of a struggle, nothing. He just poof, husband is gone. It's like he never existed. But then he looks on the counter and his phone and his wallet are on the table. So he's like, OK, I'm not hallucinating. Junior explains he starts searching the entire building for his newlywed husband.

38:46He checks the whole building. He uses the stairs because the elevator wouldn't be convenient. Then he goes outside around 1109 a.m. That's when he sees his newlywed husband dead on the ground. The way he describes it makes it seem like Lai was just very sad about his life and probably decided to self-exit. But Lai's mom is saying none of that makes sense. First of all, she had no clue that he was getting married that day. On top of that, the morning that they were getting married and Lai had died, she was so frantic looking for her son. She was calling every single person in her contact list asking if they had seen Lai, including Junior.

39:21She called Junior and he acted like he had no clue what she was talking about. Stating that he had no idea where Lai could possibly be. In fact, According to Lai's mom, Junior told her, well, there's no point in reporting him missing to the police because he hasn't been missing for 24 hours. But instead, I can help you look for him. She thought it was strange then at the moment too because it's like, what's it to you if I report it? But now even more so, knowing that he was very busy getting married, calling the police, reporting the death of a stranger who happens to be his husband, aka her son.

39:53She also states passionately there was no reason for Lai to want to self-exit. He was getting ready to head into university where he was going to be studying philosophy. He just inherited millions of dollars. He knows he's inherited millions of dollars. Why else would he be reaching out and hanging out with his property manager? Most people feel like if they were a lie, you feel like your life is just getting started at 18. One psychiatrist, who I don't think is personally related to this case at all, but I guess an expert, was interviewed for a news network. Because all of Taiwan is just trying to understand what the hell is going on right now.

40:27Everything is so vague. The psychiatrist states this could be categorized as a flash marriage, which is after meeting someone a few times, you just get married out of nowhere without letting any friends and family know, especially if it's the same sex marriage. People might feel like, oh, I can't tell anyone because I don't want the judgment. So let's just do it and deal with the consequences later because maybe you have friends who are homophobic. Maybe your family won't accept. there's all these reasons but but flash marriages are quite passionate impulsive emotional i mean think about you're getting married in vegas let's go to vegas yeah but these two they don't have that level of enthusiasm at all so why would they be getting married even if it is passionate misguided love why would they do it so recklessly and why would junior not identify himself as the new spouse at the scene of the incident.

41:18The psychiatrist goes on to kind of armchair diagnose the situation. She states she believes that Lai was going through a lot. She points out that between the ages of 12 and 18, because of the fact that he was grandpa's biological son, he's not having a normal stable family life. On top of that, from a psychological standpoint, this is the puberty stage. Individuals tend to be a bit more rebellious and his family life is very complicated. she suspects that Lai might be going through complex emotions and could have experienced a lack of affection from his family not only that his entire family's assets were now going towards him so how would the other members of the family look at him it has been reported that a few days before Lai's death at grandpa Lai's funeral grandma Lai and the other half-siblings slash aunts and uncles were pissed because by this point they know what the inheritance is looking like yeah Yeah.

42:09So it's possible that he wanted to escape this. Then you have Junior of the Shaw family, who has been handling their family inheritance for decades, which could give him a very reliable impression. Maybe Junior is on his side. Maybe Junior knows more than he does about the inheritance and how to handle it, manage it, navigate all of this. She states, so the very few times they meet, perhaps Lai develops a firm reliance or a sense of security towards Junior. The psychiatrist is then asked, I mean, I'm sure maybe that could explain his emotional feelings, but not really. Like if he felt that way, he would have found a way to live with Junior or stay with Junior.

42:48Why get married out of nowhere? It's just so random. It's not like he was spending every day with Junior and then he decides, let's just get married. The psychiatrist responds, well, that has to do with the family unit. We have a dependency on families. Once he leaves his family home, he will have no family. But if he marries Junior, he will have a new family and a strong sense of belonging. I think that's a very strange explanation because to me that doesn't make sense. If I go back to when I was 18 and I needed a greater sense of security, I would find it with my friends. I'm not going to find it in this strange 26-year-old that I can't relate to, that I have no real connections with.

43:24Yeah. It feels more plausible that with all this money he would just go recklessly marry his high school sweetheart. Right. Than this. This is very strange. Additionally, people start coming out of the woodworks to explain, well, first of all, Lye's not gay, which normally I would not take these types of testimonials to heart because there could be a lot of reasons why someone might feel the need to hide their sexuality from others. But just listen, there's a destination they're getting to. First, Lye's mom states, I mean, he's just not gay. Like, I just don't know what else to state you. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of parents who can't make sense of a completely normal relationship, but truly he's not gay.

44:05Lai's teachers have come out to say that, well, recently, I don't know if we can say that he's not gay, but recently we do know that he had a crush on a female classmate of his. The two had what appeared to be mutual feelings for each other, or at least that's what Lai thought. They would work together. They would do homework together. They'd talk together. They would write these little love letters together. But recently she left. She was like, I'm actually not trying to date you. Lai was so heartbroken. and he had to get counseling at the school to get over this rejection. So they're saying, again, we're not saying he's not gay, but like it's just, if there was no indication that he's gay, in fact, there were so many indications that he was very hung up on this female classmate of his.

44:46Again, that's not to say that he can't be bisexual or anything. It's just on top of everything going on, all of this seems really strange and really random. The teacher also alleged that, well, Lai is not actually one to enjoy physical contact with other guys. Again, that doesn't determine one's sexuality I'm just letting you know what people have been saying that are involved in the case The teacher argues everyone has different boundaries when it comes to physical touch But live is not particularly fond of physical touch from guys Even when they were just being playful and roughhousing, he didn't enjoy it Not even in the slightest He just seemed kind of uncomfortable by it all Again, that has nothing to do with sexuality But the teacher is arguing truly nothing indicates that he would randomly get married to a man It's just, there was nothing.

45:30There was no hint. There was no writing. There was nothing. Again, I don't know how much water that holds, but one thing investigators did note is the day of Lai's death, he did Google for the very first time about the effectiveness of same-sex marriage. It's not even a Reddit post of like, I'm gay, I want to get married, my parents don't approve, Reddit. It's literally the effectiveness of same-sex marriage. Effectiveness, what exactly does that mean? So same-sex marriage was legalized in 2019 in Taiwan. So I wonder if it was new information. I know it's been like four years in 2023, which is when he passes.

46:08But it sounds like he's trying to Google, is it the same legally as a heterosexual marriage? Because the word effectiveness is so important. Yeah, I also wonder like at what time? Earlier that morning. Before they got married. see that's not something you you you google like right before you get married yeah that's something that you thought about you get married because you want to get married like you think about that for a while right that is so weird and when you're 18 and i think even when you're not 18 even when you're older if you are nervous about marrying someone of the same gender as you because maybe your parents or your mom or someone won't accept it i think that's a very bizarre way of googling it like you would google how to tell your parents or what happens if i get married and my parents don't approve or can my parents try to annul my gay marriage like these are more specific questions that indicate oh somebody feels this way about another partner and wants to get married but they have these types of obstacles the effectiveness of same-sex marriage is a very it's giving more about the legality of yes than emotional yeah now you know the reddit or instagram page that's like siblings or dating how do you think people can tell when two people are siblings versus when they're dating like what do you think is the key difference some self-proclaimed experts of siblings are dating they say that it's all in the body language i mean obviously if they're making out they're dating but when it's not so obvious there are still these small minor body language indicators that subconsciously people take in.

47:48For example, couples tend to consciously mimic each other. They mimic each other's facial expressions and gestures. That's why people say that couples who date for a long time, they start looking like each other. It's not because their facial features look like each other. It's because their faces are making the same faces constantly. So those muscle memory sets in. So for most people, they just look similar. I see. While siblings, they tend to have more similar facial features, but not facial expressions. So they have similar eye colors, hair textures. Couples actually have more similar facial expressions.

48:22So they have like same smile lines. They have more similar ways that their face sits but it's not the features themselves. It's just from mimicking each other for prolonged periods of time. That makes so much sense. Like that's why I tell you like every time I text an emoji like I will unconsciously make that face when I'm typing. Yes, he'll like smirk. If he's doing a smirking emoji, He'll smile if he's typing in a smiling emoji. So it's very interesting. That's how couples behave. Now, obviously, these are not foolproof methods, but you can kind of tell. You can make a good, educated guess most of the time on whether or not someone appears to be a couple on the street.

48:59Junior and Lai do not look like a couple. In the elevator footage. Now, keep in mind, this is right before and right after they get married. You're expecting nervous laughter, giddiness, like they can't keep away from each other. Or maybe if they haven't told anyone, they're just nervous and they're comforting each other. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. We're going to get through it together. There is none of that. First of all, they barely talk in the elevator. There is zero physical contact and nothing about their body language shows any semblance of familiarity. Not even affection.

49:30Did you see the footage? Yeah, there's like screenshots of it. And there's little footage and there's nothing. Like what were they doing? So they're just kind of facing each other. Junior is on his phone for most of the elevator footage and lies kind of scratching the back of his head. He looks a little uncomfortable. This is how I look when I'm hanging out with my uncle that I'm not close with. So I have some uncles that I'm very familiar with. And then the ones that I'm kind of like, I just know that we're related. It's like that behavior of like, Oh, did you eat? It's like that. It reminds me of when you get stuck in the elevator with a coworker that works in a completely different department than you.

50:12You know them, but you don't really know them well enough to talk to them. Like the most interaction you've had is like you just nod at them or you give them like a thin lip smile when they pass by your desk and that's it. And now you guys are stuck in the elevator, just you two. So you know each other more than strangers. So it feels weird being like, nice weather. That's weird. You guys are closer than that, but you don't know each other well enough to be like, how's it going? So it's like this. like you just make these noises and it's just awkward it's empty it's polite and I know that this doesn't sound like the best evidence but there are a lot of people who have figured out that their partners are cheating on them with another friend because of such subtle body language cues so this is another thing that netizens have been pointing out such as when one person leans over to press the button on the elevator most people if you're not familiar with them you lean back so that you give them space but if someone doesn't lean back it's almost there's a subconscious familiarity with their body yes there is no familiarity in this elevator you're saying one of them like yeah like they're just very polite like moving out of the way for each other just it's very bizarre wow obviously not a surefire rule but i'm just saying nobody can see them in the elevator and think wow love birds it just doesn't make sense but if you're still not convinced there's more.

51:33There's CCTV footage of the two of them on a motorbike, like a mini motorcycle, and they're trying to cross the street. So they're mid driving. This is on their way to the marriage license place. Junior is driving. Lai is in the back. He's not even holding on to Junior. In fact, the positioning is seems dangerous. He's holding on to the seat for support instead of leaning or grabbing onto his future husband that he's about to marry in 10 minutes. wow now according to cctv footage from the marriage license registration office you can also tell that this is not a symbolic emotional moment for the two of them they look like strangers waiting at the dmv together the entire process takes about an hour lai is seen occasionally scratching his head there is some light conversations but no giggling no smiling no friendliness that would indicate even friendship at one point junior gives lai a light pat on the shoulder but that is it it's said that even that pat feels very cold like they're not very familiar with each other like it's okay but is that really evidence just to make even more sure authorities go through their messaging apps the two of them have little to no interactions on any of their messaging apps for the past six months when they do briefly exchange messages they are always about property transfers there's no romantic messages there's not even friendly messages that is crazy So everything happened, you're saying, it sounds like everything happened that morning.

53:00There's some kind of conversation that happened that prompted them to get married. Yes. But what happened? Like, that's crazy. Now, beyond that, it gets even wilder. In order to get married, you need to have two witnesses sign your marriage certificate. Typically, this should be family or friends. But because nobody knew that Junior and Lai were getting married, they had to get two random witnesses from the street. One person they found inside of a mall and the other one they found outside the marriage license and they just said, hey, listen, we are getting married, we're in love and our friends and family do not approve of our same-sex relationship.

53:34So please, could you sign this as a witness? Both of the witnesses would later tell the judge, we agreed because we support same-sex marriage and we felt really bad. So we wanted to help because their friends and family don't support them. So we went and we signed, but as we're signing, we realized how strange this whole situation was. they didn't seem like a couple at all. I mean, we were actually shocked at how they were behaving, considering how unaffectionate they were, how underdressed both of them are. So for example, when people get married, especially for the first time, even going to the courthouse is this like giddy experience.

54:06And then if you're doing it because your love is so strong that it goes against your whole family, it's, it's an even more emotionally impactful moment. Yes. It's us against the world, but both of them are just wearing slippers. Like it's not a special day for them. One of the witnesses later said, congrats. And neither of them responded. But this is stranger. The authorities find another third witness who comes forward. She's the custodian of the marriage license building. She says, they also asked me to sign. I refused. It was weird. She states the whole energy was off. She didn't feel right about it.

54:45Junior kept asking her to sign, repeatedly trying to persuade her, even offering her like$100. Meanwhile, Lai is just standing off to the side silently watching. She said, even if they gave me a million dollars, it wouldn't make me sign as a witness. I was worried and I felt guilty if something were to happen. Wow. Now, additionally, Junior doesn't even show up to Lai's funeral. So how can you say that this is a passionate, rushed marriage between two parties in this maybe emotionally fragile state that Lai just lost his grandfather and he wants to marry the love of his life or who he thinks is the love of his life?

55:22It's clearly not that. It's very clear that it's not what happened. In the CCTV footage, like I said, neither of them seem excited. But also, Lai doesn't look like he's being forced, at least not physically. Also, Junior has a girlfriend. you're kidding me yeah so why would he marry lie yes girlfriend speak up no people found out that he has a girlfriend and they have not even confirmed nothing so why would they get married it just doesn't make sense and why would he end up dead two hours later lies mom takes immediate legal action she sues junior and his dad in a wrongful death suit she wants to get the marriage completely thrown out she states that it's very clear the motive for the marriage and his death immediately after is for the inheritance.

56:08She requests assistance from the courts to make sure Junior is not allowed to leave the country. She's hired her own forensic experts, including Gao, the original forensic pathologist we were talking about earlier in this story. She's trying to figure out what the hell happened to her son. I mean, she just believes there's no way. This feels like murder to her. Authorities have also started their own investigation into Lye's death. And after interrogating Junior, they hold this press conference where they state There was no foul play involved in Lye's death, no suspicion of criminal activity, and no necessity for an arrest.

56:40Junior would be a free man. He's free to go. What do they think happened? They think that he self-exited. What? According to prosecutors, it seems like Junior's supposed version of events is this. Allegedly, Lye confided in Junior that he's worried that his grandma and his half-siblings, aka his uncle and aunts, would try to go after and make a scene at Grandpa Lai's urn bearing ceremony. He wanted to get married as an extra layer of added protection. So Junior is saying, Lai wanted to marry me. He's saying, hey, I have all this inheritance in just my name. I'm scared they're going to try to come after me.

57:19I don't know what to do, but you're the property manager. You know exactly what you're doing in this realm of law. So why don't we get married so that you can help protect these assets even more for me? that's what junior is allegedly claiming now surely junior is going to get something out of it too but we wouldn't know maybe he's getting a commission maybe he's getting a cut maybe he's getting a property i don't know but i feel like there's better ways to protect your asset than like marrying someone that's that feels like more risky don't you think and also think when you're 18 i feel like i would marry a friend i'd be like hey friend i need help because at least you feel like you know your friends i mean sure they could screw you over but so could the 27 year old but at least your friends are your friends yeah so a lot of people are saying it doesn't align with how an 18 year old or anyone would even think now lies mom chen also held a press conference where she's completely covered up from head to toe to protect her identity full bucket hat sunglasses face mask down to her neck not a single part of her body is showing and she says i can't accept the truth I raised him till he was 18 years old.

58:25As a mother, I can't accept this. My son would have never jumped off. My son would absolutely do no such thing. Justice must be served for my son. She argued her son was about to go to college. He just became a millionaire. He even received a new motorbike that he was so excited to have. He requested the license plate to be 9513 to read May 13th, his mom's birthday. He promised to take his mom on trips on his motorbike, but he just decides to self-exit. lie's mom is stating it just doesn't make sense junior was one that was insistent on seeing lie that day she said he kept saying you gotta come we gotta talk about it but lie had to go to the service for his grandfather why would this be so urgent if lie was the one that wanted to do this why was junior pushing so hard to see my son that day enough to the point that he comes to pick him up at seven in the morning lie's mom and her representatives have stated that the motive is crystal clear and that if anybody understands the laws of inheriting property and assets, it's going to be Junior and his dad.

59:26She proposes if it is true that Junior and Lai married out of love or by Lai's request and Junior is not getting the inheritance, then Junior should volunteer to undergo a lie detector test and voluntarily waive his claim to the inheritance as proof of love and as proof of he was just doing Lai a favor. He has no motive to murder Lai.

59:56Jr. has since then rejected all suggestions. His father, Shah Sr., has spoken out and said, Thank you for your concern. We are fully cooperating with the prosecutor to clarify the facts and issues. As for the external speculations, whether or not they are correct, we are unable to respond at this time, since the matter is now under judicial investigation. Thank you. The public and media have criticized this statement, saying that he has essentially said nothing. But beyond pure skepticism of, yeah, this is weird, it doesn't make sense, there's a lot of other reasons that netizens are untrusting of Junior.

1:00:30They believe the forensic evidence does not make sense. So I'm just going to tell you both sides that are circulating out there. And I'm no forensic expert, so please let me know your thoughts in the comments. According to the police, when authorities first arrived at the scene, Lai only had a minor closed fracture on his right arm, so they thought. which to give you an idea of the extent of that kind of injury, people will have minor closed arm fractures. If they are standing, they fall, and they use their outstretched hand to break their fall. And if they fall at a wrong angle, they might break their arm, but that's the level.

1:01:04We're not talking 10 stories. So, okay, I see. So it's like a minor fracture. Yes, a minor closed fracture of the arm is just inconsistent, many people will say with a fall from the 10th floor, which would likely result in much more severe injuries. The second thing is the forensic expert hired by the family to analyze the scene, Gao, he states not only, but his body is too close to the building. He was found on the ground six and a half feet from the building wall, but the second floor has this protruding platform. Gao believes that Lai should be at least 13 feet away from the building, about double the distance he's actually found from the building.

1:01:43If his calculations of projectile motion are accurate, which I don't know how accurate any of this is and if it can be used as a strong point, but nobody is, it's just weird. Gao also mentions the absence of panda eyes on Lai's face. So panda eyes are when you have blood pooling in the eye sockets, like the blood vessels around the eyes and it looks, in America, you call them raccoon eyes and it's from bleeding in the skull, which would lead to this or just periorbital bruising. is what it's known as. And it's commonly caused by basal skull fractures, which is when there's a break in one or more of the bones at the base of the skull.

1:02:20Now, Gao argues it's pretty standard from falls of this height, especially if it's a result of a fatal fall. And basal skull fractures are one of the most common causes of these panda eyes because now there's bleeding in the skull, which is then it pools the blood near the soft tissues around the eyes, causing those. Now, this part I will say doesn't make the most sense to a lot of netizens who are in the medical field so if you look it up panda eyes will develop one to three days after the skull fractures by this point lie has been deceased and it is very unlikely that a deceased person will form panda eyes post-mortem bruises occur when blood escapes from damaged blood vessels into surrounding tissues and that requires blood circulation your blood must be pumping for bruises to form which stops after death.

1:03:06Now, others have argued that it's still possible for him to have formed these panda eyes around his face before his death. Another key argument here is there doesn't seem to be extensive blunt force trauma directly to Lai's head. So Gao and a lot of people wonder, then how is it possible that he suffered from such blows to the head that it killed him, but you don't see extreme skull fractures or blunt force trauma to the head? Gao also brings up the point that there was not a lot of blood on the ground where Lai had fallen. He believes that it just doesn't make any sense. I mean, considering how far he fell, but even stranger, Gao argues, is the fact that not only was there a strange lack of blood, but the grass beneath Lai's face had died.

1:03:48The rest of the grass where his body has landed, the grass is fine. To Gao, that indicates, or rather suggests, that perhaps Lai had been poisoned prior to his fall or being placed there. Perhaps some of that poison had slipped out of his mouth. Maybe he had vomited, causing the grass to die. He says he was laying on that grass for less than 10 minutes before being found. But after his body was moved, the patch of grass wilted. You know that grass is very strong, don't you? How could it wilt? He was on the grass for less than 10 minutes. But if there's throw up, wouldn't you be able to identify that very easily?

1:04:22But he's saying the police didn't care. So they just picked him up, took him to the hospital, didn't really investigate the scene. so we wouldn't know if there was throw up or not really he also points out the fact that other grass where the rest of lies body had fallen all perfectly healthy after they removed his body only the part near his head was wilted he also argues that there should be some slight indentation markings around the ground where life fell because the impact of him hitting the ground should have made some sort of marking on the soil but there was none so of course i mean that could heavily depend on soil type grass thickness moisture content on whether or not there should be indents caused by Lai's supposed fall, but he also claims that he found suspicious needle markings in Lai's right arm.

1:05:06Wait, so he's arguing that Lai didn't jump out the window? He's arguing that Lai was probably killed before his body was either thrown out the window or placed on the ground to make it look like he jumped. but if he was thrown out the window there will still be like you know fractures and he thinks that he was thrown out a lower floor window yeah there's a lot going on so the theories are not i would say in this case no theory is clean cut every theory takes a little bit of mental cartwheels to be like i guess i could see that i guess i could see that but nothing is like oh, that sounds really plausible.

1:05:49It's just very strange. So ultimately Gao's speculation is mainly due to the presence of what he believes are suspicious needle marks on Lai's right hand, that Lai might have been killed beforehand with some sort of poison. He also points to bruising on Lai's right hand. He thinks the bruise might have been caused prior to his death, which maybe he was trying to fight back. Maybe it's a defensive wound. Then he's thrown not from the 10th floor, but possibly the third floor of the building. Like why? Why would someone take him to a lower floor if he's already deceased? Gao suggests that if someone threw him from a higher floor, he would have sustained way more serious injuries.

1:06:26The more serious injuries are, the more seriously police take a case. That's what he argues. But if someone has minor injuries, they're deceased, there's a clear quote, reasonable explanation to what happened to them, then it's not murdered they can quickly close the case is what he's arguing so it's likely that he was thrown from a lower floor to quickly close the case and move on that is what gow is arguing that's a very bizarre yeah i will say the forensic evidence on this case is not as strong as the logical evidence of it just doesn't make sense that he got married and then two hours later he died yeah the forensic evidence is kind of like i can see both sides yeah and clearly junior is suspicious like he the way he's acting afterwards yeah everything is so why not just interrogate that guy rather than you know like i don't know what's going on it's just yeah it's a little weird gal also does point out there are inconsistencies in junior's behavior he argues it's not normal no matter how you try to spin it it's weird so first of all he acted to authorities as if he did not know Lai he's just standing there off to the side watching Yao argues this man was the man he had just married but he pretended not to know him he didn't say anything then later when Lai is taken to the hospital and labeled a John Doe he still does not come forward to identify the body and if you know anything about Taiwan in a lot of different cultures even in America there is the symbolicness of putting someone to rest like you don't just leave someone unidentified in the morgue it's so traumatic for loved ones yeah so okay he doesn't want to identify it because he doesn't want to be associated by this yes right like they will very quickly find out boom you guys got married so he want to hide that as long as possible yes why would you want to hide something unless there's something suspicious but then some of the other people like because there's so many theories floating around but some people say even that is weird because he's hiding it now but he can't hide it when he tries to get the inheritance right right right i think he maybe just want the body to be cremated cremated or something is what a lot of people think yeah it's just so weird also later on junior mentions to the prosecutors that he saw footprints on the balcony railing, which suggests that lie fell from the balcony or jumped.

1:08:55But at the same time, remember how he mentioned he went searching floor to floor of the apartment building looking for lie. But if you saw footprints enough to notice them enough for it to be like, wait, the balcony door is open. He's missing. I saw footprints on the balcony. Why would you not think to go to the ground floor first? Why would you go floor to floor searching when that feels a little more plausible. Like if you didn't notice, that's one thing, but if you notice and you're still like, let me go to the ninth floor, eighth floor, seventh floor, one that is in rights, junior is definitely sus, but also why do you make it so obvious?

1:09:29Dead after just two hours of registering the marriage, but others argue, well, maybe it's not done because technically if he did it, he might get away with it. They said he's the only one that was there. There's no security footage, at least as of right now that they've seen, which means there's nobody to verify or dispute his version of events. Gao has urged the prosecutors to run toxicology reports online to look for the presence of any sort of toxins that might have been administered prior to his death. His best bet, Gao says, is potassium chloride, a chemical compound that's most commonly used in fertilizers.

1:10:04In large doses, it can lead to excess potassium in the blood, causing cardiac arrest, especially when administered intravenously, so through like a needle in high concentrations. Gow starts arguing that his new belief is that Lai might have been lured to a certain location in the building where he is restrained from behind because he believes there are ligature marks around Lai's neck. So that would explain those markings. Then they're trying to restrain him. He receives injuries to his neck and his hand, the bruising on his right hand. Once he's rendered unconscious, he is pumped full of potassium chloride, explaining the needle markings, causing cardiac arrest and eventual death.

1:10:40Then he's thrown from the third floor of the building. So third floor is oddly specific. Gal reveals, well, Junior allegedly wouldn't want all of this in his apartment, the needle, the maybe there's blood, maybe there could be anything. You just never know. He's actually the real estate broker for an empty third floor unit in that same building. so he has full access of a third floor unit that nobody lives in right now that's open for showings okay that seems to be gal's biggest theory but the investigators did search the third floor and they found no evidence of any sort of wrongdoing in that unit additionally third floor residents shared their cctv footage so their doorbell cameras if you will and nobody left or entered the third floor unit that day since then prosecutors have come out to state that the investigation teams have obtained CCTV footage from around the fall.

1:11:31I don't think that they have the fall itself, but from public roads, residential areas, convenience stores that might have a better timeline of things. And that footage is currently being investigated. They state they ran thorough and complete fingerprint, footprint, DNAs on the 10th floor balcony. And they found evidence that Lyme must have been physically present on the 10th floor balcony they stayed not just on the 10th floor but you know how there's a railing and there's this tiny maybe two inch ledge outside of the railing it's a little bit of the floor extends like the floor of the balcony does not just cut off where the railing cuts off so it extends maybe about two inches it's not space that nobody would ever go on to because you're just gonna fall but there's this lies DNA on that side.

1:12:20So he was outside of the railing. So the prosecutors allege, I mean, why would he be outside unless he wanted to be outside? It's really hard to forcibly get someone to that point unless maybe you're talking gunpoint. Like how would you convince someone to get on that side of the railing? Because they would fight with everything. They would run down the stairs. They would do other things. Are you holding them at gunpoint? That's what they're arguing. Now, this is their argument, by the way. I'm not here to convince you of one thing or the other. They also argue that there's actually a bit more of the forensic evidence.

1:12:52They state that Lai actually had multiple fractures, not just one on his arm, but he had multiple rib fractures. They were, according to his autopsy reports, his lungs, heart, spleen, and liver were fractured. Multiple organs had ruptured, and there was bleeding in the chest and abdominal cavities, as well as extensive internal bleeding. The autopsy the prosecutors have recently released shows that Lye suffered from intracranial hemorrhaging or internal bleeding in the skull, which would not commonly cause panda eyes to even begin with. They also state that the forensic reports from the prosecutor's office show that the injuries are incredibly consistent from a fall from that height.

1:13:30He might look okay externally. So they state that many of Lye's injuries that Gal finds suspicious are easily explainable. The injuries on the roof of his mouth and his upper lip, So Gao was like harping on this. They state he had a tube inserted into his mouth in the hospital in an effort to save his life. So of course, you're going to get some sort of markings in the mouth. It's not a pleasant procedure. Likewise, the suspicious needle markings on his right hand, those are from the hospital when they try to administer fluids and IV. The strange markings on his back, Gao was constantly bringing this up.

1:14:04They argue, well, there were trees that he likely would have collided with before hitting the ground. those markings look consistent with branches. And as for their lack of indentation in the ground it is their belief that he hit the second floor platform because there's like a ledge sticking out of the second floor. He hit that from the 10th floor to the second floor. Hit the platform. His body bounced onto the trees right next to it and then fell through the branches which would explain some of these scratch markings and why there's not a strong indentation because something cushioned his fall twice.

1:14:39now it has been argued that they never actually tested that they never found evidence that he hit the second floor platform they just said that's what makes sense to us so it does seem like both sides are just like this is what makes sense to us so Gao is the mother's attorney yes he's arguing that the son has been poisoned and then thrown out of third floor yes and the prosecutor you're saying yes are saying that no everything indicated that he jumped out from 10th floor yes i'll just tell you the outcomes of what could happen if they get married and then lie decides to self-exit then junior would be entitled to the full inheritance as his spouse even if they've been married for two hours okay now if it's proven that lie did not self-exit that someone else was the cause of his fall, then Junior could get the whole inheritance taken away because this is motive.

1:15:38You married him for the money and then you killed him. And then you gotta go to prison. Yeah. These are the outcomes of both sides. So the prosecutor is arguing the day of the death. They investigated Junior's apartment. There was no signs of a struggle or any foul play. Everything was in order. Furthermore, they claim to have done a full investigation into Junior's body. There were no signs of scratches or struggle on Junior. Nothing. They checked DNA from underneath both parties fingernails no dna so those scratches on lies body would not have been from junior is what they argued they state it's likely from tree branches they state it is in their professional belief that there was no physical altercation between the two that day the supposed strangulation marks the authorities argued there were no fractures bleeding or bruising on lies neck the esophagus shows no abnormalities everything is in order they argue the only thing that could have maybe caused the injuries to his neck was that he wore a neck brace while they were trying to save his life in the medical field life-saving measures are quite aggressive right so there are a lot of injuries that happen when someone's life is trying to be saved right right right like when they're trying to do cpr you could break a rib like it's it's really intense yeah so they're saying it's the neck brace it's the tube that was shoved down his throat it was the ivs that they're just rushing and stabbing into his arm to try and save him.

1:16:58Like these are what these injuries are from, which then should sound like a shut and done case, right? Like, why are we talking about it? But there's more. They say they ran blood tests. There's no substances detected to the point of poisoning or any kind. They stated that they tested for thousands of common toxic substances. Nothing. No potassium chloride overdose. But Gal had argued that potassium chloride could be difficult to detect through post-mortem blood tests alone. So as for the lack of blood, the prosecutors argue it's just science that a fall from that height, there might not be external bleeding.

1:17:33Internal bleeding is actually quite common. External bleeding can vary depending on factors like how the person lands, the surface they land on. It's possible for there to be little to no visible external bleeding, even in fatal falls. The skin can sometimes remain surprisingly intact while the bones and internal organs suffer catastrophic damage. The fact that the grass is dead where he fell will investigators state that they spoke with neighbors who confirm that patch of grass has always been dead. Maybe the dogs pee on it a lot. They also tested the grass and it showed that there were no pesticides or any type of harmful chemicals in the grass.

1:18:07Ultimately, they believe all signs point to a self-exit by jumping. They also make a pointed comment directed at Gao stating that individuals should avoid subjective speculation and assumptions about the circumstances in order to allow the judicial process to proceed impartially. To which Gao has responded, I had no intention to interrupt the prosecutor's direction of investigation. But now, shouldn't authorities be focusing on finding new evidence? Side note, Gao is one of the top forensic pathologists in Taiwan. He's performed over 5 ,000 autopsies and conducted over 10 ,000 forensic examinations.

1:18:40He's also known to be quite outspoken and sometimes he lands in controversies. He's also once said, I'm not that great, but I'm the best in Taiwan. I'm the top forensic pathologist in Taiwan, which again, why are we still talking about it? The prosecutors have debunked most of Gao's claims, right? Not that easy because it's been stated that the legal team, Lai's mom is hired. They went through the hospital reports as well as pictures taken in the ER of Lai, there is nothing in the back of his right hand. So there's tubes and IVs attached to his left hand, nothing in the right hand, which later becomes another argument when prosecutors release footage from the ER where it shows the nurse and doctor moving to the right hand to administer more fluids and injections, which means, yes, there should be needle markings on his right hand.

1:19:28But then Lai's lawyers have fought back again and stated, when you look at the injuries on the right hand and left hand, they don't have the same injuries. so why would it be so different if it's the hospital doing the same thing on both sides i don't even know who to yeah yeah gal has since requested a second autopsy to be done which would hopefully reveal further information and clarify a lot of questions he's also stated based on the principle of speaking through the autopsy and my 40 years of forensic experience i have made the most rigorous judgments and inferences this is not a baseless speculation or rumor however if there are differing opinions, I welcome constructive feedback and discussion.

1:20:05I do not intend to interfere with the direction of the police investigation and the evidence speaks for itself. Ultimately, the goal is to find the truth and resolve the matter as quickly as possible. No? So the public is just left very confused after all this back and forth medical arguments between Gao and the prosecutors. I will say when it comes to the forensic evidence, it's very confusing, but the logical evidence still stands. The marriage is weird. The fact that he died two hours after the marriage is very weird. The fact that Junior is the son of Grandpa Lai's primary property manager, also weird.

1:20:41All of this is weird. Now, what really angers the public is the prosecutors give Chen, Lai's mom, and her legal team a cutoff. They say, you need to submit all evidence that this was not a self-exit within the next month. that made people very angry because the whole thing feels rushed the fact that he was rushed to the morgue without being identified the fact that lies mom has to quickly submit the evidence it's like they're rushing to hide something or because they're lazy it doesn't make sense even if justice takes a while isn't it worth pursuing now i do want to mention yes gal has his own bias he's been hired by lies mom to prove that this was not a self-exit so all of his is going to be seen from that lens but the prosecutors also have a bias because the way they handled the case initially is horrendous it's horrendous now turns out if this case is a murder and that's how they handled it this would be a huge scandal on them because think about it they rush the investigation they're like okay just bring him to the hospital he's a john doe let's not investigate let's not tape off the crime scene let's do nothing and just move about our day and then it turns out to be a murder got it yep i see also people are saying i don't think that this case would have been big if the victim was not worth 15 and a half million dollars so what does that say for all the other residents of taiwan because the police didn't know he was a millionaire they treat they look at him john doe cremate him that's it shut and done would they have behaved differently had they known he was worth 15 and a half million and even the fact that they're like well we found nothing in junior's apartment, we searched the third floor.

1:22:18Junior and his family were freely allowed to roam the entire building for the most of the day until it was analyzed. So again, you can't really say there was nothing because it wasn't taped off. Police didn't even care to figure out if there was foul play until Lai's mom kept calling, asking them to do something. So the public lashes out at the prosecutors and they state, it seems like you've been bribed. Like it seems like you're going to get money or something because it doesn't make sense. It feels like you're almost speaking on behalf of Junior. It sounds like it's Lye's mom's legal team and Junior's legal team.

1:22:53They're saying, how can you reject all of the logical evidence? There's clearly more to the story. They barely even talk about it. They barely bring up the marriage. They're just like, well, the forensic evidence, this and that. And people are like, well, that's not the only thing we're talking about here so now there are the theories theory number one is that lie is that wait that's all we have on the case that's all we have right now there is a civil suit that's going on and i'm going to get into it but first i want to tell you the theories because i want to see which theory that you think is the most plausible theory number one is that junior convinces lie to marry him somehow maybe trying to use his knowledge over property laws maybe he even scares him saying things like you and your mom are about to lose everything.

1:23:38Your family, the aunts and uncles are going to come at you full force. But if you marry someone, I can help protect it because it's not just your signature that's needed to sign everything over. My signature needs, because it's communal property now, it's our married property. So I'm going to help you guys. This is the only way that it's going to stay within you. And this is the only way I make money because, you know, I manage your properties. That's how I make a living. You see, that's what I was thinking too, because when he was asked, this is what he said, the first thing. He said, the son came to me wanting me to marry him so that he can be protected from the aunt and uncle, which for someone who's 18, barely knows the law, barely knows about marriage and he's Googling about it.

1:24:24I think that's his thoughts and he just flipped the narrative onto the son, right? And then he probably brought it up to the son. So then he's like, okay, the 18 year old is thinking that makes sense. He Googles the effectiveness of same-sex marriage because all he's looking is to protect him and his mom. Yes. And also, let's say if the son is the one that proposed this plan to him. He's 26. He's in the legal field. He knows all about the laws. If you are a professional real estate agent, when is the last time you agreed to marry someone? For what reasons? Let's say his narrative is true. he then obviously did it for his own specific reasons.

1:25:05Why would you marry a client? That's crazy to think about. It's like an immigration attorney getting into a fake marriage to get someone a green card. It's like, this doesn't make sense. Yeah, so there's obviously more in it than just to help someone. So that's the first theory. He convinces him with this type of messaging and then kills him is the theory, right? The second theory is just the same overall arching theme of the first theory, but with an added benefit. Because maybe people are like, well, why would Lai listen to that? Like it sounds so dumb that Lai wouldn't even listen. Well, Junior also gains to benefit.

1:25:41So Junior's dad, the main property manager, also has a ton of properties. He has this weird estate rule that the first one married gets to keep the 10th floor condo in this apartment building. Junior's dad? Yeah, this is very bizarre. said that if whoever gets married from my kids get to keep this condo yes so junior say let me marry you yeah so maybe i don't think junior genuinely believes it it seems like the theory is junior is convincing lie hey this is what i get because i'm not trying to take your money i just want this 10th floor condo and my dad said the first person to get married out of his sons is the one that gets this condo.

1:26:25That might make a lie more open to it because otherwise it's like, you're suspicious of people. Why would you want to marry me? And now that we're married, you have a right to the money. But then Junior is like, no, that's not what I want. I just want this condo and I just need to get married. And look, I have a girlfriend. That's the theory. And then of course, with this theory, it's also murder, right? Now there is a self-exit theory. So this would be the third theory. I would say this is the smaller theory. The first spinoff of the self-exit theory is that perhaps Lai is not fond of his whole family.

1:27:01Because when you're 18, you might have these very emotional responses to all of these things. Like these are not normal things that happen in a family. And he might feel resentment, not just towards grandpa Lai, his father, but perhaps his mom and perhaps everybody. so he knows that if he were to pass away and self-exit, because it seems like some people are arguing there has been a lot going on in his life. His grandpa passed away. His whole family hates him. He's kind of alone just with his mom. Also, his mom might get deported. That's a whole thing we're going to get into. There's a whole thing with the mom, okay?

1:27:35Everyone in his family hates him. He just got rejected by his female classmates. Perhaps 18-year-old Lai did want to self-exit, and for whatever reason, he didn't want his mom to have the money. so he marries someone and then self-exits i don't particularly believe this theory because it's very spiteful first of all and there's nothing to indicate that he had a bad relationship with his mother and second of all i feel like you would give it to a friend then you would not give it to just some random person now the third part of this self-exit theory is that perhaps he wanted to self-exit but he wanted his mom to have the money and he was maybe scared that if he self-exited, the inheritance is up for debate.

1:28:16Does it go to the aunts? Does it go to the grandma lie? Who has it? So he gives it to the property manager who has been handling the family estate for the past 20 years. And maybe Junior has promised, I'm gonna give it to your mom. But this again, doesn't make sense because Junior would have just come out and said that when he's in the middle of a murder investigation. So it just seems unlikely that he self-exited. There's just no, I mean, you're 18, you inherit 15 and a half million dollars, you get into a good college, why would you self-exit? It just, he seems very happy. People said he was a very happy, good, lucky person.

1:28:49Again, I know it's not just about people being smiley, but it just doesn't make sense. People are saying it just doesn't make sense. But if people don't believe that he self-exited and that this isn't some sort of freak accident, then in their theories, it must be murder. But if that's the case, how would Junior have done it? Did he drug him? Did he somehow threaten him to go over the railing? I mean, how did he drug him and not show up on toxicology reports? How would he threaten him to go over that railing? What would be the answer? There's just no answers right now. And it's probably because it's not just about figuring out what happened to Lie.

1:29:24There's also a very big question of who gets the 15 and a half million dollars. Technically, even though Junior and Lie were only married for two hours, if the marriage's validity is not thrown out, then yes, Junior is entitled to inherit$15 million. Technically, legally speaking, given their status as newlywed couples, even if it's just two hours. So does that mean that Junior will be getting$15.5 million? Not exactly. In Taiwan, the law is that you have to be physically present with two witnesses to get married. But additionally, marriage requires true intention to marry. that seems like it would be very hard to prove here in this case but as for maybe the next person that would receive the inheritance if it's not the spouse it usually goes to children lai doesn't have children so then it goes back to the parents so it would just be chen the mom but that's tricky too so there's a law in taiwan that reads quote the total amount of the estate any of the people of the mainland area china may inherit shall not exceed 65 000 dollars So if you're a Chinese national, you cannot inherit a Taiwanese person's inheritance over$65 ,000.

1:30:34Oh, the mother is not Taiwanese. She's from China. There's a cap,$65 ,000 out of the 15 and a half million. But now her attorneys have come forward to state, actually, it's very tricky. So when she first moved to Taiwan to marry Sam, the second son, she voluntarily gave up her household registration in China. But she wasn't able to get a Taiwanese ID card or a Taiwan household registration. So technically, she's stateless. She had Taiwanese residency because, lie, her son is Taiwanese. But once he turns 18, she doesn't have that anymore. What? Okay. What does that mean? So she's technically has no legal right to stay in Taiwan once he turned 18.

1:31:23Now it's said before grandpa Lai passed, he tried to get her Taiwanese residency by having her apply for it, but she was rejected because apparently she had some theft charges and the adultery charge. She was charged for that sort of prison time. So they're like, we don't want you as a resident because you're weird. So then she was rejected from it. The only way she would get it is if grandpa Lai married her, but he's still technically married to grandma lye remember they never actually divorced so he went to grandma lye and was like you need to divorce me so that i can marry chen before she has to leave and it's a whole thing and grandma lye had to file a restraining order against him because apparently he got very mad and threatened to shoot and stab her which means technically she might be a potential legal loophole in this where the limit does not apply to her because she's not a Chinese national.

1:32:11She's technically stateless. Okay, so what's going on right now? She needs to gain a Taiwanese residency within the next three years in order to inherit it if Junior is not viable for the inheritance. Okay, so they're fighting right now. Yes, but if she doesn't get that Taiwanese residency in the next three years, it's possible that the inheritance may not go to her either. Okay, so if it doesn't go to him, so no junior, no mother, who does it go to? We don't know, but new people have joined this fight. Grandma Lai and Grandpa Lai's children, so his half-siblings slash aunts and uncles have joined the mix as well after Lai's death.

1:32:50They state that they cannot accept this estate transfer. They question the fairness of it all, stating that even if Lai were still alive, all of this would just benefit one person and one person only. grandma Lai says the mistress the adulterer Chen the rest of the Lai family have come out with statements since all of this has happened and they write we are the four children of the Lai family although we are shocked by recent events we have refrained from making any statements or responses due to the lack of interaction between our Lai family matriarch grandma Lai and Chen Lai's mother however we saw in the news that Lai's legal team claimed that his mother currently holds the status of quote stateless and they are actively helping her apply for an ID card in Taiwan.

1:33:30But our Lai family emotions are stirred once again. This has reignited the deepest pain that has affected our family for years. The claim that Lai's mother is stateless is unfounded. She has lived in Taiwan for over 20 years and has been issued a Taiwanese ID card twice, but both times they were canceled. They go on to allege in the letter that Lai's mom should not be allowed to be a Taiwanese resident because so many times prior she had applied and not received it. So why would she suddenly get it now? They state she has records like adultery and theft on her record. They also state that her becoming stateless was a result of her own actions.

1:34:05They state she decided to give up her Chinese household residency. Nobody forced her to do that. It's not something that the Taiwanese people needed to rally around is what they argue. They say that she asked for this basically is what they're saying. They allege that Chen refused to leave Taiwan, refused to leave the family alone. Quote, she was likely coveting the substantial properties of our family. They continue, the Lai family assets were accumulated by the Lai family matriarch and patriarch for over 30 years of hard work and should rightfully belong to the Lai family matriarch. The Lai high school students, 15 and a half million dollars in assets were all improperly gifted.

1:34:43Improperly gifted. What does that mean? They're saying it's not grandpa's choice. It's grandpa and grandma's choice. and because grandma is still alive. So when you have two spouses, it goes to your spouse. It doesn't go to whoever you want it to. Right. Unless like both parties, I guess sign off on it is what they're saying. Right. But grandpa just decided to give it to. But he doesn't have full control. They're saying that's not all of his money. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, okay. That also means the junior and senior, they're the one that helped grandpa managing these things, right? Transfer the ownership.

1:35:18so they know grandma's in the picture too.

1:35:23It's very tricky. They write in the letter, recently Lai's legal team has claimed in the media that his mother is stateless and thus not subject to the inheritance limit of$65 ,000 under Article 67, Section 1. According to the logic of that legal team, if a Chinese person marries a Taiwanese and the Taiwanese spouse dies before the Chinese spouse obtains an ID card, does the Chinese spouse's voluntary renouncement of their Chinese nationality and subsequent statelessness exempt them from the$2 million inheritance limit under the act? Is that even reasonable? What was the original purpose of the provision then?

1:35:58How many Chinese spouses might exploit this legal loophole in the future? Currently, their legal team is publicly pushing for Lai's mother to obtain Taiwanese citizenship, aiming to garner sympathy through media and public opinion, and to pressure the government to issue a Taiwanese ID card. However, during her 20 years in Taiwan, apart from engaging in an affair with her father-in-law, giving birth to a child, seizing millions in assets and multiple theft cases, has she made any positive contributions to the Lai family or Taiwan? This is their letter. It's very aggressive. They continue. For the past 20 years, Lai's mother has continuously harmed the Lai family matriarch, expelling her from her own home, engaging in incest and seizing the majority of the family's wealth.

1:36:40As an incestuous mistress, she tore our family apart and gave birth to a son to take away countless inheritances. Now with her son deceased, she still seeks to inherit all the estate, obtain an ID card, and continue living in lavish lifestyle in Taiwan, enjoying millions in real estate. How can the Lai family matriarch endure all of this? It's very tricky. I will say netizens are divided for this. A lot of people think that, I mean, that was so long ago. That was 20 years ago. she raised her son and her son was mysteriously allegedly killed right it come on now other people think i mean i think this is like a separate thing of they're just fighting for who gets the money but the focus here is what happened to lie like who who's is is he murdered if he is then we need justice for that right but the problem is a lot of netizens have been pointing out his death is the secondary issue.

1:37:38It seems like this inheritance issue is becoming bigger than his actual death. And netizens are really saddened by this whole thing. And even for all of their arguments, his death is just another argument. So Junior, of course, is arguing that it was self-exit. Why? Because it benefits his shot at the inheritance. Everyone has their own beneficial death story. Right, right. So they may hire attorney to achieve their best interest. Yes. But I will say his death is very suspicious though, but it's just kind of shitty that the inheritance seems to be the number one priority. It seems like, okay, this is our number one priority and his death, whichever way benefits this party or this party seems to be what they're going for in a sense, in a way is how netizens feel.

1:38:28It just feels kind of icky. It sucks that you can't trust the official to solve it. Yes. Because then that would be the answer to, you know. And the inheritance could follow after that. So you thought it was just those three parties, Junior, the mom, and the rest of the Lai family, but you have another party that could be viable for the inheritance. So before Grandpa Lai's second son had passed, he had given everything to the second son. Okay. Because if he gives everything to the second son, then it seems like Chen and Lai will benefit. Because Chen and the second son are legally married. Yes.

1:39:09So she would have right to the funds. Yes. But when the second son passed away, he moved it to Lai, the grandson, because he cannot give it to Chen, likely because there is a limit to the inheritance and she's a Chinese national. Yes, yes. It goes to little Lai, right? But the problem is, he had given it to the second son, okay? and they're trying to argue that him giving it to the second son, grandma Lai would have been okay with. But him giving it to little Lai, grandma is not okay with. So that means if grandma Lai also approves of the inheritance going to the second son, that means it would be going to his original daughter, his first daughter, that's actually his flesh and blood with the Indonesian wife.

1:39:53When he dies, that money would be inherited by his offspring. And the only offspring that he has is not Lai because Lai is grandpa Lai's son. It's his daughter with the Indonesian wife. Okay. What does that mean exactly? That means, for example, grandpa and grandma, if they both had consented to giving the full $15 million to their second son, second son dies, right? Now grandpa is trying to give it to little Lai, but they're saying grandma never approved of that which means the inheritance would be stuck with the second son which means after he dies if you look at general inheritance laws because he did not have a will it would go to his offspring his only offspring is the daughter with the indonesian woman oh so he has another granddaughter or remember so the second son he brought in the indonesian woman they had a daughter together and then she left then he brought in chen they didn't have kids together yeah so where is the granddaughter daughter it seems like she might come forward to take a stake in this we don't know because she's also kind of following the laws she could also be the next one yes so there's like so many ways that a bunch of attorneys could argue this whole inheritance law some could say no the inheritance is stuck with the second son when he died because it seems like grandma didn't oppose that inheritance transfer so if that's the case then it would be going to his offspring automatically which is the daughter from his first marriage damn I mean this is just so sad I feel like just to hear this right now imagine when Lai was alive I'm sure this is all ongoing ever since the grandpa passed like this is probably going on like behind the scenes very aggressively and one netizen writes and I think they mean this with as most respect for Lai as possible but it's just the stark reality of things.

1:41:55A child who never asked for this, but their life caused a stir from birth to death. It's like Lai never wanted this. He probably just wanted a normal family. And now his aunts and uncles hate him for what? For existing? For something his parents did? It's not even something he did. There is a battle going on in the civil courts right now, which interestingly, Junior has shown up every single day to court that he has been summoned across months. Even in the winter months when it's pretty cold, in the same blue shirt. It's not even a good looking shirt, but there are allegations that he ritually altered the shirt.

1:42:30Like he basically bewitched the shirt for good luck. It's very interesting. So there's a lot of different aspects of this whole case that people are harping on. He also told the judge that he cannot even describe in words his relationship with Lai. And just a reminder, Junior has not been charged with Lai's death. He is therefore innocent till proven guilty. He has been prosecuted through the civil courts for forgery of their fake marriage, which would likely mean that his marriage to lie has been deemed invalid. And it would likely mean that he's not going to be getting the inheritance. But who knows?

1:43:03It seems like they might be putting up a fight. It is a fake marriage. They said forgery. It seems like it's mainly the law is focused on the witnesses that they asked. Okay, good. Yeah, which could be argued that the witnesses, then it wouldn't be a legitimate marriage certificate because you do need two witnesses. So it's just a little bit confusing. It's not dead set in stone, it seems, from what I can find online that like, no, you're not getting the money. Yeah, it seems like for the next few years, it's going to be very messy. Even if Junior is out of the picture, it's still a matter of getting down to the nitty gritty of what actually happened to lie.

1:43:42And also, who's going to get the money? And you said his body is frozen? Yeah, they're not cremating or burying him because there could be forensic evidence. So they're just keeping him in the morgue for the past year in limbo because of this. And because, yeah, 15 and a half million dollars is on the line. Yeah. Some people feel sympathy for either the family or the mom. mom most people I would just say feel sympathy for lie because he really is just an innocent kid in all of this like he just turned 18 he didn't ask for any of this he didn't do anything wrong he might have been killed because of it and now everyone is still just fighting over the money what are your thoughts on this case what do you think actually happened and who do you think deserves the money let me know in the comments please stay safe and I will see you in the next one