A Santa Clara County jury has awarded the household of a Mountain View lady who disappeared a number of years in the past in Taiwan greater than $23 million within the wrongful loss of life go well with they filed in opposition to her husband, who has an energetic warrant for his arrest in that nation.
Weichiao Ku and Pi-Lien Kuo filed go well with in opposition to Harald Herchen, 66, following the disappearance of their daughter Alice Ku in 2019 whereas she and her husband have been visiting the Taroko Nationwide Park.
Todd Davis, an lawyer representing the household, stated the decision supplied justice within the saga to seek out the reality about what occurred to Ku, who was days in need of her thirty seventh birthday on the time of her loss of life and described as “just about everybody’s favorite.”
Ku, who grew up in Los Gatos and graduated from Saratoga Excessive Faculty and Santa Clara College, married Herchen, a Canadian citizen and an engineer at Bloom Power, in Santa Clara County in 2017.
Nevertheless, an investigation refuted his account and revealed a number of inconsistencies along with his story.
A doctor who handled Herchen additionally testified that he broke his hand on the date Ku disappeared.
Monetary information and log-in knowledge from Ku’s accounts additionally confirmed no exercise following the date she disappeared.
Her household was first alerted that one thing may be amiss on Dec. 2, 2019, once they have been unable to contact her on her birthday.
Davis stated a couple of days later, they have been notified that Ku, who was a tutor, missed a number of classes with college students, which her shoppers stated was out of character.”
Ku’s household made vital efforts to seek out her, hiring a number of attorneys and investigators, and supplied a $1,000,000 reward in Taiwanese {dollars} for info. In addition they questioned the efforts Herchen had taken, or the dearth thereof.
Taiwanese regulation enforcement officers think about Herchen a suspect, however there isn’t any extradition treaty between the 2 nations.
Santa Clara County Deputy District Legal professional Rob Baker stated he couldn’t touch upon the case as a result of the disappearance of Ku continues to be below investigation by the Taiwanese authorities. Generally, he said that there have been three vital challenges for U.S. regulation enforcement in prosecuting extraterritorial homicides.
“If another country wants to prosecute someone for a killing, the suspect will likely never be prosecuted unless there is an extradition treaty,” Baker stated. “Second, except in very unusual circumstances, state prosecutors don’t have jurisdiction to prosecute killings committed outside of the U.S. Doing so generally requires evidence that the perpetrator planned to kill before leaving the country. Third, it is a federal crime for U.S. citizens to kill other U.S. citizens abroad; however, that law does not apply to non-citizens who kill U.S. citizens abroad, even if they live in the U.S. It’s an interesting loophole.”
Including to the intrigue of the case have been the questionable circumstances surrounding the loss of life of Herchen’s earlier spouse, who died 4 months earlier than he and Ku married.
Whereas his earlier spouse’s loss of life was attributed to sleep apnea, an post-mortem report indicated that she had a number of unexplained accidents on her physique.
Within the fast aftermath of the decision, Herchen’s lawyer, Chuck Smith, stated his shopper continues to take care of innocence.
Smith stated that he and his shopper have but to find out their subsequent steps, together with whether or not they’ll problem the jury award.
“We haven’t recovered from the shock of the verdict,” Smith stated. “I don’t know if it will be post-trial motions or an appeal.”
Initially Printed: July 19, 2025 at 6:21 PM PDT
