The thief stole the chicken and butchered the bird in the vegetable garden near the chicken coop. When 72-year-old Lo Mei-jung went to feed the chickens in the morning, he found blood and messy feathers on the ground. He complained to the neighbors and collapsed soon after. He was taken to the hospital but he died two hours later.

According to Fan Jing-shui, chief of Lungchang Li, which comprises hundreds of households, Lo was a warm-hearted man and had been the head of his neighborhood for more than ten years.

Lo and about twenty villagers kept a vegetable garden with a chicken coop, said Fan. Even though the greens and animals are stolen from time to time, villagers never took it seriously, Fan added. But “killing the chicken at the scene is too brutal” he continued.