The Taipei Subway Killer | Cheng Chieh | 2014 | 1/2

About this episode

The episode explores the background and motivations of Cheng Chieh, who committed a fatal attack on the Taipei Metro in 2014.

It was 4:25pm on a Wednesday afternoon in Taipei. Commuters, students, strangers were on board a train on the Bannan line heading west to Jiangzicui from Longshan Temple; the longest gap between any two stations on the entire Taipei Metro network. To anyone else, this detail wouldn't mean much, but Cheng Chieh had pondered over this for years. Later, he even revealed to investigators that he chose that specific stretch precisely because he knew it would give him more time. And twenty seconds after leaving the Longshan Temple station, he pulled out a knife. Passengers flooded out of the carriage when the train finally pulled into Jiangzicui, screaming for people on the platform to run. Four people were dead. Twenty-four were injured. It was the first fatal attack on the Taipei Metro since the day it opened. Cheng Chieh was only twenty-one years old. And he had been planning this attach since childhood.   Part 1: We examine Cheng Chieh's troubled background and the conditions that led him to the attack in May of 2014.   Part 2: We dig into the fallout following Cheng Chieh's horrific metro attack, as well as the shocking revelations uncovered during his murder…

Topics covered

• true crime
• Taipei Subway attack
• Cheng Chieh
• murder trial
• mental health

Keywords

• Cheng Chieh
• Taipei Subway
• true crime
• murder trial
• attack

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Taipei, Jiangzicui, Longshan Temple

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