Teen Told Police She Was Haunted by a Ghost — Then a Tortured Woman’s Skull Was Found in a Hello Kitty Doll

In 1999, 23-year-old nightclub hostess Fan Man-yee was abducted, tortured, and killed by three men in Hong Kong in a meth-fueled crime that would later be called the “Hello Kitty Murder.” The nickname came from the horrifying discovery of her skull sewn inside a Hello Kitty mermaid doll.

The tragedy began over a debt. Fan reportedly owed about HK$20,000 (around $2,500 USD) to Chan Man-lok, a local gangster and triad member, according to the South China Morning Post.

Chan, along with Leung Shing-cho and Leung Wai-lun, kidnapped Fan and took her to a third-floor apartment in Kowloon filled with Hello Kitty decorations. Prosecutors later testified that the men were high on methamphetamine for most of the month-long ordeal.

For several weeks, Fan endured relentless abuse — she was beaten, starved, and restrained. A 13-year-old girl known in court as Ah Fong testified that she witnessed and occasionally participated in the attacks, according to the South China Morning Post. She recounted that Fan was burned with hot objects, struck with water pipes, and tied to a rack for hours with her hands bound over her head.

Ah Fong, who had run away from home and fallen in with Chan’s group, described a flat consumed by drug use and violence. Court records cited by The Washington Post revealed that Fan was assaulted almost daily. Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she eventually died — though the cause of death could not be determined due to the condition of her remains.

In May 1999, Ah Fong went to a police station in Tsim Sha Tsui, claiming she was haunted by the ghost of a woman who had died in the Granville Road flat, per the South China Morning Post. Police followed her to the apartment, where they found three bags containing Fan’s dismembered remains. Her skull was discovered inside the Hello Kitty doll, while other parts were discarded with household waste and never recovered.

The case stunned Hong Kong, a city known for its low crime rate.

Justice Peter Nguyen, who presided over the trial, said according to The Washington Post:

“Never in Hong Kong in recent years has a court heard of such cruelty, depravity, callousness, brutality, violence, and viciousness. The public is entitled to protection from people such as you.”

After a six-week trial, the jury convicted Chan, Leung, and Leung of manslaughter instead of murder, citing insufficient evidence to determine how Fan died. All three received life sentences.

Ah Fong, who cooperated fully with authorities and testified in court, was granted immunity, according to reports from both the South China Morning Post and The Washington Post.