A man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his estranged wife, whose body was found Aug. 27 in a suitcase in the Fraser River at Steveston.
Police did not reveal the discovery of the body of 27-yearold Lancy Hu until Sunday, when they also announced the charge against her husband, Zhongming (James) Mou, 35.
Sgt. Jennifer Pound, of the RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said details were kept from the public in order to "advance the investigation.
"This allowed investigators to use a variety of techniques and gather sufficient evidence for charge approval," Pound told reporters in Burnaby on Sunday.
She said boaters found the Burnaby woman's body stuffed in a suitcase in the Fraser River west of Steveston in late August.
The mother of two young children had been missing since mid-July. She and her husband had been living apart.
"They did have a history of marital problems," Pound said.
Mou reported his wife missing on July 18. At the time, he told investigators he dropped her off near her apartment in the Metrotown area on July 15.
Mou later changed his story, telling police instead that he last saw her as she left their marital home in Coquitlam on July 16. Until Sunday, Mou had not been named as a suspect in the case. IHIT took over the case in late August.
When news broke of their daughter's disappearance, Hu's parents came to Richmond from their home in China. On Aug. 25 they made an appeal for the public's help to bring their daughter home to her children. Pound said the children are in the care of their father's parents, adding that the Ministry of Children and Family Development is monitoring the situation.
