TAIPEI — 1981 · Suspicious Death

The Death of Chen Wen-chen — The Professor Found on Campus

UnsolvedSources: ALast updated: 14 October 2026

Chen Wen-chen, a Taiwanese statistics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, returned to Taiwan in the summer of 1981 to visit his family. The Taiwan Garrison Command, the security agency of the martial law era, first questioned him on 30 June and then detained him on 2 July, interrogating him for more than 12 hours. The next day, 3 July 1981, his body was found on the campus of National Taiwan University. Authorities first suggested suicide and later an accident. American forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who examined the case, concluded that the death was a homicide. In its 2020 report, Taiwan's Transitional Justice Commission said Chen was most likely killed by state security agents, but the case officially remains unsolved.

Date: 1981
Place: National Taiwan University campus, Taipei, TW
Category: Suspicious Death
Case Status: Unsolved
Coordinates: 25.0170, 121.5400 ↗

Timeline of Events

30 June 1981The Garrison Command questioned Chen for the first time.
2 July 1981Chen was detained and interrogated for more than 12 hours.
3 July 1981His body was found on the National Taiwan University campus.

1981US pathologist Cyril Wecht stated that the death was a homicide.
May 2020The Transitional Justice Commission reported state agents were most likely responsible.

Sources

Focus Taiwan — Transitional justice report on Chen Wen-chen focustaiwan.tw ↗
Focus Taiwan — Chen Wen-chen remembered focustaiwan.tw ↗
Wikipedia — Chen Wen-chen en.wikipedia.org ↗
Focus Taiwan (CNA)
The New York Times
Wikipedia (EN)

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