In May 1999, Hong Kong was rocked by a crime so horrifying that it became one of the city’s most notorious cases. This is the story of the Hello Kitty murder, where a young woman’s life was brutally ended, and her head was stuffed inside a Hello Kitty doll. This crime shocked the entire nation and left a lasting scar on the city.
It all started when a 14-year-old girl, known as Ah Fong, walked into a Hong Kong police station. She was scared and claimed that she was being haunted by the ghost of a woman. At first, the police didn’t believe her. But then she told them something that made them listen—she said she had helped in the murder of this woman, and she knew where the body was hidden.
The police followed Ah Fong to an apartment in the crowded Kowloon district. What they found inside was beyond anything they could have imagined. The apartment was filled with Hello Kitty items—curtains, towels, and even silverware all featured the popular character. But there was one thing that stood out: an oversized Hello Kitty doll. Inside that doll was the decapitated head of Fan Man-yee, the woman Ah Fong had spoken of.
Fan Man-yee’s life had been tough from the start. She was abandoned as a baby and grew up in an orphanage. At 16, she was left to fend for herself on the streets of Hong Kong. She became addicted to drugs and eventually turned to sex work to survive. Despite her struggles, she tried to turn her life around when she got married and had a son. But her troubles weren’t over.
In 1997, Fan met Chan Man-lok, a 34-year-old pimp and drug dealer. Desperate for money to feed her addiction, Fan stole $4,000 from Chan. Furious, Chan demanded that she repay the money with interest. When Fan couldn’t pay, Chan decided to make an example of her.
In March 1999, Chan had Fan kidnapped and brought to an apartment on Granville Road. For a month, Fan endured horrific torture. She was beaten, burned, and bound with electrical wires. The abuse was unending, and Ah Fong, Chan’s girlfriend at the time, also took part in the cruelty.
Fan was tortured until she was too weak to move. Finally, on April 15, 1999, she died from her injuries. But the horror didn’t end there. Chan and his accomplices dismembered her body and boiled the remains to cover up the crime. They even used the same utensils to cook their meals. Fan’s head was stuffed inside the Hello Kitty doll, a twisted and gruesome act that would become the symbol of this case.
The discovery of Fan’s remains led to the arrest of Chan Man-lok and his two accomplices. During the trial, they all denied killing Fan, claiming she died of a drug overdose. However, the jury found them guilty of manslaughter, and they were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
Ah Fong, who had helped bring the case to light, was not charged. But the psychological toll of her involvement in the crime would stay with her forever.
The Hello Kitty murder case remains one of Hong Kong’s most disturbing crimes.
The brutality of the murder and the shocking cover-up left a lasting impact on the city, highlighting the dark and hidden dangers that can exist behind closed doors.
