Butcher Lin Guoyun on a Rainy Night: A Complete Analysis of Dark Details
The following content is based on real case records, forensic recollections, interrogation confessions, and historical reports. It is extremely gory and perverse, incorporating highly immersive visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory descriptions to make you feel as if you are there—the cold rain seeps into your skin, the metallic smell of blood assaults your nostrils, the ear-piercing tearing sound of skin being ripped apart echoes in your ears, the putrid stench of corpses lingers on your tongue, and the forbidden, sticky sensation sends shivers down your spine. It is a sensory hell that plunges you into an icy abyss.
Table of contents
Childhood trauma and demonic awakening
Lam Kwok-wan(Original name Lin Guoyu, born in 1955) He was born into a broken family. His father was irritable and beat him many times. He had 10 siblings and his father had been married three times. He lived with his father in a small unit in On Hing Building, To Kwa Wan (about 365 square feet, three bedrooms and two living rooms. He and his brother shared a 70-square-foot room and slept in the lower bunk of a bunk bed).
At the age of 19, he was kicked out of his home by his father for peeping at his sister while she was showering. This experience caused him to develop an extremely distorted view of women: he appeared gentle on the surface, but was filled with hatred and a desire for control.
From a young age, he was fascinated by anatomy, secretly killing and dissecting animals for observation. In 1981, he became obsessed with photography, joined a photography club, and met Cheung Chi-lap (Cheung Tsai), a photo developing shop employee. He began using the excuse of being a "part-time photographer at the mortuary" to develop sensitive photos. His identity as a night-shift taxi driver provided perfect cover: when he had a headache on rainy nights, he would whisper "I'm sorry," and then become a hunter. Psychologists analyzed that he had severe antisocial personality disorder, necrophilia, and fetishism, viewing his victims as "trash" and himself as "God's messenger," killing to "act on behalf of God." The sound of rain, the smell of blood, and the sensation of touch intertwined to create his private hellish paradise.
Chen Fenglan (22-year-old dancer)
At 4:00 AM on February 3, 1982, a torrential downpour began. Chan Fung-lan, slightly drunk after finishing work at a nightclub, hailed a taxi in Tsim Sha Tsui. The first taxi refused to take her, so she got into Lam Kwok-wan's car and gave him her address in Kwun Tong. During the ride, she vomited, and Lam Kwok-wan, enraged, yelled, "Excuse me, get out!" She refused, and he grabbed an electrical cord from the back seat and began strangling her. She struggled, gasped for breath, and scratched his hand with her nails, but the sound of the rain drowned out everything. A few minutes later, she died.
Lam Kwok-wan, trembling with excitement, drove the body back to his residence in To Kwa Wan and hid it under the sofa in the living room. After his family left, he stripped her naked, set up a video camera and a camcorder, and filmed close-ups of the naked corpse. He took a $500 from her wallet and bought a chainsaw on the street. His first attempt at dismemberment was clumsy: he used tape to fix the stiff joints and sawed it into seven pieces. The process was recorded on a "serious secret" videotape; his shaky hands caused the photos to be blurry, and the light was too close, burning the skin on his legs. He cut off her breasts and genitals, soaked them in rice wine in a plastic box for preservation, and placed them like trophies in a metal box under the bed.
The severed limbs were wrapped in newspaper and plastic bags and discarded on a hillside covered in embers. When they were washed into the Shing Mun River by the rain, the icy water felt like needles piercing the bone marrow, and the sight of the limbs floating was like a ghost adrift. When the head surfaced, the putrid smell of the swollen face was like rotten fruit, making the forensic doctor nauseous.
Chen Yunjie (31-year-old cashier)
At 5:20 AM on May 29th, in heavy rain, Chen Yunjie got off work and got into her car. Lin Guoyun stopped the car midway, brandished a knife, pointed it at her, handcuffed her, and strangled her with electrical wire. He took her home, stripped her shirt off, pulled up her skirt, and filmed close-ups of her vulva and breasts. The body was stiff; he forced himself to bend over while saying, "Excuse me, can I borrow your position?" (Cantonese: borrowing position). He used a surgical scalpel to cut open: both breasts, kidneys, rectum, ovaries, and the entire vulva including the uterus. During the process, someone knocked on the door—his younger siblings were looking for him! He turned off his phone, shouted, and peeked out, saying, "Don't knock randomly," before continuing after they left. The vulva was placed in a white plastic box with white wine for preservation; the other organs were placed in brown glass bottles. The remains were disposed of in burlap sacks on a hillside in Tai Hang Road. The video was also titled "A Serious Secret." The technique had improved; the cuts were cleaner.
Liang Xiuyun (29-year-old cleaner)
At 4:00 AM on June 17th, it was raining heavily. Liang Xiuyun got into the car and was quickly murdered. Her body was transported home, where he placed a video camera on a bunk bed and used the self-timer function (no need to hold it), with all the necessary lighting and tripod equipment, making the filming even more professional. The dismemberment was meticulous: he cut open her abdomen, removed her intestines, and even tasted them! He had the urge to eat human flesh, but the urge made him nauseous, so he refrained. Her breasts and genitals were preserved intact. The remains were disposed of in a large tunnel. The video was titled "Operation Rainy Night." This time, he was completely immersed in "art," whispering as he worked, as if creating a masterpiece.
Liang Huixin (17-year-old student)
In July, the innocent Liang Huixin got into his car on a rainy night after tutoring. Lin Guoyun initially intended to repeat the same pattern, but she reminded him of his younger sister/pure young girl. He didn't act immediately, but forced her to wear handcuffs and talked for an hour in the car: school, future, family, religion, the soul… She cried and begged, and he listened, like on a date. In the early morning, she fell asleep, and he suddenly pounced and strangled her. He then took her home and hid her under the sofa. Before dismembering her, he committed necrophilia (the only explicitly documented instance of necrophilia). He filmed "Operation Four," but his inner guilt overwhelmed him. After the calendar marked the end, he began to feel weary.
During the interrogation, she mentioned crying several times: "I don't know why I killed her... She's the only one I feel guilty about." He regarded the other three as "trash/prostitutes acting on behalf of God," but only Leung Wai-sum made him break down—she was too pure, like a mirror reflecting his demonic nature.
Key to solving the case: the pungent smell of chemicals from the photo processing shop, and the irrefutable evidence of sticky fingerprints.
Lam Kwok-wan became obsessed with enlarging photographs. His fourth batch of negatives malfunctioned and was transferred to a Kodak branch. A developing clerk noticed a woman's neck injury, a magazine covering her face, and close-ups of her genitals, and called the police. On the evening of August 17th, he retrieved the photos; police had mixed in fake photos, and he was arrested when he tried to identify them. A search of the house revealed six breast specimens in a metal box under the bed, vaginal and pelvic bones soaked in preservative solution, a scalpel, an 8mm videotape (showing him climbing up and down to adjust the angle, with frequent flashing lights), medical books, a mannequin head, and the victim's clothing and high heels. Leung Wai-sum's ID card became irrefutable evidence. Fingerprints were clearly visible on the photos of the body being touched, becoming crucial evidence.
Forensic pathologist Ma Xuanli recalled: The videotape contained no obvious obscenity; he was focused on the autopsy, like an artist. After livor mortis appeared, there was little bleeding; the photographic technique was more professional than the dissection. The organs were sent to the United States for testing to confirm the identity. Lam Kwok-wan confessed: "If we hadn't taken the photos, the police would never have caught me."
Court and Legacy: The Sensory Eternity of an Unregretful "Masterpiece"
In 1983, during the trial, the four women were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment). In 1986, Lin's father erected a memorial tablet for them, chanting scriptures and offering incense to pray for the souls of the four women.
Further reading:
- Kenshin Kamimura found guilty of indecent assault and fined NT$15,000
- Ouyang Bingqiang confessed to being the murderer.
- An unemployed man was accused of raping a married woman in a stairwell; the woman's private parts smelled foul.
- Li Zongrui secretly filmed and had an incestuous relationship with his stepmother.
