As far as I can tell, at the time the wife was living in Taipei and the husband in Taidong.
I am starting to warm up to the idea of starting a “go fund me” to get @Davesbrother out here so we can help him do the footwork that needs to be done. Flying him out here won’t be much. 30,000 to 40,000 max. And I am sure we can help with accommodations. Dave’s ex-wife said they cared about him (in the correspondence with Dave’s father) and that they were not giving up on the search. Perhaps she would be willing to make contact again and help?
I’d be willing to chip in a few thousand NT.
Which is why it is better that the Canadian Office her does it. They have the authority to inquire on behalf of one of their citizens. And it would look bad if they do not get straight answers.
It was still “their” house.
He left our taidong home unhappily
So I would assume that they owned homes in both places.
I keep telling the wife I want a Honda C90 but she keeps telling me I’m not old enough 
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I intend to go and take pictures. But I hear maybe typhoon. The road is dangerous during a typhoon.
Not to play devil’s advocate, but in relation to the scooter and it’s damage, there is no way to know if the damage was done when he was on the bike, or after it was abandoned.
Not unless analysis was done at the scene of tire streaks, etc. to determine to that the vehicle was at speed when it was hit.
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Why would someone have seen a decent bike that was abandoned and just trash it when then could possibly make money off of it? The bike looked in good condition before something happened to it
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Truck drivers have been over the years known to run over someone twice. Not so common recently might have been 10 years ago or so somewhat common.
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I’ve heard of this happening in China but not here (maybe I’m wrong, though), with the reasoning being that it’s financially cheaper to pay off for someone that is no longer with us. Although the truck drivers on the mountain roads between Hualien and Taipei are bad, I find folks in normal cars to be far, far worse. I no longer drive on the road but did so many times in the past.
This was quite common in the 1990s, to the point where the media was describing it as an epidemic.
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Here’s some drone footage that’s taken near the spot the bike was abandoned. It’s not a sheer cliff at this point, there’s about 5-10 meters of foliage and even after this there is many outcrops. (check at 8:40)
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Because it was dark, and they didn’t see it and hit it, and then took off. I’m not saying it happened, just that it is possible.
Yes several truck drivers have been caught on camera and/or by witnesses to have run over someone and then backed over that same person a few times to make sure they were dead. Because the financial pay out of a death is so much less than an life time of paying out.
The drivers of the big trucks carrying gravel were the worst offenders at that time.
They were the bottom feeders of the big truck world. Just like blue trucks were the bottom feeders of the light truck world in Taiwan.
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Also maybe driving illegally or the company is doing something illegal or they’re on drugs or drunk could be any number of reasons.
Yes and they were often truckers who didn’t have a big truck license or ones that failed at driving container trucks (who were the cream of the truckers back then with a decent salary).
Driving a gravel truck was dangerous. Every now and then one would go over the cliffs on Suao Hualian or some such.
And they got paid a lot less then container truck drivers.
They were a rough breed living a rough life.
I think @tempogain was trying to say it without being too graphic. Cat is out of the bag now and partially my fault.
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A few years ago a Chinese tour bus went off the road and they never found the bus because the water is so deep. Straight drop off under the water.
Actually the timeline makes sense now with these newsreport details:
- Nov 15th - Dave and wife argued on the phone. Dave says he’s going to drive from Taitung to Taipei to see her.
- Nov 16th - Dave sets off from Taidong
- Nov 17th - Police find Dave’s abandoned damaged scooter. They contact his wife (she’s probably the scooter’s legal owner), she tries to contact him but his cellphone is off. She immediately files a missing persons report. Media are contacted (by police and/or wife)
- Nov 18th+ Suspecting possible suicide, Dave’s wife, the coastguard, and the Hualien police department organize a helicopter search of the cliffs near where his scooter was found.
- Nov ??? - Police get back to Dave’ wife with CCTV footage, showing a man (possibly Dave) leaving the in a car with other men. Police call off area search. Case goes cold.
Maybe the helicopter story sounds unbelievable because Dave’s wife didn’t want to mention the possibility of suicide to her family (she feels to blame?)
It’s also very possible that the 5th person getting in the car was not Dave; maybe the police just wanted to close the case asap. Try to get a copy of the CCTV footage, the wife must have it.
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