A woman strangled with her bag in broad daylight on Nuns’ Island. A killer who leaves virtually no trace. A suspect who had no apparent motive. But who killed Tammy? According to the Crown, the assassin is Frank Cao, the owner of a daycare on the South Shore of Montreal.
“This case is a real thriller. A whodunit. Who killed Tammy? », Launched to the jury the Crown prosecutor Me Matthew Ferguson in his opening statement to the trial. Frank Cao, a 65-year-old Montrealer, is charged with the first degree murder of Shao Jing “Tammy” Lu, a woman in her fifties.
Why would Frank Cao target this woman? In “all likelihood” he was a “stranger” to Tammy. No one in the victim’s entourage had heard of him and there is no indication that they knew each other, or even less, that they were dating, the Crown points out.
In short, the motive for the murder remains a “mystery”, according to Me Ferguson.
PHOTO FROM COMPLEXEAETERNA.COM
Shao Jing “Tammy” Lu
12:07 p.m., September 7, 2020. Tammy is in a hurry. Her appointment at a beauty salon in Chinatown is in half an hour. She comes down from 25e floor of the Eveolo condo tower on Île des Sœurs to the indoor parking lot. However, she will never arrive at her appointment. Her daughter will make the terrible discovery the same evening.
“Inside the garage a killer was lurking. A killer who will leave Tammy lifeless, locked in her vehicle, curled up on the floor of the back seat. The strap of her handbag wrapped around her neck, strangled to death,” M described to the jurye Ferguson, who teams up with prosecutor Me Tian Meng.
A suspect appears in the investigation: Frank Cao. On the fateful day, he entered the parking lot around 7:40 a.m., then stayed there for five hours, according to the Crown. Frank Cao was already the owner and tenant of an apartment in this tower, but this was no longer the case in 2020. However, he had kept his access cards, indicates the Crown.
“He had no business there. And he had even less business to spend five hours there,” concluded Me Ferguson. Note that Frank Cao owned a daycare in Sainte-Catherine.
According to the prosecution’s theory, after the murder, Frank Cao quickly exited through a fire exit, before reappearing 13 minutes later, then slipping away through a secondary entrance. He wore his hood on his head, even though it was 30 degrees Celsius.
“The killer did his best not to leave any clues,” said M.e Ferguson.
There were in fact no fingerprints at the crime scene. However, the DNA of an “unknown person” was found on the surface of the victim’s handbag. The investigation finally made it possible to link this DNA to that of Frank Cao, according to the prosecution. And thanks to “technological advances,” Frank Cao’s DNA was later identified under the fingernails of the victim’s left hand. An expert in DNA analysis will come and explain this discovery.
Many civilian and expert witnesses will be called to testify for the prosecution during this trial lasting several weeks which is taking place at the Gouin Judicial Center in Montreal before Judge Catherine Perreault.
Me Joseph La Leggia and Me Pierre L’Ecuyer defends the accused