Canadian teacher found murdered, beheaded, dismembered in Taiwan

On Wednesday afternoon, a headless, limbless corpse was discovered on a riverbank in New Taipei City.

The body was that of 43-year-old Ramgahan Sanjay Ryan, an English teacher from Canada who had worked in Taiwan for more than 10 years. Police believe that his extremely grisly murder may have been drug-related, committed by two other foreigners.

According to Taiwan News, surveillance camera footage shows Ryan leaving his home on Tuesday evening and visiting an ATM where he withdrew a large amount of cash. He is then seeing returning home before taking his dog, Lulu, out for an evening walk. This was the last time that he was seen alive.

The following day, two of Ryan’s friends went over to his house. They didn’t find him at home, however, they did find Lulu, with a mysterious cut on her nose.

Knowing that Ryan often took his dog out for walks along the river, the pair headed that way with Lulu. Soon, the dog picked up her owner’s scent and led them straight to his decapitated, dismembered body at around 1 pm on Wednesday afternoon.

Nearby, police discovered plastic bags containing Ryan’s head, right arm, and right leg. Later, divers also discovered the remains of his left leg. His left arm has still not been found. In addition, police have found blood stains on the path along the river and two machetes, leading them to suspect that there was more than one killer.

What was not found not on Ryan’s body was any money. Despite him having withdrawn NT$100,000 ($3,200) on the night of his murder. After finding his cell phone and accessing the contents, police believe that they may know why, suspecting that the killing was more than robbery.

Taiwan News reports that Ryan is said to have been a drug dealer, buying and selling drugs at the riverside park where his body was found. Last March, he was arrested and attempted to submit tap water as a urine sample. This May, he was arrested again, fingered for having provided a number of foreigners with marijuana who were then busted carrying the stuff at Taipei nightclub. A raid on Ryan’s home turned up 103 pouches of dried cannabis.

On his phone, police found evidence that Ryan was in conflict with two individuals — a Russian man and a female American teacher — over having taken a large amount of drugs from them, but having failed to pay. On the night of his murder, Ryan received a text message from one of the suspects, telling him to meet at the “old spot.”

Police believe that the pair of suspects then murdered, decapitated, and dismembered Ryan before dumping his remains in the river, not knowing that the tide would drop back down the following day. They worry that both suspects may have already fled Taiwan and are also searching for four of their friends in connection with the case.

[Images via Apple Daily]

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