Three months after the ashes of late Cantopop superstar Anita Mui were stolen and remain missing, a new lead has emerged, with veteran filmmaker and screenwriter Manfred Wong saying the suspected thief may have been a temple cleaner who resigned shortly after the incident and flew to Southeast Asia.
Wong revealed the development on his personal YouTube channel on Sunday (Oct. 18), saying he had received information from Eva, president of the Anita Mui "Fong Sum Wui" fan club. According to the information, the person suspected of taking Mui's ashes was believed to have worked as a cleaner at the temple. The individual reportedly left HK for Southeast Asia by air shortly after the incident.
Wong said police conducted extensive checks and found footage from a coach's dashboard camera showing a person in a numbered temple-cleaning uniform leaving the Hoi Wui Pagoda one morning in early July. The person was then seen behaving suspiciously before entering a wooded area behind the hill and disappearing from view.
After checking staff attendance records, police reportedly identified the worker as "Ah Keung". However, the individual had resigned shortly after the incident and had already flown from HK to Southeast Asia, Wong said.
Wong also speculated that the theft of human ashes was likely intended to extort money. However, Mui's mother died suddenly on Aug. 30 this year, which may have disrupted the suspected thief's plan and left the individual temporarily without an obvious target for extortion after taking the ashes to Southeast Asia.
Mui's elder brother, Mui Kai-ming, has claimed to offer a HK$50,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the ashes. Wong questioned whether the offer was genuine, accusing Mui Kai-ming of using the incident to gain attention and solicit money.
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