Chien-Kuo Lin, a 67-year-old man, had a sense of foreboding when he went to his ex-wife's home in North Wales, a suburb of Philadelphia, to retrieve some of his belongings. His concern was so great that he requested a police officer to accompany him. The officer's presence, however, was a temporary shield. Less than half an hour after the officer departed, the fragile peace was shattered, and Lin was found dead in the garage of the two-story home on South Sixth Street on a Sunday afternoon in May 2016. The cause of death was a single gunshot wound to his chest.
His ex-wife, 63-year-old Hsiu-Chin 'Linda' Lin, was discovered by responding officers sitting at the kitchen table with a. 38 caliber revolver in front of her. In the week leading up to the fatal encounter, she had reportedly been practicing firing the weapon in her backyard. On the day of the shooting, as her ex-husband moved boxes from the garage, she emerged from the house with the gun. She ominously asked their adult son if he would blame her if she killed his father. Ignoring his plea, she proceeded to call her daughter, shouting over the phone that she was going to kill him. Shortly after, gunshots rang out. It was Hsiu-Chin Lin who then instructed her son to call 911.
Following the incident, Hsiu-Chin Lin was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors suggested the motive was tied to a family business she felt he had taken from her and the fact that he was living with another woman. Initially facing a life sentence, she later pleaded guilty to third-degree murder. Her defense attorney argued that she had 'snapped' after years of alleged physical and sexual abuse by her ex-husband. Ultimately, she was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for the death of Chien-Kuo Lin.
