NIJSWILLER/MAASTRICHT - The 36-year-old Chinese woman suspected of murdering a 45-year-old compatriot in Nijswiller confessed to committing the murder shortly before her suicide. The woman made her confession in a farewell letter found after her death. She had also written an admission of guilt on the underside of her mattress. The woman suffered severe psychological problems a few days after her arrest in early November.Lawyer G. van Tilborg of the male suspect gang L. 36, the boyfriend of the woman who committed suicide in mid-January, is therefore convinced that his client had no part in the homicide. It was allegedly committed on the night of Sept. 28 and 29, after an argument over money. Both women worked as prostitutes.

According to his lawyer, the man, who must appear in court in Maastricht next Tuesday, now states that he did not arrive at the house in Nijswiller, where the women lived, until the morning of Sept. 29. At that time, Cha would have already died by strangulation. L. allegedly helped hide her body. That was found Monday, Oct. 18, in a travel trunk in a cornfield. Counsel S. Weening of the Chinese woman has "very strong doubts" about whether the farewell letter contains the truth. "From the first moment she has said that he was the perpetrator and she has maintained that to the last. Once she stated to the police that she had done it, but she retracted that statement again. It is clear that she wants to exonerate her friend and that is to her credit, but I am convinced that it is no longer what she wrote."

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