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‘I’m Sorry, Mom,’ Man Says As He's Sentenced For For Killing, Dismembering His Own Mother
“I want to make clear that he did love his mother and she was a very good mother,” Yu Wei Gong's attorney said.
A man who admitted to killing and dismembering his own mom before stuffing her body parts inside a refrigerator in their Honolulu apartment has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Yu Wei Gong was charged with murder after he called police in 2017 to turn himself in after a suicide attempt. He admitted killing his mother, Liu Yun Gong, about six months earlier during an argument about him returning to school, according to court documents.
"I killed my mom," he told 911 dispatchers in April of that year, according to KHON2 in Honolulu. During the six months between the grisly murder and his admission, Gong reportedly posed as his dead mother to some degree, telling her coworker she was around and using her checkbook to pay rent each month.
When officers asked where his mother was after he'd reached out to them, he answered “in the fridge.”
An officer searched the freezer and found human remains, including two arms with hands and a decapitated head, in numerous plastic trash bags, court documents said.
Last year, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, avoiding a life sentence. His defense attorney and the prosecutor in the case said it’s a deal the victim’s family supports.
Gong, 28, spent most of Monday’s sentencing looking down. He spoke quietly as he apologized to his family in China and Hawaii. “I am ashamed for what I did,” he said. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
Gong feels he doesn’t deserve the forgiveness his family has given him, said Darcia Forester, his public defender.
“I want to make clear that he did love his mother and she was a very good mother,” she said. “Under no circumstances did she deserve what happened.”
Judge Paul Wong noted the “obviously sensational facts” in the case and sentenced Gong to 20 years for manslaughter and 10 years for identity theft, to be served separately. A one-year sentence for abuse of a corpse is to be served at the same time. Gong will receive credit for time he’s already served.
The identity theft charge stems from Gong paying rent with his mother’s checking account.
A parole board will determine the minimum number of years Gong must serve. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Wayne Tashima said his office won’t recommend less than 20 years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
[Photo: Associated Press]
