Police have located the source of a 4.9 kilogram piece of metal that flew through the windscreen of a vehicle on an expressway in Pintung County, southern Taiwan last week, killing the driver, after screening hours of footage and 2,000 vehicles.

“It was like looking for a needle in a haystack” said Pingtung Precinct deputy chief Hung Kuo-yuan (???) when explaining to reporters how difficult it was to find the source of the piece of metal on Sunday, following the precinct’s announcement that it had solved the case.

A 62-year-old woman surnamed Lee (?), identified as a teacher at a senior high school in Kaohsiung, was hit on the head by the piece of metal while driving on a northbound section of the Pingtung-Kaohsiung Provincial Highway 88 in Pingtung’s Wandan Township at 6:50 a.m. Thursday.

The object penetrated the windshield of the car and struck Lee on her head. She was found dead in the vehicle when police arrived on the scene, according to local police.

A police taskforce was quickly formed to identify the source of the piece of metal, precinct investigation squad head Yeh Hsien-wei (???) told the press on Sunday.

He explained that 62 officers spent three days reviewing CCTV footage of the expressway as well as neighboring freeways and roads.

According to Yeh, police found the piece of metal covered in blood at the scene. It was roughly 30cm in length, 15cm wide, 2cm-3cm thick and weighed 4.9kg.

After reviewing video footage from the dashcam of Lee’s car, police determined that she was killed by the piece of metal which they identified as coming from a certain make of vehicle produced in a specific year, which enabled them to narrow the focus of their search, Yeh said.

Police ultimately found that the piece of metal fell from a tractor being driven by a 60-year-old man surnamed Hou (?), 10 minutes before it was driven over by a man surnamed Hsu (?), 50.

The second vehicle apparently caused the piece of metal to fly into the air, hitting Lee’s car in the opposite lane, Yeh said.

When Hou and Hsu were located by police on Saturday, both appeared to be unaware of the incident, he added.

In a statement released Sunday, Pingtung Precinct said the two drivers have been taken to the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office for further investigation on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel