Nearly seven years ago, a Mountain View woman disappeared in Taiwan without a trace, prompting an international investigation that led to the eventual arrest of her husband. Now Dateline, the national NBC television show, is set to broadcast the story at 9 p.m. Friday.
Alice Ku, a 36-year-old Mountain View resident, went missing in Taiwan in 2019 while on a trip with her husband, Harald Herchen, a Canadian citizen and engineer. The exact circumstances of Ku’s disappearance are not known, but in 2023, a Santa Clara County judge ruled that Ku died in Taroko National Park, an area with rugged terrain where she had been traveling with her husband, according to court records. Her body was never recovered.
Ku’s parents, who live in Taiwan, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Herchen in 2021, a little more than a year after Ku went missing. They suspected he had a role in her disappearance and alleged that he covered up her murder from family and friends. Last July, a jury awarded Ku’s family $23.6 million.
“It is a symbol of accountability for the defendant, but it doesn’t bring their daughter back,” Todd Davis, the family’s attorney, said at the time.
Before the civil verdict, it was highly unlikely that Herchen would have faced criminal charges in the U.S. or Taiwan for Ku’s disappearance or death, according to Andrew Watters, an investigator for the Ku family. It is a federal crime for U.S. citizens to kill other U.S. citizens abroad, but the legal statute does not apply to non-U.S. citizens, Watters told this publication last year. Herchen has Canadian citizenship.
From the civil case though, the Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney’s Office found an opening to file perjury charges against Herchen, based on inconsistent testimony that he provided in depositions. Police arrested Herchen at his home in Los Altos last September. If convicted, Herchen could face up to seven years in prison, Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker said at the time.
Herchen’s attorney told this publication in September that his client did not commit perjury and intended to enter a not guilty plea.
To view a trailer of the Dateline broadcast, called “The Gorge,” visit the NBC News website.