Warning: This story contains graphic details. A Port Coquitlam woman suffering from paranoid schizophrenia has been found not criminally responsible for stabbing her twin sister to death, then dismembering and burning her remains. Pen Jung Tracy Chen went on trial Thursday in New Westminster Superior Court on charges of first-degree murder and indecency with a dead body for the 2020 killing of her twin sister, Ivy Chen. The court heard Tracy stabbed Ivy to death in the Port Coquitlam apartment they shared on March 8, 2020, believing her sister was not really her sister. Citing an expert assessment of Chen’s mental state, Crown attorney Lauren Kristjanson said: “(Chen) believed her sister had been taken over by other forces and became involved in a plot by the Canadian government to kill her and use her body for experiments.” Kristjanson added that Chen believed she would kill herself on her birthday in May. “She saw killing her sister as something justified to save her life. She had to kill her sister before her birthday,” Kristjanson told the court. Although Chen did not have an official diagnosis of schizophrenia before her sister’s murder, two experts concluded that it was “probably present” at the time. In the days after the murder, the court heard Chen bought supplies to dismember the body. A chainsaw, hacksaw and various other bladed instruments were later found in the home. The court heard that Chen also tried to “dissolve” the remains in acid, which was ultimately unsuccessful. On March 10, 2020, Chen drove the remains to Coquitlam’s Minnekhada Regional Park and attempted to burn them. When first responders arrived, they found various body parts inside two large pots, which had been set on fire. Chen was at the scene when fire crews arrived and when asked what she was doing there, she replied: “I just had to get it out.” When asked what she was burning, she said: “Things I didn’t want.” He was arrested on the spot and has been in custody since then. Both Crown and defense lawyers argued that Chen should not be held criminally responsible based on her mental disorder. Ultimately, Judge Michael Brundrett agreed. Her case will now go to a review board, which will determine if she poses a risk to the public. Outside court, Chen’s defense lawyer suggested she has since felt remorse for her actions. “I think she has some understanding of what happened and she feels terrible about it, and she’s going to have to deal with that for the rest of her life,” Chris Johnson said. “I’ve been doing this for almost 35 years and I would say the facts of this case are really up there in terms of tragedy and what the human mind can do.”
