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A doctor in California was attacked with a frying pan and set on fire in her $2.6 million home, reportedly after requesting that her husband nullify their prenuptial agreement, say prosecutors.
Irene Gaw-Lai, 56, was discovered in the burned living room of the San Marino residence she shared with her estranged husband, Yoon ‘Kevin’ Lai, 63, and their 16-year-old twin sons.
Half a year after the tragic event on January 6, Lai faced charges for his wife’s murder following an investigation that revealed she had been severely beaten, sustaining injuries such as a broken nose, damaged eye socket, and missing tooth.
A frying pan, suspected to be the weapon, was located next to a metal baseball bat, both bearing blood traces, as outlined in a death investigation summary presented in court.
The room where she was found had then been set on fire, and Gaw-Lai was found to have burns across 60 percent of her body.
Court records accessed by the LA Times indicate the shocking death culminated from a tumultuous 22-year marriage marked by multiple divorce petitions.
In the latest filing from August 2024, Gaw-Lai had requested a judge to annul the couple’s prenuptial agreement, citing that she had uncovered several properties owned by the couple but listed solely under her estranged husband’s name.
Relatives told the Times that the couple had talked about reconciling, but Gaw-Lai had made a series of demands of her husband including that he void their prenup and put her name on all their properties.
Irene Gaw-Lai, 56, (left) was found in the den of the San Marino home in January. Six months later, her husband Yoon ‘Kevin’ Lai, 63, was charged with her murder, allegedly beating her with a frying pan before setting her alight
Gaw-Lai’s body was found torched in the den of their $2.3 million mansion (pictured). Lai was charged with his wife’s murder after investigators found she had been brutally beaten and suffered injuries including a broken nose, fractured eye socket and a lost tooth
In text messages included in court filings, Gaw-Lai told her brother that Lai was ‘begging me to come back’ after she filed for divorce last year.
When she told her brother about the demands, which also included requiring Lai to go to therapy, her brother asked: ‘That seems a lot, do you think he’ll agree?’
‘It depends on what’s more important to him…’ she responded.
Their premarital agreement was officially ended in September 2024, and Gaw-Lai’s name was added to their property empire, which included a number of real estate investments.
But relatives revealed that Gaw-Lai was still planning to go ahead with the divorce.
She warned relatives that she was increasingly fearful of her husband, and said she was afraid ‘for her safety if she was left alone with Kevin’, one of the court filings said.
Lai had moved out of their home but often stopped by to drive their twins to baseball practice and events, and Gaw-Lai would always make sure her boys were around her when he arrived, relatives said.
On the morning of the doctor’s death, Lai arrived around 7am to take the twins to baseball practice.
Gaw-Lai, 56, was found in the torched den of the family’s $2.3 million San Marino home (pictured)
Surveillance footage shows Lai arriving to take their teenage sons to baseball practice on the day of the alleged murder
The couple’s twin 16-year-old sons stayed with their aunt the day after their mom’s body was found as they said they were afraid of their father, according to court records
Six minutes later, data from their Ring doorbell cameras indicated that sensors for the dining room and garden cameras – which pointed to where Gaw-Lai’s body was found – were ‘manually disabled’, court records said.
Lai then told his sons that he was going to work after dropping them at practice, but Ring camera footage showed a car similar to Lai’s returning to the area at 8:19am, the LA Times reported.
Cops were called to the area at 9:46am after a neighbor said she saw smoke coming from the home, and the neighbor said that she saw Lai inside.
The neighbor said she briefly talked with Lai, who seemed ‘bewildered’ when she mentioned the smoke before saying that his wife was picking the twins up from baseball practice.
The neighbor added that she saw Gaw-Lai’s car still outside the home, per the reported court documents.
Ring camera footage showing Lai picking their twins up for baseball practice. Court records said that a car similar to his was seen an hour later, despite telling his sons he was going to work
When firefighters raced to the home and found the mother’s body in the den of the home, they said they found two ignition points – one next to her body and another about six feet away.
According to a death investigation summary, Gaw-Lai had suffered blunt force trauma to the head before being set on fire.
That night, the couple’s 16-year-old sons spent the night with their aunt as they said they did not want to be around their father, family court records said.
‘They were afraid,’ Gaw-Lai’s attorney, and cousin, said.
Lai is now facing charges of murder and arson, which he has pleaded not guilty to. He has been released on a $2.25 million bail, and his attorney told the Times that he ‘looks forward to defending these false allegations in court.’
Gaw-Lai had her own medical practice in Arcadia, and her patients have been leaving tributes on the business’ Yelp page.
