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A Los Altos man who recently lost a $23.6 million civil suit that accused him of killing his wife in Taiwan six years ago was arrested last week for allegedly lying under oath.
Harold Herchen, 66, a Canadian citizen and engineer, was arrested at his home on Sept. 11, according to a statement from the Mountain View Police Department. Herchen has been charged with perjury in connection to the disappearance of his wife, Alice Ku, in 2019. At the time, Ku was a 36-year-old Mountain View resident living with Herchen.
“We realized early on that getting jurisdiction to charge someone with a death that occurred in another country was going to be a major challenge, if not impossible,” Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker said in an email. “So, we had to think outside the box.”
If convicted, Herchen could face up to seven years in prison, said Baker, who is prosecuting the case.
Herchen’s attorney told the Voice that his client did not commit perjury and intends to enter a not guilty plea.
The exact circumstances of Ku’s death are not known nor has her body ever been found. But it is believed that Ku died at Taroko National Park, an area with rugged terrain where she had been traveling with Herchen, according to court records.
A Santa Clara County judge ruled Ku’s official date of death as Nov. 29, 2019.
The apparent lack of concern from Herchen in the months following his wife’s disappearance prompted Ku’s family to hire investigators to find out what happened. The family eventually filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2021 that accused Herchen of arranging the trip to Taiwan to kill Ku and then trying to cover it up afterwards.
In July 2025, a Santa Clara County jury awarded Ku’s family $23.6 million in damages.
Herchen’s attorney has maintained his client’s innocence and has since filed a motion for a new trial in the wrongful death suit, according to court records.
The civil case provided an opening for the district attorney to file criminal charges against Herchen, based on inconsistent statements that he provided in depositions, according to a Sept. 9 complaint.
Herchen told authorities that he had dropped Ku off at the Hualien train station in Taiwan so she could visit her parents. Herchen also said he later received an email from Ku saying she had arrived at her parents’ home safely. But cell phone records from the investigation showed that Herchen was never near the train station. The “proof of life” email also was traced to an IP address from Herchen’s hotel room, according to Taiwanese police.
Other irregularities appeared in the deposition as well, according to the district attorney’s office. Herchen provided conflicting statements about when and how he broke his wrist, which was treated immediately upon his return to the U.S. Herchen had told a physician that the injury happened in Taiwan the same day that Ku disappeared, but then changed his story later on, according to court records.
Because of a legal loophole, it is unlikely that Herchen will ever be tried for homicide in the U.S. or Taiwan, said Andrew Watters, an investigator and attorney for Ku’s family. The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Taiwan. Herchen also is a Canadian citizen and while it is a federal crime for U.S. citizens to kill other U.S. citizens abroad, the legal statute does not apply to non-citizens, Watters told the Voice in July.
This has not stopped the district attorney’s office from seeking other ways to pursue a criminal case against Herchen, such as the perjury charges.
“Even though we can’t charge Mr. Herchen for (Ku’s) death, we can charge him for trying to cover it up,” Baker said.
Herchen was arraigned on Friday but did not enter a plea, according to his attorney Charles Smith, who represented Herchen in the wrongful death suit. Herchen intends to enter a not guilty plea at his next hearing, which has been scheduled for today, Smith said.
Herchen is being held at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas without bail, according to court records.