The most recent episode of the Dateline NBC series, The Gorge, returns to the disappearance case of Alice Ku and her husband, Harald Herchen, who eventually became central to the case, in both New York and Taiwan.
Based on the most current episode-related news, Herchen is in California, currently facing legal action after years of investigation, civil litigation, and public outcry regarding contradictions in his statements. While he has not been convicted of murder in a criminal court, he is far from his legal prayers having been answered, and his present status is, quite literally, tied to those prayers as shown in Dateline.
Dateline: What happened to Harald Herchen?
The case goes back to November 2019, when Harald Herchen and his wife, Alice Ku, were taken to Taiwan. According to his account, the couple separated during a visit to Taroko Gorge, after which he returned alone to California, claiming she chose to stay behind. But her family soon became worried when they could not reach her, and that was when they reported her missing.
What followed was a great story of misadventure and obfuscation; facts were hard to come by, and when they were, they did not add up. Surveillance, phone data, and travel logs supposedly disprove fundamental elements of Harald’s narrative, such as whether he actually left her at a train station and whether she went on traveling on her own.
The matter was further complicated by their going international. Taiwan issued a warrant for Herchen; however, the lack of an extradition treaty between Taiwan and the United States hindered an immediate cross-border legal pursuit.
Here is what the Dateline episode reveals about the civil trial and the big settlement
According to the recent Dateline episode, The Gorge, Harald Herchen is reportedly being held at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, California, and he has some more legal trouble on his hands.
He was indicted in September 2025 on seven counts of felony perjury for alleged contradictions in his testimony under oath. These are separate charges from the wrongful death ruling, and if they are proven in court, they could impose further penalties.
The jury awarded her family $23.6 million. That ruling was a pivotal moment in the case, although it was a civil, not a criminal verdict. The trial also produced important evidence, including allegations that a “proof of life” e-mail was sent from Ku’s account. Forensic analysis, however, would later indicate that the email was sent from the very hotel that Herchen was alone in, causing suspicions that it was staged.
There was also no financial or electronic trail for Alice after the day she vanished, no credit or debit card usage, no phone activity, and no confirmed sightings. That lack of a trail was certainly damaging to Herchen’s assertion that she had traveled on her own after that point.
The husband claimed that he went back to Taiwan to see her, but Alice didn’t come to meet him. After sometime when the family tried reaching out to her but was unable to, they reported the case, saying that this action of hers is very unlikely.
It’s said that the criminal case is still alive, which means his final legal result is yet to come. Despite the overwhelming evidence and civil verdict, Herchen has remained adamant that he is innocent.
The largest problem with this case is jurisdiction, as explored in the Dateline episode
Since Alice Ku disappeared in Taiwan, but Herchen lives in the U.S., the legal coordination between the two countries has been difficult. The absence of an extradition treaty has constrained Taiwan’s ability to seek his prosecution directly, and much of the legal fight has been waged in American courts.
Meanwhile, the body of Alice Ku has never been recovered, and she was only legally declared dead years following her disappearance. This lack of physical evidence has complicated matters further for the investigations of the crime.
Harald Herchen is pending further legal action in California on charges of perjury after being found liable in a wrongful death suit. Dateline: The Gorge does bring new information to the mystery, but the case is still an active one with no real criminal closure.
Edited by Nimisha