Fugitive monk captured in China after 23 years on the run

Police in eastern China have apprehended a fugitive wanted for murder for the past 23 years.

The suspect, identified by his surname Li, was captured earlier this month in Jieyang, Guangdong province, according to authorities in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. Li was reportedly an abbot at a temple when apprehended.

Li is accused of killing two people in Wenzhou and Ningbo in 2001 with an accomplice. While the accomplice was caught shortly after the crimes, Li remained at large for over two decades.

According to a confession, Li fled to Sichuan and Hunan provinces after the murders. He then obtained a lost ID card belonging to a man surnamed Liu and assumed his identity. Using the false identity, Li enrolled in a Buddhist college.

In 2008, he relocated to Jieyang, where he lived under the alias Liu and eventually rose to the position of abbot at a local temple. Despite his religious position, Li reportedly lived with a woman as husband and wife, fathering two children together.

To evade capture, Li reportedly used disguises when venturing outside and installed surveillance cameras around the temple to monitor for police activity. He also severed all contact with his family back home in Sichuan for 23 years. Before his capture, Li was allegedly planning to flee Guangdong with his family to the remote Xizang Autonomous Region.

On April 3, after a nine-hour journey, officers from Wenzhou's Lucheng district returned Li to Wenzhou for processing.