$7,300 reward offered for murder suspect

By Xie Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-07 11:55

The Ministry of Public Security has announced a reward of 50,000 yuan ($7,300) for information leading to the arrest of a suspect, alleged to have killed eight people, including a 2-year-old toddler, on Monday morning in Suizhou city, Hubei province, police said yesterday.

A local police official surnamed Yao told China Daily: "We have issued wanted posters of the suspect across the country. We are doing our best to hunt him down.

"There is a 50,000 yuan reward for any clues that may lead to his arrest."

Xiong Zhenlin, 35, chief of a salvation station in Luoyang town, Suizhou city, is the prime suspect in the murder of his alleged lover Zhu Deqing, her 2-year-old grandson, and six of his employees.

The local police station received a call at around 9:50 am on Monday that 43-year-old Zhu Deqing and her grandson Zou Chuanshuo had been found dead in their home in Luoyang.

Initial investigations indicated the involvement of Zhu's enraged lover Xiong, local police said.

Xiong divorced his wife three months ago and asked Zhu to marry him, but she turned him down, police said, adding, "Xiong may have killed her for that reason."

Police officials rushed to the suspect's salvation station to nab him, and found six more corpses of three men and three women - all of whom were Xiong's employees.

The police recovered an axe and fork, believed to be the weapons used, from the scene.

Officer Yao said it was still not clear who were killed first, but "it seems Xiong first killed his employees and then went to Zhu's house and killed her and her grandson". The suspect's motive to kill his employees has not been ascertained yet.

According to a local newspaper, Xiong allegedly phoned his mother in the early hours of Monday and "told her that she would never see him again".

Police said it had been confirmed "Xiong borrowed a friend's motorcycle at 3 am on Monday, saying he needed it to visit his sick mother".

Zhu's neighbors have told the police that they heard the sound of a motorcycle in the wee hours of Monday.

"Xiong probably used the motorcycle to flee," Yao said.

The motorcycle was found abandoned outside a hotel in Suizhou city on Monday night.

"The manager of the hotel has confirmed Xiong was there during the day, but he did not know when he left or where," said Yao.

(China Daily 01/07/2009 page4)