DNA helps convict man of 1992 rape, murder

A man was sentenced to death on Wednesday for raping and killing a college student 28 years ago in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

The man, Ma Jigang, 54, noticed that the student surnamed Lin was studying by herself in a classroom at Nanjing Medical University — then known as Nanjing Medical College — on March 20, 1992. He then forced her into the courtyard of a teaching building with an iron bar before raping her and beating her head with the bar repeatedly.

To cover his crime, Ma dragged Lin outside the courtyard and dropped her upside down in a well. Lin's body was found four days later. Forensic analysis confirmed that drowning and head injury caused her death.

In February, the Nanjing police arrested Ma in a residential community in Nanjing after identifying him through DNA, which matched bodily fluids found at the crime scene. After committing the crime, Ma worked for years as a driver in Nanjing.