Li Baonan, the owner, often invited a group of friends to play cards, unaware that one of them was a murderer who had been on the run for 9 years. Consequently, Li Baonan, along with his wife and five employees, were killed.
On May 17, 2003, the police in Chao Yang district, Beijing, received a report of a murder that occurred in the steam bath of Li Baonan’s residence.
Li Baonan had been operating the steam bath in Chao Yang since 1999, and his business was thriving. However, due to the SARS epidemic, he had to temporarily suspend operations, leading to many employees taking leave, leaving only Li Baonan, his wife, and five employees to manage the business.
Li Baonan’s younger brother mentioned that he had been unable to contact Li Baonan and his wife for several days, prompting him to become concerned and search for them. When he arrived at the steam bath, he found it closed with darkness inside and a foul odor emanating. Upon turning on the lights, he discovered the store in disarray, with items strewn about and the cash register smashed. After receiving no response to his calls, he hurriedly checked the large steam room and found several bodies in the pool, including Li Baonan and his wife.
The police recovered seven bodies, confirming that the deceased included Li Baonan, his wife, and five employees who stayed to look after the store. According to forensic examination, the victims were tied up and drowned, with the oldest being 53 years old and the youngest not yet 20.
At the crime scene, an infant a few months old was still alive, the child of one of the victims. Despite days without care, the baby was weak but luckily survived.
The perpetrator robbed all the cash from the cash register, savings books, and jewelry from the bedroom upstairs, and Li Baonan’s car parked outside also disappeared. Based on evidence at the scene, the police determined that the perpetrator was a group of people.
After extracting data from surveillance cameras on the street, the police traced Li Baonan’s car to a parking garage at a shopping center. The security guard reported that in the early morning of May 14, a stout man drove up with another person in the car. They parked the car and never returned.
Investigating the social relationships of Li Baonan and his wife, the police discovered that Li Baonan enjoyed playing cards and often invited many friends to play. However, verifying these individuals took a lot of time.
At this point, on May 14, the police received information that a tall man wearing a hat and a fully covered face mask had withdrawn over 10,000 RMB using a savings book belonging to one of the victims.
The police extracted surveillance camera data from around the bank and circulated images of the suspect. They learned that this person resembled Liban, a card player from Northeast China. Liban had a close relationship with Wang Jiangqing, a taxi driver who had served time for theft. When shown a photo of Wang Jiangqing, the police noticed his stout appearance matching the description provided by the parking lot security guard. The security guard later confirmed that Wang Jiangqing was the one who drove Li Baonan’s car in the early morning of May 14.
The police disguised themselves as passengers and captured Wang Jiangqing while he was driving his taxi. During interrogation, when he heard the police mention the name of Li Baonan’s sauna house, Wang Jiangqing was startled, trembling, and shaking his head as if recalling something horrific. He shouted, “It’s not me! I’ve never been there, never killed anyone!”
Wang Jiangqing’s abnormal behavior indicated his involvement in the murder case. In order to receive leniency, Wang Jiangqing confessed to the crime and provided information about his accomplices.
According to his confession, the group of perpetrators consisted of four individuals: Wang Jiangqing, LiBan, Li Duanlan, and Feng Chaohou. Wang Jiangqing only knew Li Duanlan’s address.
When the police arrived, Li Duanlan’s wife said her husband had gone to play cards with LiBan and had not returned. Surveillance camera footage around Li Duanlan’s house revealed two suspects taking a taxi away. The police obtained information about the taxi driver but were unable to reach him by phone.
The taxi driver revealed that on the way, LiBan and Li Duanlan borrowed his phone and secretly removed the battery. Investigators believed that the two suspects, aware of Wang Jiangqing’s arrest, hastily fled and tampered with the taxi driver’s phone to prevent police communication, buying themselves more time to escape.
Based on the location where the two suspects got out of the taxi, provided by the driver, the police tracked them down and arrested both at a steam bath. The remaining perpetrator, Feng Chaohou, was also apprehended while hiding in his hometown in Hubei Province.
During the interrogation process, the entire group admitted to their criminal behavior. The police discovered that Liban’s real name was Huijinba, a fugitive criminal. Nine years ago, at the age of 20, Huijinba strangled his aunt to death because she refused to give him money. After the crime, he fled from his hometown in Jilin to Beijing, living under the alias Liban.
Huijinba was proud of evading capture for many years, but he was lazy and gluttonous, leading a deprived life, which prompted him to plan robberies.
After befriending Li Duanlan, a convicted thief, Huijinba persuaded Li Duanlan to break into people’s homes to rob them. They scoped out and chose Li Baonan as their target because he often played cards with them, was familiar with his circumstances, and envied Li Baonan’s long-standing prosperous business. To ensure success, they recruited Wang Jiangqing and Feng Chaohou to join them.
On the night of May 13, Huijinba’s group, disguised with masks and hats, armed with knives, pipes, and other tools of crime, sneaked into Li Baonan’s steam bath. They tied up and gagged the victims one by one, then ransacked the place, stealing all valuables.
At one point, Li Baonan recognized the appearance of one of the perpetrators and asked, “Are you Liban?” He then begged for mercy. However, fearing capture by police would lead to the death penalty, Huijinba decided to kill to eliminate witnesses.
After coercing Li Baonan to open the safe and reveal the password for his bank savings, Huijinba instructed Wang Jiangqing and Feng Chaohou to leave first, while Li Duanlan stayed behind to commit the crime with him.
A few months old infant sleeping in the corner of the room, covered with clothes, escaped the attention of the robbers and fortunately survived.
On September 5, 2003, Huijinba and Li Duanlan were sentenced to death by the court and immediately executed. Wang Jiangqing and Feng Chaohou received life sentences.
