CHINA – Caught by her husband with her lover, Vanjiai Deem immediately betrayed her paramour to save herself and then plotted to seduce another man to kill her husband.
On the morning of April 16, 2006, a resident in Shushan District, Hefei City, An Huy province, discovered a decomposing male body under the cliff while hiking. Forensic doctors determined that the victim died around April 11.
Upon inspecting the victim’s belongings, forensic technicians found a small amount of red substance adhering to the buckle of his belt, without any personal documents. Through compositional analysis, it was identified as high-quality metallic paint containing iron and other elements. This type of paint is commonly used for spraying onto the surface of luxury cars.
After comparison, the composition of this metallic paint completely matched that of Audi car paint. Therefore, the victim had contact with a red Audi car before his death.
After the announcement of the discovery of the body in the media, a couple came to identify it, believing that the appearance, height, and age of the body closely resembled their missing son, Zhang Guangzhong.
Zhang Guangzhong received a call from his cousin Shi Darong on the afternoon of March 17, asking for help. Zhang Guangzhong left home and there had been no news since then. After comparison and identification, the victim was indeed Zhang Guangzhong.
Zhang Guangzhong had no fixed occupation, earning a living by doing odd jobs for others. His death was closely related to Shi Darong, but the latter had disappeared.
Shi Darong had previously served 12 years in prison for fraud, robbery… After his release, he made a lot of money by opening a restaurant, and Zhang Guangzhong enjoyed himself, by buying a villa in the best residential area in the Shushan district. Shi Darong divorced his wife and married the beautiful flight attendant Vanjiai Deem, causing a stir in the local community at the time.
However, Shi Darong was addicted to gambling, while Vanjiai Deem squandered money, depleting their tens of millions of yuan fortune in less than two years, even accumulating tens of millions in debt.
Vanjiai Deem told the police that on the afternoon of March 17, Shi Darong brought Zhang Guangzhong home. Feeling tired because she was pregnant, she lay down on the bed to rest, vaguely hearing the voices of the two men talking in the living room, mentioning “Myanmar” and “golden triangle”. Then, the two left the house together and lost contact.
From the information provided by Vanjiai Deem, it seemed that the two brothers Shi Darong were discussing smuggling drugs into Myanmar. The police immediately sent a notice to the Yunnan police requesting assistance in the investigation but found no records of their entry and exit.
After a week of checking airport records, train stations, and long-distance bus terminals from March 17 to before Zhang Guangzhong was murdered, the police found no evidence of their presence at those locations. If Vanjiai Deem told the truth, there was only one possibility: Shi Darong and Zhang Guangzhong traveled by car.
However, Zhang Guangzhong did not own a car and did not know how to drive. The black Mercedes-Benz of Shi Darong and Vanjiai Deem’s BMW had both been used by Shi Darong to pay off gambling debts since the beginning of the year. Shi Darong did not borrow cars from friends, acquaintances, or relatives, and no one dared to lend him one. All car rental points in the city did not have records of Shi Darong and Zhang Guangzhong renting cars.
Unable to find any trace of Shi Darong, the police shifted their investigation to Vanjiai Deem in hopes of finding new leads. Vanjiai Deem had many intimate relationships with other men before meeting Shi Darong. Shortly after marriage, Vanjiai Deem, dissatisfied with her husband’s gambling addiction, had an affair with a wealthy real estate investor named Yuan Ping. Strangely, Yuan Ping also disappeared around the same time as Shi Darong and Zhang Guangzhong.
Yuan Ping’s wife stated that on the evening of March 17, Yuan Ping went out for drinks to discuss business as usual. Around 10:30 p.m., she received a call from her husband, saying he was negotiating a large contract and needed money urgently. Yuan Ping asked his wife to take 4.7 million yuan in cash from the safe at home, put it in two suitcases, and leave it in the trunk of the Jeep parked in the garage. Then Yuan Ping called to instruct his younger sister-in-law to drive to a parking lot in front of a large hotel and then left. Yuan Ping always carried the key to the Jeep, so he would retrieve the car and the money himself. This wasn’t the first time Yuan Ping had asked for money, so Yuan Ping’s wife didn’t ask many questions, immediately complying with the instructions along with her brother.
After discovering Yuan Ping’s disappearance, the family found the Jeep at its usual spot, and Yuan Ping’s BMW, which he drove on the night of his disappearance, was also parked at the same parking lot, but the money was gone. Since Yuan Ping’s family members opened the trunk to check, forensic technicians couldn’t determine whether the money was taken by Yuan Ping or someone else.
Yuan Ping’s wife recounted that when calling for the money, Yuan Ping’s voice sounded hurried but not panicked; she didn’t notice anything unusual. Through investigation, Yuan Ping didn’t appear at that hotel that night. The police couldn’t trace where Yuan Ping went or with whom.
One deceased and two missing persons had varying degrees of contact with Vanjiai Deem, but the police found no clear evidence linking her to the case.
In a deadlock, the investigative team returned to the clue about the red Audi that Zhang Guangzhong had contact with before his death. Vanjiai Deem, Shi Darong, and Yuan Ping all didn’t drive a red Audi, and among Vanjiai Deem’s relatives, friends, and acquaintances, no one owned such a car.
Speculating that Yuan Ping might have bought a new car for Vanjiai Deem to win her affection, the police checked vehicle registration records throughout the city, and investigated car dealerships that sold red Audi cars since the beginning of the year to identify each buyer.
A car dealership director recognized Vanjiai Deem in the photo provided by the police, stating that in early March, she bought a red Audi A4 in cash, using her mother’s name to register the license plate.
Neighbors and security guards of the residential area where Vanjiai Deem lived had never seen the red Audi. Police secretly searching Vanjiai Deem’s mother’s residence along with her relatives, friends, and acquaintances yielded nothing.
After searching all the parking lots in the city, the police found this car in the registration log at the gate of a luxury residential area. Vanjiai Deem bought a villa here in late February, using someone else’s name as the homeowner, conveniently dating Yuan Ping.
The red Audi was hidden in the villa’s garage. Forensic technicians discovered two new scratches under the rear trunk. The police collected paint samples from the car body, and the analysis results perfectly matched the metallic paint components found on Zhang Guangzhong’s belt buckle.
Examining the trunk opening and closing location, the police found fingerprints of Shi Darong and Vanjiai Deem. They also found bloodstains in the trunk, identified as belonging to Zhang Guangzhong and Yuan Ping through DNA analysis. Yuan Ping’s blood was first, followed by Zhang Guangzhong’s blood covering it up.
During the search of the villa, the police found a large freezer in the basement, inside of which was Shi Darong’s body. There were many cleaned-up bloodstains on the floor and walls, belonging to Yuan Ping and Zhang Guangzhong. The police concluded that this basement was the scene of the first murder; both Yuan Ping and Zhang Guangzhong were killed here.
The investigation process also discovered a chainsaw, hammer, and a 62 cm steel bar, all with bloodstains and human body components, believed to be weapons. Shi Darong’s DNA was found on the chainsaw handle, with blood and human body components on the saw blade belonging to Yuan Ping. Thus, the police determined that Yuan Ping was murdered and dismembered by Shi Darong.
DNA samples on the hammer handle and steel bar belonged to Vanjiai Deem. There was Yuan Ping’s blood on the hammer’s head, but mostly Shi Darong’s blood. The bloodstains on the steel bar were all from Zhang Guangzhong.
When the police went to arrest Vanjiai Deem, she had fled. They followed her trail and caught her in a cosmetic surgery clinic, preparing for plastic surgery.
Initially, Vanjiai Deem denied the murders but confessed in the face of overwhelming evidence.
According to her confession, Vanjiai Deem and Yuan Ping had known each other for a long time. Shi Darong had suspected them of having an affair but had no evidence. At the beginning of 2006, Shi Darong used Vanjiai Deem’s car and jewelry to pay off gambling debts, and the couple regarded each other as enemies. Disgusted with her husband, Vanjiai Deem became increasingly attached to Yuan Ping.
In early March, Shi Darong found out that Vanjiai Deem was pregnant. Since the couple hadn’t slept together since the beginning of the year, he had the intention of killing his wife. In a desperate moment, Vanjiai Deem lied that she was pregnant on the night Shi Darong, intoxicated, forced her to have sex, not informing him earlier due to their strained relationship. Knowing he often drank to forget sorrow and woke up not remembering anything, Shi Darong wasn’t sure if the fetus in Vanjiai Deem’s womb was his.
On the morning of March 17, Vanjiai Deem hid in the bedroom and secretly called Yuan Ping to discuss, caught by Shi Darong. She admitted the affair but still insisted that the pregnancy was Shi Darong’s to prevent him from harming her. In anger, Shi Darong ran to the kitchen to get a knife. Vanjiai Deem quickly knelt down to beg, proposing to help Shi Darong capture Yuan Ping to settle the debt instead.
According to their plan, Vanjiai Deem arranged for Yuan Ping to come to the villa after 10 p.m. Shi Darong would wait for the opportunity to burst into the bedroom to catch him red-handed and extort money. Fearing he couldn’t control Yuan Ping, Shi Darong called his cousin Zhang Guangzhong for backup. However, Shi Darong had no intention of letting Yuan Ping go and prepared a freezer, chainsaw, and other tools to take revenge for having an affair with Vanjiai Deem.
That night, as Yuan Ping entered the villa, Shi Darong and Zhang Guangzhong used a hammer and a knife to force him into the basement and demand money. Not wanting to risk his life, Yuan Ping immediately called his wife to bring the money as instructed by Shi Darong. Subsequently, Shi Darong unexpectedly used the hammer to strike at his romantic rival’s head, and Vanjiai Deem instinctively raised her hand to block, causing the hammer to fall to the ground.
Vanjiai Deem’s act of protecting Yuan Ping in a dangerous situation angered Shi Darong, who wanted to kill both of them. Vanjiai Deem quickly hid behind Zhang Guangzhong for protection. Amid the struggle, Zhang Guangzhong’s hand was also injured.
Seeing Yuan Ping staggering to stand up, Vanjiai Deem ruthlessly snatched the hammer from Shi Darong’s hand to continue the attack. Shi Darong’s jealousy was extinguished, temporarily abandoning his intention to kill his wife.
Shi Darong dismembered Yuan Ping’s body and then drove the red Audi to dispose of it at night, while also retrieving money from the Jeep’s trunk parked outside the hotel. He then returned to drive Yuan Ping’s BMW to the hotel parking lot before taking a taxi back to the villa.
During this time, Vanjiai Deem contemplated how to eliminate Shi Darong. If not sooner, the news of her pregnancy would eventually be exposed. She devised a plan to seduce Zhang Guangzhong into bed, then manipulated him by fabricating a story that the police would quickly trace them once Yuan Ping’s family reported his disappearance. They needed to kill Shi Darong to destroy evidence, making it impossible for the police to find them, thus enabling them to enjoy the 4.7 million yuan in peace.
Seeing Zhang Guangzhong hesitating, Vanjiai Deem threatened to accuse him of rape. She claimed that Shi Darong killed Yuan Ping because Yuan Ping was involved with her, and even paying a huge sum of money couldn’t save his life. Vanjiai Deem also asserted that Shi Darong definitely wanted to kill Zhang Guangzhong to silence him and take all the 4.7 million yuan.
When Shi Darong returned in the early morning, Zhang Guangzhong pretended his injured hand needed medical attention. As they stepped outside together, Zhang Guangzhong restrained Shi Darong while Vanjiai Deem attacked with the hammer, and then stuffed the body into the freezer.
To eliminate any lingering consequences, Vanjiai Deem schemed to seduce Zhang Guangzhong and spend a sweet time together in the villa. In the early morning of April 11, she found the opportunity while Zhang Guangzhong was asleep, and used the steel bar hidden nearby to attack, then used the Audi to transport the body to the mountain for disposal. While moving the body, Zhang Guangzhong’s belt buckle accidentally scratched the car body and removed some paint, providing the police with a crucial lead to solving the case.
On July 11, 2006, the case was tried secretly. Vanjiai Deem received a life sentence for her crimes while pregnant.
