Police found two suspects in the case of a female student who died naked in the dormitory. One insisted on confessing, but the evidence pointed to the other.
Victim: Jiang Xiao
Suspect 1: Zhao Huming
Suspect 2 (killer): Zhang Wenlin
The killer’s cousin: Shi Huan
On the morning of October 4, 1986, police in Tien Dao City, Hubei province received news that a 16-year-old female student named Jiang Xiao was murdered in her dormitory room last night. Jiang Xiao attended Ha Tra High School, staying in the dormitory of the Ha Tra steel frame chair factory because her father was a worker there.
In-room number 14, the victim was lying on the bed in a nearly naked state, with wounds and blood stains on his neck, and his lips were purple. Forensic doctors determined that the victim died from strangulation.
The watch and set of keys that Jiang Xiao usually carries are gone. She has a simple social relationship with little contact.
A person living in room 13 said he heard a noise from room 14 around midnight. He thought it was a mouse running so he didn’t pay attention.
The victim’s bed was not messy and there were no obvious signs of struggle, so the police determined that the victim was strangled while sleeping. Based on the condition of the body, they speculated that this was most likely a murder of a sexual nature. During the crime, the perpetrator stole the victim’s watch. Because no traces of semen were found at the scene, the police believe that the perpetrator may have been a teenager, or because of physical or psychological reasons, he did not commit the act of rape.
Police determined that the time of the crime was around midnight on October 3, and there was only one perpetrator. They focus on investigating subjects who have committed sexual harassment, theft or unusual behavior before and after the murder.
Through investigation, police identified two suspects.
The first is Zhao Huming, 18 years old, a student of Ha Tra school, who lives in the same village as Jiang Xiao and was once a middle school classmate, with a close relationship. After entering high school, the two drifted apart because they were rumored to be in love. After Jiang Xiao was murdered, Zhao Huming showed unusual emotions. The investigation team also found three textbooks with the name Zhao Huming dropped near the crime scene.
On the afternoon of October 4, the police summoned Zhao Huming for questioning. Unexpectedly, after just a few questions, Zhao Huming admitted to killing Jiang Xiao and also revealed his love story with the victim.
The police determined that Zhao Huming had many characteristics consistent with the suspect’s portrait, clearly knew the victim’s whereabouts, and had no clear alibi, so they decided to detain him to investigate and clarify the details of the crime.
However, when the investigator asked about the victim’s lost watch and keys, Zhao Huming could not answer.
The police found that there were certain discrepancies between the crime process that Zhao Huming confessed to and the results of the investigation at the scene, especially information about two important exhibits. The police said that Zhao Huming could not be identified as the culprit.
The second suspect is Zhang Wenlin, 16 years old, also a student at Ha Tra school. Zhang Wenlin often went to room number 15 of the factory dormitory to meet his cousin Shi Huan, who was right next to the crime scene. During the search, police discovered Zhao Huming’s black briefcase and more than 10 books in Shi Huan’s room. This person confessed that he and Zhang Wenlin stole books from the classroom on the evening of September 29.
On the afternoon of October 5, Zhang Wenlin was summoned to the police station for questioning on the grounds of book theft. However, Zhang Wenlin only admitted to stealing books and remained silent before other questions. The police asked Zhang Wenlin to record detailed activities on the evening of October 3 and then let him go home.
When looking for Zhang Wenlin a second time, the police discovered that Zhang Wenlin had left home on the evening of October 5, and his family said they didn’t know where he was going.
When questioned, Shi Huan revealed that Zhang Wenlin used a flashlight to illuminate Jiang Xiao’s room number 14 on the evening of October 2, the night before the murder. This detail raises suspicions of Zhang Wenlin’s crime.
On October 13, the police went to Xiangfan City to find Zhang Wenlin’s uncle who was working here to collect information. This person said that during the National Day holiday in early October, when he returned to his hometown in Ha Tra town, he heard Zhang Wenlin mention the factory incident to his family, admitting that he caused it.
At this time, Zhao Huming confessed that he “confessed” to murder because he was so sad when he heard that his lover had been harmed and felt that life had no meaning anymore. When he calmed down, Zhao Huming denied involvement in the case and agreed to cooperate with the police.
To make Zhang Wenlin mistakenly think that the case had been solved and that there was no need to escape, the police spread fake news that they had found the perpetrator, were preparing to withdraw, and used a police car to take Zhao Huming away in front of everyone.
Police analyzed that Zhang Wenlin would most likely come to his uncle to hide or ask for money. On October 14, the police persuaded Zhang Wenlin’s uncle to help arrest the suspect, while also controlling visitors and correspondence with Zhang Wenlin’s family.
At around 10:00 p.m. on October 17, Zhang Wenlin arrived at his uncle’s residence and was immediately controlled by police who had long been in ambush and confiscated the watch on his wrist. Through confirmation, this watch belongs to Jiang Xiao.
During interrogation, Zhang Wenlin’s testimony about the crime process completely matched the results of the scene investigation.
On the evening of October 2, when visiting Shi Huan’s dormitory room, Zhang Wenlin shined a flashlight into room number 14 next door and discovered that a female student was sleeping in the room, from which he came up with the idea of committing a crime. Late on October 3, Zhang Wenlin pulled the inside door latch from the damaged window of room 14 (the door and window are one and a half bricks apart). After breaking in, while the female student was fast asleep, Zhang Wenlin strangled her, causing her to lose consciousness, then covered her head with a blanket to rape her, but was too nervous to carry out the entire act.
When he discovered that the female student had died, Zhang Wenlin took off his watch, took the keys, locked the door with the lock on the table, and then fled the scene, throwing the keys on the road.
On October 5, Zhang Wenlin returned home worried after being summoned by the police. When questioned by his father, Zhang Wenlin admitted to murder. Zhang Wenlin’s father quickly gave his son 20 yuan and told him to hide. The two arranged to meet in Wuhan on October 15. That day, Zhang Wenlin’s father said that the police announced that the case had been solved, Zhao Huming had been detained and advised him to go home. But Zhang Wenlin was afraid that if exposed, he would be sentenced to death, so he was determined to run away. Zhang Wenlin’s father gave him money and told him to run away to the mountains and find a house to live in.
On the evening of October 15, Zhang Wenlin took the train from Wuhan to Xiangfen, intending to immediately go to the mountains because he was afraid of being followed and arrested by the police. However, the information that “the police solved the case” and “Zhao Huming was arrested” made Zhang Wenlin waver, thinking that if the police had found the perpetrator, they would not have changed their target of suspicion so quickly.
Therefore, Zhang Wenlin turned to find his uncle, intending to stay and rest for a few days and borrow money for his escape. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered his uncle’s house, Zhang Wenlin was handcuffed by the police.
On the morning of October 25, 1986, the government held a ceremony to announce the charges and arrest warrant for Zhang Wenlin in Ha Tra town in front of more than 3,000 people.
However, due to committing a crime as a teenager, Zhang Wenlin escaped the death penalty and was only sentenced to forced labor.
