Chinese student wanted for killing mother captured after three years on the run
- Former Peking University student Wu Xieyu detained at airport in Chongqing three years after body was found wrapped in plastic sheeting at their home
A former Peking University student, wanted for murdering his mother more than three years ago, has been caught at an airport.
Wu Xieyu, 24, from the southeastern province of Fujian, was spotted by a police surveillance camera at Jiangbei International Airport in Chongqing on Sunday and detained.
He is suspected of murdering his mother Xie Tianqin, a middle-school teacher in Fuzhou. Xie’s body was found wrapped in plastic sheeting and stuffed with activated carbon to remove the smell.
Wu was found with more than 30 identity cards, all bought online, at the time of his detention, The Beijing News reported.
A passenger called Chen Yan said Wu was seeing her and her friend off at the airport when police caught him.
“My friend knew him well. He was very talented, knowledgeable and talkative. We didn’t know he was a fugitive until he was caught,” Chen told Thepaper.cn.
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He had been on the run for three years since police offered a reward of 50,000 yuan (US$7,400) in February 2016 for information.
The case made national media headlines at the time not only because of Wu’s spotless academic record – always an overachiever, he was exempted from exams to enter the school of economics at Peking University and won several scholarships – but also because of the details surrounding the murder, which suggested it was carefully planned, carried out and covered up.
According to a report by Sohu.com three years ago, Wu had told Xie that they would soon go to the United States, where he would pursue a doctorate.
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“She seldom smiled after her husband died of cancer in 2011. [Afterwards] we all noticed she became happy and always asked us questions on how to make a living there,” an unidentified colleague told The Beijing News.
Xie was believed to have been be killed in July 2015, but her body was only found in February the following year after Wu’s uncle contacted police.
Wu is suspected of faking a resignation letter sent to his mother’s school and sent text messages to her friends and family.
He is also accused of borrowing 1.44 million yuan in Xie’s name, using her phone and telling the lender the money was needed to fund his studies in America.
On February 5 in 2016, Wu texted his uncle to pick him and his mother up at a police station for the Lunar New Year celebration after they returned from the US.
But after they failed to show up he took police to Wu’s home nine days later.
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Police found Xie’s body in the bedroom, wrapped in heavy plastic sheets and stuffed with activated carbon to absorb the smell. A surveillance camera linked to the internet had been installed in the room.
An investigation found Wu bought various knives, choppers and a scalpel online a month before the killing. He also bought a lot of desiccant, a moisture-proof agent, a dehumidifier and a medical jumpsuit.
In the two weeks after the murder, Wu made multiple purchases of activated carbon, which can be used an air purifier, and waterproof plastic sheeting.
He is thought to have spent 10 days in a hotel near his home before moving to Shanghai.
In December 2015, months after the murder, Wu returned to his university to ask how he could make up for missing classes and exams and mentioned he would like to apply for postgraduate studies in the United States.
However, he does not appear to have returned to the university and there is no trace of his movements after the police notice was issued in February 2016.
