Son of Chinese Judge Hired Hit Men to Murder His Own Family
by Fauna on Monday, May 20, 2013
by Fauna on Monday, May 20, 2013
From Sina Weibo:
@头条新闻: In the Henan province Zhoukou city judge Gao Tianfeng and daughter murder case, on the list of names given to the hired killers, which included the parents and the older sister, the offered price was 200,000 [RMB] per person. What was fortunate was that the mother happened to not be at home that day and escaped the calamity. What makes this a tragedy is that in order to protect her younger brother that day, the older sister reverse-locked him in a room [so the killers could not get in], not knowing even as she was murdered that the hired killers were employed by her younger brother.
From Sina:
Henan Judge Murdered By Son’s Hired Killers: Mother Not At Home Escaped Tragedy
Gao Tianfeng
In the Henan Zhoukou city Intermediate Court Committee member Gao Tianfeng and daughter murder case, two assassins were hired by his own son, with the case disturbing the entire nation. On the morning of May 16th, the final suspect was arrested within the borders of Loudi [a city in Hunan]. On the afternoon of May 17th, this reporter learned even more details regarding this case from the the Hunan province Ministry of Public Security, that the 3 names on the list that Gao Tianfeng’s son gave the hired killers were actually those of his own father, mother, and elder sister, and the offering price was “200,000 RMB per person”.
What was fortunate was that the mother happened to not be at home on the day of the crime, luckily escaping the tragedy. After the hired killers infiltrated Gao Tianfeng’s home, they committed the murders. What makes people sign is that the elder sister, in order to protect her younger brother, had reverse-locked him inside a room. Even as she was killed, she did not know that the hired killers were actually employed by her own younger brother.
Suspect entered Hunan, many cities and prefectures mobilized police forces
May 17th afternoon, Hunan Provincial Ministry of Public Security Criminal Investigation Department Serious Crimes Section Captain Zhang Jiancheng explained that after 2pm in the afternoon of May 15th, the Henan Provincial Ministry of Public Security and the Henan Zhoukou Municipal Public Security Bureau dispatched someone to hand the case over to the Hunan Provincial Ministry of Public Security, that “the third suspect has already entered Hunan”.
Beginning from when they received the request for assistance, the Provincial Ministry of Public Security Vice Department Chief Hu Xuxi mobilized police forces to work with Henan police an organized a special joint-task force. According to information on the suspects provided by Henan police (including surname and physical characteristics), Hunan police employed multiple tracking methods and, through the use of rapid investigative deployment and technology, found that the suspects had one after another appeared before in places such as Changde, Yiyang, Changsha, Loudi [cities in Hunan], and that the roads they were taking were all national highways, provincial highways, and even county and town roads.
The special task force determined that the suspects may be fleeing towards Guangxi province along the peripheries of the Loudi, Shaoyang, Huaihua cities, and that the roads they were taking were easy for them to remain concealed. By 5pm in the afternoon, the Loudi and Shaoyang county cities had already deployed a “large net”, establishing a dense area of control.
Around 2am on the morning of May 16th, police discovered a motorcycle traveling relatively quickly on the S225 provincial highway and immediately began following it. Several hours later, Wu X was intercepted and arrested at a gas filling station on the side of the Xinhua county Yangxi town S312 provincial highway. “He was very cunning and before being caught, had discovered that police were following him, and tried to flee,” said Zhang Jiancheng.
Killer has wife and child, no previous criminal record
After Wu X was captured, Hunan police subjected him to intense interrogation, whereby he disclosed details to the case:
Before the crime occurred, Gao Tianfeng’s son and suspect Zhang X had known each other for several months, but had never met in person. Zhang X claimed to be a hit man, so Gao Tianfeng’s son said to them, “I want to kill several people, 200,000 RMB each”. The list of people to die that Gao Tianfeng’s son made had three people, “his own father, mother, and elder sister”.
“At present, the motive we have is as the Henan media previous reported, that his family’s disciplining of him was too strict, making him resentful,” Zhang Jiancheng said. Zhang X soon afterward found his friend Wu X to discuss, willing to take this “business”.
May 9th, Zhang X and Wu X met up in Henan Luoyang. Early morning on May 12th, in accordance with Gao Tianfeng’s son’s secret instructions, the two climbed over the wall and entered Gao Tianfeng’s home, and murdered Gao Tianfeng and his daughter. Because Gao Tianfeng’s wife was not at home that day, she luckily avoided this tragic fate.
“Previously, there were media reports claiming that Gao Tianfeng’s daughter, in order to protect her younger brother, had reverse-locked her younger brother in a room.” Zhang Jiancheng says this detail is true, “She (Gao Tianfeng’s daughter) had absolutely no idea that the hit men had actually been called over by her younger brother.”
After Zhang X and Wu X committed the murders, the two of them ransacked Gao Tianfeng’s house of hundreds of thousands in cash and property before fleeing towards Luoyang where they divided the spoils. After Wu X took 50,000 in cash, the two split up to flee separately.
“After catching Wu X, he still had 17,000 yuan cash on him, with most of the money spent on transportation and buying a motorcycle,” said Zhang Jiancheng, “He even had a small traffic accident on his way, which cost him a few thousand kuai.”
As it is understood, 25-year-old Wu X has a wife and child, and previously had no criminal record, had worked in a KTV before, and was unemployed prior to the crime.
