Xinhua News Agency, Xi'an (reporter Xiaogang Yang, intern Xu Yang) -- A 24-year-old man from Xuzhou named Huang Qing met a girlfriend online. While visiting Xi'an together, they had an argument and Huang strangled his girlfriend to death. After the crime, he attempted suicide twice but failed, then fled. On March 17th, Huang was escorted back to Xi'an by the Xin Cheng police.
According to the police, Huang Qing lives in Pizhou County, Jiangsu Province. In recent years, he has learned welding skills and earns more than 2,000 yuan per month. In 2007, Huang met Ma Yan (a pseudonym) online and fell in love through chatting. Ma Yan lives in Yan'an city and works as a salesperson in a clothing store there. According to Huang's confession to the police, on February 25th this year, Huang traveled again from Pizhou County to Yan'an to meet his girlfriend and also met her parents once more. On March 5th, the couple came to Xi'an and stayed at a hotel, spending their days sightseeing.
On the morning of March 9th, while wandering around, Ma Yan saw a gold necklace she liked and asked Huang to buy it for her. However, since Huang didn't have enough money on him, he called his family asking for money, but they said they would need a few days. According to Huang, in the hotel, his girlfriend did not accept his explanation and they had a quarrel.
Unable to bear his girlfriend's words, Huang lost control and pressed her down onto the bed, using both hands to strangle Ma Yan's neck until she died. After the incident, Huang deeply regretted his impulsive action. He went out and bought three types of drugs including sleeping pills from a pharmacy. Back at the hotel, he swallowed all the drugs and lay down waiting to die. However, after waking up and realizing he was still alive, Huang smashed a glass cup in the room and used a shard to cut his right wrist. After bleeding profusely for a while, Huang bandaged the wound with a towel, took the remaining 80 yuan from Ma Yan's body, and fled back to his hometown.
At 10 p.m. on March 10th, the hotel staff discovered Ma Yan's body. The police found marks on the victim's neck indicating strangulation and deduced that it was a homicide.