□ Reporter Jiang Lan
Correspondents Ma Chuntao and Zhu Jianbo
Lovers quarreled over text messages, and the man, Chen Jun, brutally murdered his girlfriend Zhang Mei. To cover up his crime, he didn't hesitate to weave lies continuously through text messages.
On September 28th, I learned from the Beitun Reclamation Area Public Security Bureau that the "August 17" murder case has been solved. However, due to the cunning of the suspect, the investigation process was full of twists and turns.
Case Review
Lovers Turn Against Each Other
On August 16th, the Qixi Festival, Zhang Mei received a blessing message. Chen Jun asked who sent it, and Zhang Mei replied, "Why do you care so much? It's just a friend." Feeling that Zhang Mei's attitude was not good, they began to argue.
The next day, they met again and argued once more over this text message. As their words became increasingly incompatible, Chen Jun started to physically abuse Zhang Mei. Not only did he punch and kick her, but he also wildly kicked her head. Zhang Mei fell unconscious on the spot. Subsequently, Chen Jun carried Zhang Mei onto the car, tied her hands and feet with wires, and wrapped her entire head with tape. He then buried her in the Gobi desert.
Deception
At 14:00 on August 19th, a man and a woman came to the criminal investigation team's duty room of the Beitun Reclamation Area Public Security Bureau of the Tenth Agricultural Division. The woman was named Zhang Ling, and the man was Chen Jun. Zhang Ling said that her sister Zhang Mei left home at 8:00 AM on August 17th. By 5:00 PM, she received a text message from her sister saying, "Today, I ran into Brother Li from Guangzhou on the street. They're here for mineral exploration and insisted that I go with them. They'll pay me two thousand yuan as labor fees. We're about to enter the mountains where there will be no signal."
At 9:37 and 9:38 AM on August 19th, Zhang Ling received two more text messages from Zhang Mei: "Call the police quickly and save me, they tricked me." Afterward, the phone was turned off. Zhang Ling then brought her sister's boyfriend to report the incident. When the officers questioned Chen Jun about whether he knew his girlfriend's recent situation, Chen Jun's answers were vague and evasive, and his demeanor appeared nervous.
Evidence showed that the cell phone signal used for the distress text message sent by Zhang Mei at 9:38 AM on August 19th was in the same location as Chen Jun's phone signal. The police thus focused their attention on Chen Jun.
Investigations revealed that Chen Jun had poor character and a narrow mind. He had once expressed that if Zhang Mei did not marry him, he would kill her entire family. Last year, there were two incidents where they had conflicts due to emotional issues, during which Chen Jun violently beat Zhang Mei.
For this reason, investigators conducted an inquiry into Chen Jun's recent activities and found significant discrepancies between his statements and police investigations. The special task force determined that he was a major suspect. On August 22nd, the special task force decided to immediately place Chen Jun under criminal detention.
During the interrogation, careful officers noticed scratch marks on Chen Jun's right arm, but his explanation differed entirely from what the police had investigated. With years of investigative experience, the police boldly speculated that Zhang Mei might have been harmed.
The Truth Comes Out
To cover up his crimes, Chen Jun did not fully tell the truth in his first confession.
He confessed that at 11:00 AM on August 17th, while driving with his girlfriend Zhang Mei near the pier on the ring road of Pingding Mountain in Beitun Town, they got into an argument. During the dispute, Zhang Mei was pushed by Chen Jun and collided with a concrete pier, causing her to faint.
Chen Jun further confessed that he carried Zhang Mei into the car and, out of fear, did not take her to the hospital. Later, upon discovering that she had died, he threw her body into a main canal of a key water conservancy project and discarded some of her belongings and items from the car into four different canals.
Based on Chen Jun's confession, nearly a hundred police officers searched along the canal banks, the Pingding Mountain reservoir line of the 182nd regiment, and the high reservoir of the 184th regiment in Karamay, but no body was found.
On August 23rd, under the leadership of Director Han Chengyi of the Beitun Reclamation Area Public Security Bureau, the salvage team went to the third-level power station canal at the foot of Pingding Mountain to conduct a search.
After over an hour of salvaging, nothing was found.
On August 24th, the special task force once again organized police officers to salvage from the third-level power station canal. After nearly five hours of salvaging, the police retrieved a red Nokia mobile phone and a white ring from the canal. Subsequently, after technical department identification, the red mobile phone was confirmed to belong to the deceased, Zhang Mei.
Evidence proving Chen Jun's crime was gradually uncovered, but Zhang Mei's body was still not found.
While the police re-analyzed the case details, they intensified their interrogation of Chen Jun. On August 25th, Chen Jun finally admitted his guilt.
(All names involved in the article are pseudonyms.)