Suspect Xie captured by the police
News Recap
At noon on the 23rd, a fire broke out in a hotel located in Building 20 of the Xin Kai He residential area in the Changchun Economic and Technological Development Zone. The hotel owner, whose hands were bound with wire, was found charred to death. She had been chatting with her neighbors just over an hour before the incident.
Report (by reporter Lu Xu) Yesterday at around 7 AM, several police cars pulled up in front of the hotel where the incident occurred. Doors opened, and the police brought down a boy who looked rather young.
His surname is Xie, and he's only 17 years old. Due to lack of money, he robbed and killed the hotel owner, then set her body on fire and fled. He was captured just over 11 hours after the case happened.
The Victim's Husband
"My wife was so pitiful, and that child makes me heartbroken!"
In the afternoon of June 24th, outside the hotel where the incident occurred, Mr. Wang, the hotel owner, was squatting there with a blank stare as some people consoled him.
Occasionally, Mr. Wang would stand up and peek through the door crack into the hotel. "The police have sealed the door. When will it be reopened?"
"If I had been home at the time, this wouldn't have happened..." Mr. Wang deeply regrets his wife's death. He said that during the incident, he was outside, and only returned home after receiving a call from the community. Upon returning, he saw his wife's remains.
"My son works out of town, and my daughter is married. Both children came back when they heard about their mother." Speaking about the family's tragedy, Mr. Wang lowered his head and wept. "My wife was so pitiful, and that child makes me heartbroken!" Nearby residents said that at around 7 AM on the 24th, the suspect was escorted by the police to the hotel to identify the scene.
Tall and Sturdy, Yellow Hair
Someone remembers seeing him knock on the door
After the case occurred, Provincial Party Secretary, Minister of Political and Legal Affairs, and Public Security Department Director Li Shuenxue paid close attention to the progress of the case. Vice Mayor of Changchun City and Director of the Public Security Bureau Gao Xuezhang immediately listened to a report on the case and instructed the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Changchun Municipal Public Security Bureau and the Economic and Technological Development Zone Branch to form a special investigation team for the case.
Police learned during investigations that before the incident, someone saw a tall and sturdy man with a streak of yellow hair knocking on the hotel door and entering. This man's physical characteristics were quite distinctive.
After visiting and screening witnesses, the police identified Xie, who had a history of theft and other misconduct, as the primary suspect. At around 11:30 PM on the day of the incident, the police received information that Xie would meet up with a friend near Yuan Da Street in Changchun to pick up the friend's girlfriend. The police set up a control point nearby and captured Xie near an abandoned high-rise building. It was only more than 11 hours since the case occurred.
After being captured, Xie confessed to the facts of robbery, murder, and arson.
Why Such Cruelty?
No work for three months, unable to face his family
Xie admitted that his home is in the Dawn Village of the Changchun Economic and Technological Development Zone. His parents divorced when he was young. After dropping out of school in the second year of junior high, he had worked as a laborer and also served as a security guard in a residential area near the hotel where the incident occurred, thus making him familiar with the situation in that area.
In the past three months, he had no job. Not only could he not provide wages to his family every month, but he also had to spend his family's money daily, which made him feel unable to face his family.
At around 12 PM on the day of the incident, while passing by the hotel, he knew that there weren't many people in the hotel, and the owner was quite old, so he conceived the evil idea of robbing her.
Robbery and Murder
Used newspapers and other items to burn the owner
Xie went to the hotel entrance, knocked on the door, and claimed he wanted to stay there. Once inside the hotel, he found that only the owner, Ms. Wu, was there, and thus had wicked thoughts.
Taking advantage of Ms. Wu's distraction, he used his arm to tightly grip her neck, shouting, "Don't speak, it's a robbery!" Seeing that she encountered a robber in broad daylight, Ms. Wu resisted. Xie became angry and strangled her to death. Then, he began searching through things in the room, taking over 700 yuan in cash and the victim's mobile phone, along with a backpack belonging to another guest.
Subsequently, Xie placed the deceased on the hotel bed, gathered newspapers, bed sheets, and other flammable materials, piled them on the body, and used a lighter to ignite them before hastily fleeing.
The Hotel Was Unlicensed
Still secretly operating after being shut down
Director Zhu of the Huayuan Road Police Station of the Changchun Economic and Technological Development Zone Branch of the Public Security Bureau said that the hotel involved in the case had only been operating for two months without any business permits, making it an unlicensed operation.
Recently, the police station conducted a crackdown on 31 unlicensed small hotels within its jurisdiction, resulting in the administrative detention of 19 people. Despite being shut down by the police at the end of April, the hotel continued to operate secretly.
Regarding the safety hazards posed by small hotels, the Huayuan Road Police Station will soon conduct a cleanup of such establishments within its jurisdiction. Currently, the suspect Xie has been criminally detained, and the case is still under further investigation.
"Hotel Owner Burned to Death Inside Her Hotel" Follow-up