Killer caught after 32 years: How village rumour helped police solve murder case; check how the man reacted after arrest

A shocking case in China has surfaced after 32 years. In 1992, a man named Li, then 29, killed his mother and 17-year-old girlfriend using a kitchen knife in his home in Weiyuan, Sichuan.

The man then ran away. For years, the police couldn’t trace him due to poor technology and lack of leads. Last year, investigators reopened the case and found something odd.

Li’s sister-in-law, surnamed Gu, also disappeared two months after the murders. She was never reported missing as she had a strained marriage with Li’s elder brother. A village rumour suggested Gu and Li had an affair.

In 2013, Gu visited her family, saying she had children but didn’t reveal her location. Police traced her through an old phone number and tracked her to Jiangmen, Guangdong.

A CCTV image of a woman in a cycle rickshaw confirmed her identity. Due to its bizarre twists, the case has gone viral on Chinese social media.

Police tracked the man to a village after recognising him from an old photo. Villagers said he and his “wife” had lived there for 30 years, raising two children.

An undercover officer collected a cigarette butt from Li at his construction site. DNA confirmed his identity.

The murderer's confession

Li confessed that, years ago, he killed his girlfriend after she had asked his mother for a large amount of money and threatened to leave.

While attacking her, he accidentally stabbed his mother too. He hid in the mountains for two months, helped by his girlfriend Gu, who later agreed to run away with him.

“Life has been difficult for me over the years. You finally came. I am relieved to leave this life behind,” the South China Morning Post quoted him as saying.

“I was exhausted while on the run. I lost track of how many years had passed and even forgot my ID number and my original name,” he added.