Murder suspect caught after 22 years
A suspect in a 22-year-old burglary and murder case has been caught, Shanghai police said on Tuesday.
The man, surnamed Song, is alleged to have committed the crime with two others in a residential complex in Huangpu District.
A man surnamed Gan was caught at the scene while a man surnamed Yan is said to have fled with Song.
Gan was sentenced to death. Yan, who was caught in 1999, got life in prison.
Three men had broken into an apartment on the sixth floor of a building on Luban Road on the afternoon of March 24, 1997, and killed a 26-year-old woman surnamed Zhao, police said.
Gan injured Zhao at first and as she rushed downstairs for help, Yan Shenwu, a traffic police officer who lived on the fifth floor, heard noises and rushed to help.
Gan stabbed the officer in the chest, a wound that almost killed him. But the officer fought with Gan until more neighbors and police arrived.
Around 20,000 yuan (US$2,800) in cash, treasury bonds and other items were taken from Zhao's home, police said.
The room in which Officer Yan fought with Gan before neighbors and police arrived.
Gan, who was caught at the scene, is pictured being questioned by police.
Officer Yan Shenwu is pictured talking to local television reporters from his hospital bed about his fight with Gan.
Never give up
Over the past 22 years, the police had never given up the hope of catching Song, the remaining suspect, although the only clue initially was that he was from the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
However, at the beginning of this month, police there discovered that Song was back in his hometown under another name.
Zhou Jiamin, now vice head of Xiaodongmen Police Station in Huangpu District, was the officer in charge of the case previously.
“New technologies enabled us to catch him,” he said. “It was unthinkable 22 years ago.”
Song was apprehended in his hometown on September 8 and is said to have confessed to the crime.
Song is married under his new identity and has a child of 13 years old, police said.
The three suspects are said to have got to know each other when they were working in Beijing.
Heroic actions
“My neighbor who was killed was about to get married in November that year, and at her funeral she was wearing a wedding gown,” Officer Yan said. “I felt like I always owed her something as the last suspect was still at large.”
Yan was in hospital for two months. After he recovered he continued to work as a traffic officer. He is now stationed at Huaihai Road M..
For his action, Yan, now 54 years old, was named an “exemplary hero” by the Ministry of Public Affairs.
“I was with my 11-month-old son when I heard the noise and started to fight with the man, and as we continued to fight in my 10-square-meter apartment, my son was sitting on the bed looking at us brawling in blood,” he said. “I called out to my neighbor and she stormed in and took my son to her own apartment.”
Yan said he has no regrets about his intervention.
“It was hard not to fight at that time, but it would be equally hard to leave my beloved ones alone in this world,” he said.
