In 1991, a robbery and homicide occurred in Dachen Lane, Northeast Tang, Wuxi County (now Xishan District). An old man in his seventies was killed in his home. The murderer is unknown.

For many years, the seemingly unsolved mystery of this case has been haunting the minds of the policemen who dealt with the case after another.

For 30 years, the Wuxi police have not given up. After unremitting efforts, they have finally arrested the real perpetrator who was at large and brought an end to the unresolved murder case and recovered justice for the deceased.

Correspondent Sun Jiaojiao

  Yangtze Evening News/Ziniu News reporter Ding Bo

The case is bizarre, the police chased the murderer for 30 years

  Sorry!

The seventy-year-old man was killed on the seventh day of the new year

  The clock is set back to 30 years ago.

On February 21, 1991, the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, every household was still full of the atmosphere of the New Year.

The 74-year-old mother-in-law Yin is a low-income household in the village. She has no children. Her wife has been living alone since she died of illness two years ago. She usually sells rock candy and cigarettes on a wooden board at the door of her house. There will be enthusiastic neighborhood neighborhoods during the holidays. visit.

  Granny Li carried a bag of oranges and came to Granny Yin's house early in the morning. Seeing that the door was closed, there was no movement in the house.

When I walked around the house, the back door was open. Granny Li walked to the bedroom and saw that the bed was covered with quilts and her clothes were tightly covered. She opened the cyan down jacket covering her head, and a bloody smell came on her face.

Granny Li was shocked and yelled as she ran. The voice alarmed the villagers. Someone ran to the Dongbeitang police station and reported the case.

confused!

Who is the murderer?

  "There was a large area of ​​flipping in the room, some coins, food stamps and other items were stolen. The suspect's purpose of robbing the room was very obvious." Retired policeman Gu Weiliang, who had participated in the on-site technical survey, recalled.

  The house of Yin’s mother-in-law’s house is rather dilapidated, and it doesn’t look like a rich family.

"Why did the murderer choose to go to the home of a poor and lonely old woman to steal money?" Gu Huien, then the head of the Criminal Police Brigade of the Wuxi County Public Security Bureau, was lost in thought.

Combining this doubt, the police initially visited and found that some villagers reported that the village had been "legends" in the past that Tang Bohu's calligraphy and paintings and gold artifacts were hidden in the mother-in-law Yin's house, and the family was very rich.

  "The murderer must have some knowledge of the village or the victim, and it is likely to be related to this'legend', so we targeted the suspicious persons." Gu Huien immediately organized the police to carry out investigations, visits, and investigations. A series of tasks lasted three times. For many months, the case has never progressed.

adhere to!

30 years of chasing the murderer and finally arresting the suspect

  Every year, the Xishan District Criminal Police Brigade and the Northeast Tang Police Station organize police forces to visit the village.

Criminal investigation technicians also sent the biological samples collected on the spot to more than 300 public security organs across the country for inspection and comparison.

The case file has turned yellow with the passage of time, but the pace of investigation by the police will not stop.

  In 2020, the Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Bureau found Chen Qi, a suspect in Bizhong, during a comparison of biological materials. This inspired the police handling the case.

It was verified that Chen Qi was a fake identity.

In a theft case, Zhang Youhua's biographical materials were highly consistent with Chen Qi.

After investigation, the police found that Zhang Youhua had criminal records and had lived in Dongbeitang before the incident. His suspicion is serious.

  The police carried out further investigations into Zhang Youhua's foothold.

In the cold wind, after staying at Zhang Youhua's residence for a whole day, on the afternoon of December 23, Zhang Youhua was arrested by the police as soon as he arrived home from the factory after get off work.

 frank!

Contest in the interrogation room

  Because this case was a long time ago, and Zhang Youhua had a history of theft, arson, etc., he had a strong sense of resisting censorship.

Faced with questions from the police during the interrogation, Zhang Youhua remained silent.

When the review work encountered difficulties, the police used family affection and policies to influence them, presented evidence and reasoned, and patiently guided them for many consecutive days.

  Zhang Youhua had a serious car accident in 2017. He had nails on his waist and legs. He was paralyzed in bed for half a year. He was in his 60s when he was caught and his body was not very tough.

The police often cared about his physical condition, measured his blood pressure every day, and chatted with him about daily routines. In the end, his psychological defense was completely defeated.

  He shed tears of regret, "I've been a person who has been'dead' once, and I wanted to rot this thing in my stomach..."

Backtracking of the murder scene

  Oolong!

The ancient paintings in the "legend" never appeared

  His wife and son went back to their hometown before the Spring Festival. Zhang Youhua remembered that his wife had a quarrel with herself before returning to their hometown, but he still felt guilty at the thought of not giving the bride price money for many years after getting married.

  While wandering, he suddenly remembered the rumors that his wife and brother had said when he was chatting when he rented his wife and brother’s house in Dachen Alley, Tang Dachen Alley, Northeast Tang, "I heard that the old man of Granny Yin liked to collect calligraphy and calligraphy. It's worth six to seven hundred thousand!" The speaker is unintentional, but the listener is intentional.

One dark night, Zhang Youhua quietly sneaked into Yin's mother-in-law's house...

  "Where are the ancient paintings hidden? Come on!" Seeing that the old lady was silent, Zhang Youhua took out the knife he carried against her neck, and the old lady shouted "Help" in fright.

Worried that the old man’s cry for help would alarm the villagers, he stabbed him with a knife...

  However, Zhang Youhua rummaged through the house and found only some change, cigarettes, etc., but did not see the ancient painting in the "legend" at all.

Forget the past

  remorse!

The handsome young man went astray

  When he was young, Zhang Youhua was 1.8 meters tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes.

In the Spring Festival of 1991, after committing a crime, he feared that the incident would be revealed. From Wuxi to Kunshan, Suzhou, he moved back to his hometown in Zhenjiang and worked in a small factory. He has since disappeared.

  "Because Zhang Youhua moved away from Dachen Lane before the Spring Festival, he was lucky enough to not enter the police's line of sight when investigating, but Skynet was restored without leakage, and he could not escape after all." Close the yellowed case file, the policeman Said with emotion.

  On February 5, 2021, the suspect Zhang Youhua was arrested by the People’s Procuratorate of Xishan District, Wuxi City.

(The characters in the text are all pseudonyms)