Husband Killed His Wife And Hid Her Body in a Freezer for Three Months — Murder of Yang Liping
He wrapped her body and stored it in the fridge on the balcony for 105 days while maintaining his online persona as her husband.
On October 17, 2016, 31-year-old Zhu Xiaodong strangled his wife, Yang Liping, to death during an argument. He wrapped his wife’s corpse in a bedsheet and hid it in a freezer on the balcony of their home in Hongkou District, Shanghai.
On the issue of Zhu’s purpose, the courts found that Zhu had several affairs following his marriage to Yang in 2015. Two months prior to the killing in August 2016, Zhu told his mistress that he and Yang had separated and were no longer together.
In the same month, he purchased some “true crime” books and had them delivered to his father’s residence. The way in which he murdered Yang was remarkably identical to a case described in one of the books.
On September 22, he acquired a massive freezer online that did not fit in their home or suited their normal way of life, but it was necessary since it would be used to preserve his wife’s body once he killed her. He claimed he purchased it to store meat for his pet snakes, lizards, and frogs. However, Yang’s family believes the killing was intentional.
Zhu took Yang to the elementary school where she worked and persuaded her to resign, stating that she would be joining him in Hong Kong as a result of his promotion. Her resignation was accepted on October 14, 2016, only a few days before she was murdered, and hence the school was unaware of her whereabouts during the next three months.
On October 17, Zhu and Yang had an argument at home. He then strangled Yang’s neck with his hand, suffocating her. Later that night, Zhu covered Yang’s body in a quilt and put it in the freezer placed on the balcony.
Zhu murdered Yang and used Yang’s Alipay account to transfer 45,000 yuan (US$6,544.12) to his own. Following Yang’s death, Zhu travelled to Hainan province, the towns of Nanjing and Xuzhou in Jiangsu province, and South Korea in an attempt to “forget about the killing.”
Zhu used her credit cards to purchase a variety of products, including luxury items and daily essentials. Additionally, he booked into hotel rooms with another woman while using Yang’s ID card, went out for drinks with buddies at night, and stayed overnight at the pub.
Later, Zhu overdrew more than 100,000 yuan from Yang’s credit cards and spent the money on personal pleasures.
Also, he installed devices that allow him to monitor the freezer on his phone and see whether anyone found the secret.
During the three months that Yang’s body was kept frozen, Zhu used her WeChat messaging account to impersonate her in conversations with her friends and relatives, as well as her Weibo account to publish posts.
It became clear to him that he could no longer conceal the truth after the couple was invited to his father-in-birthday law’s dinner that evening. Zhu surrendered to authorities on February 1, 2017, accompanied by his parents, after inviting them over for dinner and confessing his crime.
On August 23, Zhu pled guilty and stated he was “willing to accept all punishment in accordance with the law” during a hearing at the Shanghai №2 Intermediate People’s Court.
The court stated that his calm behaviour after committing murder was unlike that of an offender of impulse crime, who normally expresses panic and regret, and though he had enough psychological preparation.
Zhu is about to be sentenced to death, but Zhu petitioned the court for a lighter punishment, claiming that he had turned himself in, confessed, and shown remorse for the murder, which he claimed was prompted by marriage and family conflict.
On July 5, 2019, the Shanghai High People’s Court held a second hearing in the premeditated murder case against Zhu, where they ruled him guilty for hiding Yang’s body in the refrigerator for three months.
Thus, the court maintained the previous death sentence, stating that there was sufficient evidence that Zhu had premeditated the murder and committed it in a very cruel manner. Zhu’s sentence was carried out in June 2020.
Sources:
Wife killer sentenced to death — Chinadaily.com.cn
Death sentence upheld for ‘wife in freezer’ killer — SHINE News
Man who murdered wife, hid body, executed in Shanghai — Chinadaily.com.cn
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