PH
A murder mystery author has been detained on suspicion of murdering four people some 22 years ago.
52-year-old Liu Yongbiao was detained by police at his home in Nanling County, China’s Anhui province on August 11.
He is suspected of murdering four people who were killed during a robbery at a guesthouse in 1995. The dead were all killed by a heavy blow to the head with a blunt object.
The two owners of the guesthouse along with their grandson and a guest were named as the victims.
According to The Paper, following the murders, guests said that two guests with accents from China’s Anhui province checked in before the crime.
Officers started looking into the two men but the case went cold. Officer Xu Zhicheng was in charge of the investigation and told reporters: ‘The biggest difficulty is that the main suspects do not have any relationship with the victim.’
It was later reopened earlier this month thanks to advances in DNA.
The author lives in Nanling County, eastern China’s Anhui province
Scene of the murders: The crime was committed at a guest house in eastern China
Police narrowed it down to Liu’s village and following further investigation detained the author and a fellow villager surnamed Wang on August 11.
During the arrest Liu told officers: ‘I have been waiting for you.’
Liu is a member of the China Writers Association. One of his most famous works is ‘The Guilty Secret’, which focuses on the life of a female writer who has killed people. In the story, the cases remain unsolved.
While another one of his novels, a romance story was adapted into a 50 episode TV show.
Following him being taken into custody Liu handed police a letter to his wife which told her about the murders.
It said: ‘Finally I can be free from the mental torment I have gone through for so long.’
It’s thought that Liu and Wang had tried to rob the guesthouse but things quickly escalated during the attempt.
