The discovery of a rotting and dismembered corpse in a Beijing courtyard led to a manhunt across China and a trail of alleged blackmail and murder.
On September 7, residents of the Huangmi hutong in east Beijing complained to police of a foul smell in their courtyard and a search led to the discovery of a corpse, in one of its rooms, of a young woman who had been beaten round the head, the Beijing Morning News reported.
After a nationwide search, police in Chengdu on October 11 arrested murder suspect Cheng Dongtao, 41, in the city's long-distance bus station together with his girlfriend, Chen Xiangju, 26. On August 29 the couple had a row, leaving Cheng in need of comfort and solace, he reportedly told police. He read in a newspaper of a company that provided women for conversation, for 100 yuan (HK$94) an hour.
He called the firm, which assigned a woman, An Ran, to talk to him. They met that evening at No 104 bus stop outside Beijing's Fine Arts Museum and he took her to the room in the Huangmi hutong where he lived.
The two talked for two hours - at a cost of 200 yuan - after which An allegedly demanded that he pay in addition the monthly rent for her apartment plus 5,000 yuan. If he did not, she threatened to go to the police and accuse him of rape.
Cheng threw her to the floor and hit her on the head with a brick, the report said, and continued to beat her until she died. The next day he allegedly dismembered the body and hid it in the room and fled. He went to Guangzhou to stay with his girlfriend and her sister and look for work. Finding none, he and his girlfriend divided their time between Guangdong and Sichuan, where they were arrested.
