32-year-old cold case solved by rumour, DNA and cigarette butt

 

By Sagaya Fernando | June 8, 2025

Weiyuan, CHINA: In a chilling turn of events, a decades-old double homicide in China's Sichuan province has finally been resolved — 32 years after it happened — following a curious village rumour and an undercover DNA operation that led to the arrest of a fugitive who had been living in plain sight for decades.

The case dates back to 1992, when a 29-year-old man named Li allegedly killed his mother and teenage girlfriend in a violent domestic altercation at his family home in Weiyuan County. According to a confession obtained after his arrest, Li used a kitchen knife to kill his 17-year-old girlfriend after a financial dispute. His mother was reportedly killed in the ensuing chaos. He then fled the scene and vanished.

At the time, Chinese law enforcement was hampered by limited forensic tools and an absence of digital tracking, leaving the case unsolved for more than three decades. That changed in 2024, when cold case investigators reopened the file and began re-examining loose ends — one of which turned out to be a village whisper with unexpected consequences.

A relative of Li, his sister-in-law identified only by her surname Gu, had also disappeared shortly after the murders. Though she was never officially reported missing due to a troubled marriage with Li’s elder brother, a persistent rumour in the village suggested Gu may have been romantically involved with Li and had helped him escape.

In 2013, Gu resurfaced briefly during a visit to her family. She confirmed she had children, but refused to disclose her whereabouts. Investigators later traced her to Jiangmen, a city in the southern province of Guangdong, using an old phone number. Surveillance footage showing a woman in a rickshaw led authorities to her residence, where her identity was verified.

Authorities eventually tracked down Li in a nearby village where he had been living quietly with Gu — now assumed to be his common-law wife — under assumed identities for nearly 30 years. They raised two children and blended seamlessly into village life, working in local construction.

To confirm his identity, an undercover officer befriended Li at a worksite and retrieved a discarded cigarette butt. Forensic analysis matched the DNA to that from the original crime scene.

When finally confronted by police, Li did not resist arrest.

“Life has been difficult for me over the years. You finally came. I am relieved to leave this life behind,” Li reportedly told officers, according to The South China Morning Post.

Li confessed that the crime stemmed from a financial demand made by his then-girlfriend, who had threatened to leave him. During the confrontation, his mother intervened and was fatally wounded. After the killings, he hid in the mountains for months, allegedly aided by Gu, who later chose to flee with him permanently.

In custody, Li said he had grown so accustomed to life on the run that he forgot his legal identity. “I lost track of how many years had passed,” he said. “I even forgot my ID number and my original name.”

The extraordinary case, which combines family betrayal, a decades-long manhunt, and advances in forensic science, has gripped Chinese social media and reignited public interest in cold case investigations. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether Gu will face charges related to aiding and abetting or obstruction.

The case highlights the power of DNA evidence in revisiting long-dormant investigations and the peculiar ways in which seemingly minor tips — in this case, a rumour — can crack open even the oldest of cases.