Forgotten umbrella allows police to catch suspected murderer

By Yang Lifei  |   2008-11-24  |     ONLINE EDITION

A FORGOTTEN umbrella at a crime scene allowed police to catch a man suspected of killing a couple in their Minhang District home early this month, Shanghai officers said today.

The suspect, a 33-year-old Anhui Province native, allegedly forgot his umbrella after killing the couple in a revenge attack.

A man surnamed Du and his wife were killed on November 2 in Dongfeng Village in Pujiang Township.

A witness saw the suspected murderer when he arrived at the home to see Dr Du that night.

"I entered the yard and was about to look for the doctor when a man about 1.6-meters tall stretched his neck out of the house and asked me to wait a minute," Liu, who had brought his wife to the clinic, told police. "So we stood outside and waited."

Minutes later a villager surnamed Qiao arrived to see the doctor and entered the home. However, he immediately ran out screaming. The two villagers returned together and alerted police after seeing lots of blood in the living room. The man Liu had seen before had disappeared.

Police found the couple's bodies beside the desk and sofa.

"It is the most serious criminal case in Minhang District this year," said a police official.

Officers said it was a premeditated killing and the suspect used a hammer and dagger to kill the couple.

"A red and yellow umbrella was spread open at the entrance to the two-story house," an officer said. "We assumed it was left behind by the suspect."

In the following four days more than 100 police officers interviewed about 4,000 residents in the area. On November 5, they caught a break when a villager told police he had seen the umbrella at the house of a migrant couple. His description of the husband matched that of the man Liu saw at Du's house on the night of the killings.

Further investigation showed the husband had taken his sick son to see Dr Du, however, the family moved only one day after the killing, police said.