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墨書 Inktalez
He brutally murdered his wife with 23 stab wounds, nearly committing a high-IQ "perfect crime."
He was a man of immense power, the Chief Prosecutor with 20 years of experience in the judicial system, well-versed in all criminal methods and familiar with every trick of the trade. Even the renowned detective Wu Guoqing regarded him as an unforgettable adversary.
Shockingly, his motive for killing his wife stemmed from his impending promotion; he feared that she would expose his sordid dealings, jeopardizing his career.
However, this murder case was fraught with controversy, as it was riddled with doubts. The perpetrator not only recanted his confession in court but also left behind a chilling statement before his execution: "I am innocent."
Was there truly another truth behind this case? Or would it remain an unsolvable mystery forever?
Date of the incident: September 29, 2003.
Location: Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province.
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At 1 PM that day, the Qindu District Public Security Bureau received an emergency call reporting a homicide in Fuyuan Community. This upscale neighborhood was home to either business tycoons or government officials—wealthy and influential residents.
More critically, the caller identified himself as Chief Prosecutor Chen Ping from the Qindu District Prosecutor's Office, stating that the victim was his wife. Instantly, over a dozen police cars rushed to Fuyuan Community. The scene below was illuminated by flashing police lights, gathering a large number of officers. Soon, they encountered the grief-stricken Chen Ping.
According to reports, Chen Ping left home for work at the prosecutor's office at 7:40 AM. His wife, Wang Lin, being a business owner, did not need to rise early and was still asleep.
Around 11:30 AM, Chen Ping received a call from a friend of his wife’s, expressing concern over their inability to reach her. When he tried calling their home phone, there was no answer. He even asked a neighbor to knock on the door, but still received no response.
Driven by professional instinct, Chen Ping sensed something was amiss and quickly gathered several colleagues and friends to return home for a check. However, he realized that in his haste that morning, he had forgotten his keys.
At that moment, one of Chen Ping's friends noticed that their apartment was on the second floor and not too high off the ground. He volunteered to climb in through the neighbor's balcony. What he discovered inside was a horrifying scene.
After listening to Chen Ping's description, the police officer tried to calm his emotions while calling a locksmith to open the door. The scene inside was chilling. Wang Lin was found with her hands and feet bound, her mouth gagged, and her eyes wide open as she lay on the bed.
She wore a pink nightgown on her upper body, but her lower half was completely bare. Bloodstains from a struggle were scattered across the bed, the blanket, and the floor. From the wound on her chest, it could be inferred that the murder weapon was likely a sharp knife.
However, upon investigation, aside from some blood smudges left by gloved hands and two sets of shoe prints, the police found no murder weapon and no useful fingerprints. Surprisingly, technicians discovered 138 rounds of handgun ammunition in Chen Ping's home, along with over 100,000 yuan in cash and more than a million yuan in valuable securities.
In response, Chen Ping explained that he had the legal right to carry a service firearm and insisted that the bullets were unrelated to his wife's death, claiming he would handle the situation in his own way. As for the cash and securities, he stated they were earnings from his wife's business and he was unsure why they were kept at home.
That afternoon, news of the murder of the Chief Prosecutor's wife in Qindu District spread rapidly. It is worth noting that Chen Ping was a significant figure in Xianyang City and was about to assume the position of Deputy Chief Prosecutor at the Municipal Procuratorate as well as head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, with a promising career ahead.
The case quickly became sensational throughout Xianyang City. The public speculated that Chen Ping may have offended criminals during his work and was retaliated against. Insiders strongly urged relevant authorities to solve the case swiftly to bring justice for the Chief Prosecutor.
Given the serious implications of the case, the Xianyang Public Security Bureau immediately established a special task force for analysis. After thorough examination, forensic experts discovered that Wang Lin had suffered as many as 23 fatal stab wounds, indicating that the assailant intended to kill her and likely harbored deep-seated resentment.
Additionally, forensic analysis retrieved several male hairs from her lower body that did not belong to her husband, Chen Ping.
What puzzled investigators was that there were no signs of sexual activity prior to her death; how did these hairs end up there? As for the time of death, while the task force publicly stated it occurred between 7 AM and 9 AM, Wang Lin actually died around 5 AM. The reasons for this discrepancy would be revealed later.
Based on their initial investigation, the task force identified four possible motives for the crime: first, robbery; second, rape; third, an extramarital affair; fourth, revenge.
However, after detailed analysis, police ruled out these possibilities one by one. Despite signs of a struggle throughout the room, valuables such as 100,000 yuan in cash stored in drawers remained untouched by the assailant.
According to the autopsy report, Wang Lin had not been sexually assaulted; thus, robbery and rape were largely dismissed as motives.
Friends of Wang Lin reported that she had always been upright and had never engaged in any unusual relationships with other men. She was known for her kindness and helpfulness towards employees and friends and had never been involved in any disputes. Therefore, both extramarital affair-related motives and revenge against Wang Lin seemed unlikely.
In fact, there was another theory within the task force: based on observations made by officers on-site just a day after the incident—considering that doors and windows were intact—it suggested that a familiar person likely committed the crime. This person was highly suspected to be Chen Ping himself.
However, since the murder weapon and other tools used in the crime were not found, and the clues left at the scene were insufficient to definitively identify him as the murderer, the police could not take any action against him. Nevertheless, to avoid alerting the suspect, the special investigation team deliberately delayed the time of Wang Lin's death, aiming to lull the murderer or Chen Ping into a false sense of security.
After more than two months of interviews and investigations, the police quickly discovered multiple suspicious points in this case.
First, the marital relationship between Chen Ping and Wang Lin was not good; they frequently argued and even resorted to physical fights.
Second, most of the funds for the bathhouse operated by Wang Lin were obtained through Chen Ping's abuse of power, making it appear that Wang Lin was a successful businesswoman while in reality, she was being manipulated by Chen Ping.
Third, Chen Ping had numerous mistresses and had been caught in bed with one of them by Wang Lin. Instead of curbing his behavior, Chen Ping became even more brazen, even fathering a child with one of his mistresses.
Fourth, in 2002, a securities company was exposed for misappropriating funds and was investigated by the anti-corruption bureau of the Qindu District Prosecutor's Office.
According to reports from insiders, after accepting a bribe of 400,000 yuan, Chen Ping used his power to have the investigators withdrawn. His wife, Wang Lin, was fully aware of everything.
The police discovered six notebooks in Wang Lin's company safe, which contained records detailing Chen Ping's embezzlement and abuse of power for personal gain.
Given these circumstances, some officers speculated that Wang Lin's murder must be closely related to Chen Ping. This deduction shocked the entire special investigation team. However, this was merely speculation without concrete evidence implicating Chen Ping. Consequently, the team decided to conduct covert surveillance on him.
However, with 20 years of experience in judicial work, Chen Ping quickly noticed that he was being followed. This led to criticism from higher-ups directed at the special investigation team because Chen Ping, leveraging his connections, called relevant leaders to complain about their ineffectiveness and misconduct.
Meanwhile, due to the prolonged investigation without resolution and considering that the victim was the wife of a high-ranking government official, the Ministry of Public Security immediately dispatched several renowned criminal investigation experts to assist in solving the case, including chief detective Wu Guoqing. Importantly, these experts operated without any protective interference.
In January 2004, Wu Guoqing and several experts carefully examined the crime scene. They quickly identified an important point of suspicion.
First, there were only shoe prints leading into the scene but none leading out. Additionally, there were some areas where it was evident that the murderer had been present but left no shoe prints.
Second, while the shoe prints appeared to belong to a pair of women's shoes, an examination by a Footprint Expert confirmed that they were actually made by a man wearing women's shoes.
In addition, Wu Guoqing carefully examined Wang Lin's body. Logically speaking, anyone who suffers a stab wound would instinctively struggle and resist, even if their hands and feet were bound. However, there were no signs of such struggle on Wang Lin's body.
Therefore, Wu Guoqing concluded that Wang Lin must have been murdered after being anesthetized, rather than killed in a fight. As expected, subsequent drug analysis of Wang Lin's blood and stomach contents confirmed that she had ingested a large amount of sleeping pills before her death.
According to the test report, Wang Lin was killed several hours after taking the sleeping pills. Investigation revealed that she had no history of using sleeping medication, suggesting that she had been secretly drugged.
Another crucial point was that Wu Guoqing discovered two nearly invisible bloodstains on the quilt, which were confirmed to be from the murder weapon. All evidence indicated that the crime scene had been meticulously staged by the perpetrator. If it weren't for the experienced officers, it would have been nearly impossible to detect.
Wu Guoqing estimated that Wang Lin's time of death was around 5 AM, while Chen Ping left his home around 7 AM, making him a prime suspect in the case.
On January 18, 2004, Chen Ping was criminally detained by the police on suspicion of Intentional Homicide. However, during interrogation, he remained silent. Clearly, he possessed strong counter-investigation skills and believed that the police lacked sufficient evidence to convict him.
To find more objective evidence, Wu Guoqing led the investigation team in conducting interviews and soon identified the source of the sleeping pills. According to the pharmacy owner, it was Chen Ping who purchased them. Additionally, an expert in footprints confirmed that the disguised shoe prints at the scene matched Chen Ping's footwear perfectly.
More importantly, a classmate of Chen Ping recalled that he had gifted Chen Ping and three other classmates each a beautifully crafted curved Craft Knife. Comparisons showed that the knife marks matched perfectly with Wang Lin's wounds, indicating that this type of Craft Knife was indeed the murder weapon.
While the knives belonging to the three classmates were still in their possession, Chen Ping claimed that his knife had long been lost. Wasn't this an obvious attempt to deflect suspicion?
Although the murder weapon, gloves, dress shoes, and the cup used to hold the sleeping pills were never found, these physical pieces of evidence are not strictly necessary for a conviction. As long as there are reasonable and legal pieces of evidence such as scene investigation records, witness testimonies, and forensic opinions that can support and corroborate each other, a suspect can still be convicted.
On February 18, 2004, relevant departments finally concluded the Xianyang Prosecutor General Murder Case.
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