Man who murdered his wife executed in Shanghai

A man in Shanghai who killed his wife and hid her body in a freezer for three months was executed on Jun 4, according to the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court.

Zhu Xiaodong, 30, had been accused of strangling the woman, Yang Liping, 30, over a dispute on Oct 17, 2016, at their home in Shanghai's Hongkou district.

The couple, who registered for marriage in December 2015, had filed for a divorce in 2016. In the two months before Yang's death, Zhu bought books about death and murder and purchased the refrigerator that was later used to store Yang's body.

After killing her, he wrapped the body in a red quilt and hid it in the fridge on the balcony for 105 days, during which he posed as his wife on social networking sites and in text messages to her parents and friends, according to the court.

Zhu turned himself in to the police on Feb 1, 2017 after inviting his parents over for dinner and confessing his guilt.

During a hearing at the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court on August 23, 2018, Zhu pleaded guilty and said he was "willing to accept all punishment in line with the law".

After he was sentenced to death, Zhu requested for a lighter punishment, citing that he had turned himself in, confessed and expressed remorse for the murder which he claimed was caused by marriage and family discord.

At the second hearing at Shanghai High People's Court on July 5, 2019, the court found him guilty of premeditated murder, citing the fact that Zhu stored Yang's body in the refrigerator for three months.

It was also found that Zhu transferred 45,000 yuan ($6,318.2) from Yang's bank account to his and used her credit card to purchase luxury goods and pay for daily expenses and trips in China and abroad amounting to over 100,000 yuan ($14,040.6). A police investigation showed he had used Yang's identity card to check into hotels while accompanied by different women.

The court hence upheld the original death sentence, saying that there was enough evidence that Zhu had premeditated the murder and committed the crime in an extremely cruel way.