Chongqing, China – In April 2006, in Chongqing’s Fuling
District, villagers noticed that Yang Renyou,
a man who died of what was considered a mysterious disease that
had long plagued the area had marks on his neck indicating he had been
strangled. Investigation showed that he had also been poisoned – by his wife,
Zhang Zongqin, 36.
As police built their case against the husband-killer,
evidence revealed that they had a serial killer case on their hands. Over a
period of 14 years, 1992-2006, the woman had murdered 6 others, had injured an
additional 27 and had even poisoned livestock. It was these mysterious animal
deaths that led locals to think some disease was plaguing the locale.
According to the prosecutor, Zhang Zongqin’s motivation was
usually revenge – getting even with others over trifling slights. In one
instance she attempted to murder four of her in-laws (bothers- and
sisters-in-law) who, following her arrest, she claimed were “not nice” to her
and had “made her lose face.” One of them died from poisoning. She was upset
that one of her second husband’s friends failed to invite her to dinner. She is
accused of murdering him and also her husband’s parents in 2003. It is reported
that they died only after a series of failed attempts.
***
FULL TEXT: China News Service, August 8. -- According to
Chongqing Daily, 36-year-old Chongqing woman Zhang Zongqin's crime of poisoning
her husband Yang Renyou was revealed, uncovering a shocking case of 14 years of
continuous poisoning and killing many people, and cracked the country for many
years. The mystery of "strange disease": In the past 14 years, Zhang
Zongqin has poisoned people many times, causing 7 deaths, poisoning countless
poultry and livestock, and causing 27 people to be poisoned to varying degrees.
The dead also included Zhang Zongqin's two biological daughters. Experts in
medicine, agriculture, and even radioactive substances failed to find out the
cause. The villagers had to believe that there was a problem with the local
"feng shui", and that people and animals were infected with the
intractable "sow madness".
In the summer of 1997, Yang Renyou's 12-year-old nephew fell
ill and was rescued and cured in time. From the winter solstice of 1999 to the
beginning of 2002, the eldest and daughter-in-law of the Yang family suffered
from the disease many times. Because of this, the eldest brother became
delirious, ran out of the mental hospital, and died in the suburbs. In the
meantime, the second daughter of the Yang family and the second daughter-in-law
also suffered from strange diseases. After being rescued, they did not dare to
stay at home, so they went to Guangzhou to work, and then they recovered. From
the end of 2001 to the beginning of 2003, Yang Renyou's parents also fell ill
many times. In early 2003, his father died, and seven days later, his mother
also died. In the 5 houses in the same compound as the Yang family, people,
poultry and livestock are also sick.
"During that time, the Yang family and several nearby
families invited people to dance to the gods, and they killed many chickens to
worship the gods," the villagers said. In order to find out the cause, the
township government invited a professor from the Southwest Hospital to give
Zhang Zongqin's family a physical examination. They also sampled and analyzed
the soil, vegetables, water flow and even the walls around their house. No
problems were found. Later, the township government invited experts from the
district health bureau to check the radioactive material, but no problems were
found.
The villagers began to think that there was a "feng
shui problem" and demanded relocation. In 2001, the township government
vacated an abandoned factory building for six family members who were sick. At
the end of 2003, the township government relocated the six families to the main
street. So far, the strange disease shrouded in the heads of the six families
has disappeared.
On March 23 this year, Yang Renyou, who went to work in
Guangzhou, returned home. At around 4 pm the next day, his wife Zhang Zongqin
burst into tears and told the neighbors that her husband was dying of illness.
Neighbors found Yang Renyou with obvious strangulation marks on his neck on the
way to the hospital, so they reported the case to the local police station. On
April 6, Yang Renyou died due to ineffective rescue. After identification, Yang
Renyou died of tetramine poisoning, and his neck suffered mechanical violence
before his death. The police identified Zhang Zongqin as suspected of
committing a major crime and strengthened his interrogation. Amazing truth!
Zhang Zongqin explained that Yang Renyou was poisoned by her. After the
poisoning attacked, Yang Renyou kept getting angry, and she strangled him with
a rope. She had previously poisoned six people, including her two biological daughters.
After two psychiatric identifications and re-autopsy of many
deceased, the police finally settled the case of Zhang Zongqin, who was
completely normal, poisoning seven people. "As long as anyone says
something she doesn't like to hear, she may be poisoned." Yesterday, the
Fuling District Procuratorate officially transferred Zhang Zongqin's murder
case to the Third Branch of the Chongqing Municipal Procuratorate for
prosecution.
Zhang Zongqin, 36, is from Xinle Village, Longtan Town,
Fuling District. At the age of 18, Zhang Zongqin married He Mou from a
neighboring village. After Zhang gave birth to his daughter, He and his parents
were very dissatisfied because of the patriarchal ideology. When my daughter
was two years old, she could not stand with her legs and was diagnosed as
disabled by the hospital. In order to treat their daughter's illness, the
couple often quarrel over money. Zhang Zongqin decided to kill her daughter,
"Less burden, I will have a son in the future." In the early summer of
1992, she poisoned her daughter. Later, Zhang Zongqin lied to her husband and
said, "My daughter fell off the bed and died." In 1993, after the
second child gave birth to a daughter, Zhang Zongqin was completely desperate.
In 1994, she poisoned her second daughter. She also decided to poison He
Moutong to death, but was unsuccessful.
In 1995, Zhang Zongqin sued the court for divorce. In court,
she said that she had poisoned He and wanted to kill him, which proved that the
relationship between the two had been completely broken. But at that time,
everyone thought that Zhang Zongqin was just "speaking anger". After
the divorce, Zhang Zongqin was introduced to marry Yang Renyou, a man from
Xincun Township. At the end of 1996, Zhang gave birth to his third daughter.
But Yang Renyou treats his wife very well and listens to her in everything.
According to Zhang Zongqin's confession, he poisoned his
12-year-old nephew Yang Chuan because he often made his daughter cry. The
second brother and the second sister-in-law have been poisoned four times,
because they "have not treated me well, and I will punish them." The
elder brother and sister-in-law annoyed herself because of the trivial matters
of life, so she has been poisoned five times. I poisoned my father-in-law and
mother-in-law 4 times because they once criticized themselves for being too
domineering at home.
Zhang Zongqin also explained the reason for the poisoning of
her husband: At the end of 2005, Yang Renyou proposed to have another son.
After Zhang Zongqin objected, Yang soon proposed to go to Guangzhou to work,
and Zhang Zongqin objected again. Just after the New Year in 2006, he insisted
on going to Guangzhou, but within a week, he called and said he wanted to go
home. Zhang Zongqin objected again: "If you can't find the money, you have
to come back. That's not good." Despite his wife's objection, Yang Renyou
came back a month later. Bai Yi Baishun's husband violated his wishes many
times, and Zhang Zongqin decided to clean him up.
Zhang Zongqin explained that on January 23, 2002, when she
visited her husband who was working at the Red Brick Factory in Longtan Town,
she also poisoned her husband's co-workers Chen and Wang Jie. Because they
invited Yang Renyou out to dinner, but did not invite Zhang Zongqin to go with
them, "They don't give me face." Later, Chen escaped and Wang Jie
died. After the police station intervened to investigate the matter, the masses
reported that the workers of the brick factory had been stealing cabbage from
nearby farmers, and they suspected that the dissatisfied vegetable farmers had
poisoned the cabbage. The speculation diverted the police's investigation line
of sight, and Zhang Zongqin escaped the attack again.
"There is no one who hates the most. Poisoning and
killing people is because others look down on me." Zhang Zongqin said that
she has poisoned water tanks, meals, vegetable fields, chicken food and even
pigsties. For fear of being discovered, she only casts a small amount of poison
each time. (Xiao Yuliangjieying and Chengcheng).
[Li Shuguo,“Poisoning husband and daughter snake and
scorpion peasant woman in 14 years caused 7 deaths and 27 poisoning,” China
News, Aug. 8, 2006]
***
1992 – Daughter with He (ex-husband), 2, died.
1993 – Daughter with He (ex-husband), 1, died.
1997 – nephew, 12, poisoned, survived.
Year? – mother-in law (Yang), died.
Year? – father-in law (Yang), died.
Year? – friend of Yang, died.
2006 – Yang Renyou, second husband, died.
