Chen Yongfeng

Case summary

Chen Yongfeng was sentenced to death at Wenzhou city's Intermediate People's Court for killing and cutting up 10 co-workers in a rampage that lasted from February to May that year.

He was described as luring victims from the trash collecting site and killing them at his home. Police later collected a total of 229 body parts from various dumpsites, filling 29 bags. He was reported to have chopped the corpses into smaller pieces and dumped them at about four different locations throughout the city.

State media reported that the motive seemed to involve profit. Chen was reported to have stolen a total of 10,032 yuan from his victims. In a separate civil lawsuit, he was told to pay about nine times as much in funeral expenses to the relatives of the people he killed.

The offence

Chen Yongfeng, nicknamed the “butcher” by Chinese media, was described as butchering 10 other scrap merchants. He was alleged to have committed the murders over a three-month period from February 28 to May 24.

Chen was reported to have robbed his victims of 10 032 yuan (US$1200).

It was reported that Chen made money from collecting and reselling scrap goods. He was alleged to have become motivated to kill after being angered that another scrap collector managed to buy a recyclable item he lacked money to purchase. It was reported that Chen realised fellow scavengers tended to carry valuables with them to avoid theft, and decided it would be easier to earn a living by killing his colleagues and taking their money than relying only on scavenging. He was reported to have tricked his victims to his temporary home, where he butchered them.

After carrying out his first murder, Chen was reported to have been motivated to carry out another a week later when he ran low on money. He was reported to have dismembered nine victims’ bodies, throwing them in a river, before being caught in the act on the 10th murder.

Investigation

After Chen was caught, police collected a total of 229 body parts from the various dumpsites, filling 29 bags.

Trial

Chen Yongfeng (20) was put on trial in Wenzhou city, Zhejiang province, on charges of committing the murders in the three-month period from February 28 to May 24.

During the trial, Chen denied he committed the killings, but admitted to a majority of the evidence.

His lawyer tried to claim Chen suffered from mental illness because the methods he used were “more horrible than horror movies,” while prosecutors argued he was sane and adept at dodging prosecutors’ questioning.

Chen was reported to have been a native of Zhejiang's Qingtian county, and to have dropped out of school after graduating from elementary school. It was reported that he spent time doing a variety of odd jobs, including fluffing cotton for four years. He was reported to have gone to Wenzhou city to scavenge this year.

Sentencing

Chen Yongfeng was sentenced at Wenzhou city's Intermediate People's Court to death on December 5, 2003.

Civil proceedings

In a separate civil lawsuit, Chen was told to pay about nine times as much in funeral expenses to the relatives of the people he killed.

Aftermath

The case was reported amid other serial murder cases that had shaken public faith in the Communist Party’s ability to keep law and order.