kvmb Chapter 1355 Zhao Gang is arrested and confesses to murder.
Chapter 1355 Zhao Gang is arrested and confesses to murder.
As Zhao Gang was handcuffed and taken downstairs, residents of the community craned their necks to watch the spectacle. Zhao Mei stood beside the police car, tears streaming down her face. Watching her brother being led away, she murmured, "I should have talked to him sooner. I shouldn't have let him hide in my house..." Xiao Wang walked up to Zhao Mei and patted her on the shoulder: "You're right to cooperate with the police investigation. The law won't wrong an innocent person, nor will it let a guilty person go free."
At 8 PM, Xiao Wang and his team escorted Zhao Gang back to Xicheng. Inside the police car, Zhao Gang leaned back in his seat, eyes closed, repeatedly muttering, "I was wrong... I shouldn't have killed anyone..." Xiao Wang watched the city lights flash by outside the window, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside him. This murder case, spanning two provinces and cities, finally reached its climax after more than a month of investigation.
Upon returning to the Criminal Investigation Division, Zhao Gang was immediately taken to the interrogation room. Zhang Lin, along with technicians, conducted DNA sampling and fingerprint extraction on Zhao Gang. After comparison, his DNA completely matched the skin tissue under Liu Qiang's fingernails, and his fingerprints also matched some of the fingerprints found on the plastic bottle at the scene. Trace amounts of bloodstains were detected in the rust on the black folding knife, and DNA comparison confirmed that it was Liu Qiang's blood.
Faced with irrefutable evidence, Zhao Gang confessed to his crimes. In May 2024, after being released from prison, Zhao Gang returned to his hometown and discovered that Liu Qiang had been cultivating his three mu (approximately 0.2 acres) of farmland and refused to return it, thus creating a feud between the two. In October, Zhao Gang heard that the back wages owed by Xipo Coal Mine had been settled, and believing that Liu Qiang would pocket the money, he traveled from Hebei to Xicheng to demand the return of his land and wages from Liu Qiang.
On the evening of October 15th, Zhao Gang found Liu Qiang in a cornfield in Liulin Village, and the two had a heated argument. Liu Qiang insulted Zhao Gang, calling him a "labor camp inmate," and physically assaulted him. In a fit of rage, Zhao Gang pulled out a folding knife he was carrying and stabbed Liu Qiang in the chest. After struggling for a few minutes, Liu Qiang collapsed to the ground. After confirming that he was dead, Zhao Gang dragged the body to a nearby pit, buried it, and then fled the scene.
After the crime, Zhao Gang first took a train back to Hebei Province and hid in the mountains near his hometown. Later, because he had no money for food, he found his cousin Zhao Qiang and gave him some of the stolen money (the wages he had taken from Liu Qiang). He then went to Beizhou City to stay with his sister Zhao Mei, intending to hide for a while before fleeing to another place. Unexpectedly, the police quickly tracked down his whereabouts through a meticulous investigation.
On November 5th, Zhao Gang was formally arrested by Xicheng police on suspicion of intentional homicide. When Liu Qiang's family received notification from the police that the murderer had been apprehended, Liu Qiang's elderly mother collapsed to the ground in tears, repeatedly saying, "Thank you, officers, thank you for avenging my son..."
On the morning of November 6th, a fine, cold rain fell from the sky over Xicheng. The cold wind whipped the raindrops against the police cars, making a "pitter-patter" sound. The three police cars from the Criminal Investigation Detachment formed an escort convoy, slowly driving along the slippery asphalt road. In the back seat of the middle prison van, Zhao Gang, wearing handcuffs and shackles, was slightly hunched over in his prison uniform. His face was expressionless, except when the wheels rolled over the bumpy road, he would subconsciously tighten his fingers—the tension from holding a knife still lingered there.
“Zhao Gang, when we get to the scene, tell us exactly what you did, without missing a single detail.” Xiao Wang, sitting in the passenger seat, glanced back at him and spoke into the prison van through the walkie-talkie, “Every trace at the scene holds the truth. What you say must match what we find out. Don’t take any chances.”
Zhao Gang's Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't speak, only turning his gaze to the window. The village through the rain gradually became clearer: the familiar dirt road, the vast cornfields, and the distant, faintly visible coal slag heaps on Xipo Coal Mine—all seemed like sharp knives, piercing his carefully maintained composure. When the convoy entered Liulin Village, about two hundred meters from the cornfield, Zhao Gang's breathing suddenly became rapid, his hands began to tremble uncontrollably, and his face was paler than his prison uniform.
The police car stopped outside the cordon at the village entrance, and Zhang Lin, Xiao Yang, and several technicians who had been waiting there immediately surrounded them. Zhang Lin held the autopsy report and photos of the scene in his hand, his gaze lingering on Zhao Gang's face for a few seconds: "Calm down. We need the real process, not your performance." Zhao Gang looked up and met Zhang Lin's gaze. That gaze lacked the sharpness of interrogation, but carried a calm that seemed to see through everything, instantly reminding him of Liu Qiang, whom he had buried in the mud—that face that had once been full of honest smiles, now frozen in a painful, distorted expression.
Two police officers helped Zhao Gang out of the car, the icy rain immediately soaking his hair and prison uniform. He stumbled, the muddy ground beneath his feet, mixed with rainwater, sent a shiver down his spine, as if he were instantly transported back to that equally cold night thirty-five days ago. "This way," Xiao Wang led the way into the police cordon, following the investigation path that Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun had set up. "That night, you came from this direction?"
Zhao Gang's gaze swept across the farmland on both sides of the path. The dark brown soil glistened in the rain, and a thin layer of ice had formed on the irrigation canals in the distance. He nodded, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly: "Yes... on the evening of October 15th, I came from the scrap metal yard and walked along this road for about twenty minutes before getting here." He stopped ten meters away from the pit, his eyes fixed on the mound of earth, blurred by the rain. "The corn here had already been harvested; the field was bare, with only the sound of the wind."
Xiao Zhou walked over with the on-site investigation report, opened the notebook and asked, "You said you arranged to meet Liu Qiang here beforehand? What time did you agree to meet?"
“We arranged to meet at 10 p.m..” Zhao Gang’s voice lowered, and his eyes began to glaze over, as if he were recalling the scene. “I ran into him at the convenience store in the afternoon and told him I had something important to discuss, about the land and wages. He hesitated for a moment and then won. He knew I resented him for taking my land and was afraid I would cause a scene in front of my fellow villagers at the mine, since he still needed to find work in the area.”
"What clothes were you wearing at the time? What were you carrying?" Xiao Yang pressed, while simultaneously opening his camera to photograph Zhao Gang's expression and actions during the identification—all of which were important pieces of evidence in the court proceedings.
"He was wearing a dark blue jacket, similar to Li Jianjun's, and black pants, and size 42 Warrior rubber shoes, the kind with a textured sole that you guys talk about."