Photo: VCG

Shandong Provincial Higher People's Court, entrusting the Tai'an Intermediate People's Court, delivered the second-instance verdict on Tuesday in the case involving appellants Zeng Xiaohai and Yuan Yonggui, and original defendants Lü Guangdong and Wang Xuyong for child abduction. The court approved the sentencing of defendant Zeng to death with a two-year reprieve, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property for the crime of child abduction, according to CCTV News.

According to previous reports, the abduction occurred in 2007. Investigation by the procuratorate revealed that around November 2006, Zeng, having learned that a couple surnamed Su and Liu were looking to adopt a baby boy, conceived the idea of stealing a boy to sell to them. Subsequently, Zeng conspired with Lü and Wang, instructing Lü to find a suitable target.

Later, Lü came to know Yuan through an introduction, and learned that Qiao Shoufen's family in Houyu village, Feicheng city, East China's Shandong Province, had a newborn baby boy and the Qiaos only had elderly people at home taking care of the baby. According to investigation, Qiao's home was located within a few hundred meters of Yuan's in the same village.

In the early hours of December 4, 2007, Zeng, Lü, and Wang, carrying tools such as a crowbar and bolt cutters, scaled the wall, broke the lock, and entered Qiao's home. Zeng and Wang restrained the couple using violence and threats, while Lü entered the west bedroom of the main house and took the 8-month-old victim, Jiang Jiaru, from his bed. The three then fled.

Court documents showed that the day after the incident, Zeng and Lü sold the victim, Jiang, to Su and Liu for 28,600 yuan ($4,157), dividing the proceeds with Wang. Later, Liu and Su named the child "Liu Enzheng" and registered his residence in Rencheng district, Jining city, Shandong Province.

Seventeen years after the crime, police successfully located the victim boy using big data comparison and facial recognition technology.

In January 2024, Zeng, Lü, Wang, and Yuan were apprehended. Subsequently, the Tai'an People's Procuratorate filed a lawsuit against the four on suspicion of child abduction. All four suspects had prior criminal records before their arrest in this case. 

Zeng, Lü, and Wang had previously collaborated on numerous livestock and property thefts in rural areas around Tai'an.

On April 2, 2025, the Tai'an Intermediate People's Court opened the case and issued a first-instance verdict on September 19. For the crime of child abduction, defendant Zeng was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve; defendants Lü and Wang were sentenced to life imprisonment; and defendant Yuan was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of 15 years and a fine of 10,000 yuan. The claims of the plaintiffs in the attached civil action, Jiang and Qiao, were upheld in accordance with the law, in the amount of 200,000 yuan.


Global Times