Police collect evidence at the scene of the rooftop flower-bed burial murder case in Luzhou, southwest China's Sichuan Province, on June 7, 2025. Photo: report by Xinhua News Agency

A court in Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Tuesday sentenced a woman surnamed Chen to death and her ex-husband surnamed Yang to death with a two-year reprieve for the 1997 murder of a woman whose body they buried in a rooftop flower bed, according to a statement released by the Luzhou Intermediate People's Court on its official WeChat account.

In its first-instance ruling, the court also found Chen guilty of forging identity documents, using false identity documents and illegally crossing borders. Taking all the offenses into account, the court sentenced her to death, deprived her of political rights for life and fined 27,000 yuan ($4,050). Yang was also deprived of political rights for life. 

According to the court's findings, Chen borrowed 40,000 yuan from the victim, surnamed Wu, in 1996 and agreed to repay the money before the following Chinese New Year. In early 1997, Chen proposed killing Wu to avoid repaying the debt, and Yang agreed. On February 1, 1997, Chen lured Wu to a warehouse under the pretext of repaying the debt. While Wu was counting the money, Yang strangled her to death with his hands. The couple later moved Wu's body to the rooftop and buried it in a flower bed that night.

The court also found that Chen used false supporting documents to complete household registration and ID cards in May 2004, March 2011 and January 2025. Between 2008 and 2025, she used false IDs to obtain travel permits for Hong Kong, Macao and the Taiwan region, and a passport for international travel, as well as to book flights and train tickets, check into accommodation, and carry out other activities. She also illegally crossed borders on multiple occasions. 

After the case came to light, family members of the two defendants paid 120,000 yuan in compensation to the civil claimant.

The court ruled that the conduct of both defendants constituted intentional homicide. Chen was also found to have committed three additional offenses involving forging identity documents, using false identity documents and illegally crossing borders. The court ruled that she should be sentenced for all the offenses. 

The court said Chen did not truthfully admit to her principal offenses after being apprehended. Given her extremely reprehensible motive, the egregious nature of the offenses and their serious consequences, the compensation paid was not sufficient grounds for a reduced sentence, the court ruled. 

Yang, however, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in light of his confession and his good attitude toward admitting guilt and expressing remorse, the court said.

The case came to light on June 7, 2025, when workers discovered human remains buried beneath a flower bed on the rooftop of a shopping complex in Luzhou, according to a report published by the Xinhua News Agency in January.

Police later identified the remains as Wu's through DNA testing and tracked down Chen, who had been living in Shanghai under a false identity for years. 

Investigators also suspected that Chen had undergone plastic surgery to alter her appearance. Chen was taken into custody in Shanghai on September 26, 2025, and Yang was later apprehended. The investigation lasted 113 days, during which police examined nearly 50,000 archival records, according to Xinhua. 

Global Times