CHINA: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SERIES OF KILLINGS

A woman was sentenced to death on 9 September 2021 by a court in east China for a series of murders, robbery and kidnappings which caused seven deaths and shocked the nation.
Lao Rongzhi was found guilty of conspiring with her ex-boyfriend to commit four counts of robbery, kidnapping and murder in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, and Hefei City, Anhui Province, between 1996 and 1999, the Intermediate People's Court in Nanchang announced.
Lao said she would appeal the death sentence.
Lao's ex-boyfriend Fa Ziying was caught for the killings in 1999 and executed that year after receiving the death penalty.
Lao targeted victims while providing services at entertainment venues and had clear divisions of work with Fa while conducting the atrocities, the court said.
Lao fled Hefei in 1999 and used false identities while on the run for two decades. She was arrested by police in Xiamen, Fujian Province, on 28 November 2019.
Lao had been working short-term jobs in bars and small shops under fake identities in various cities, making it difficult for police to track her down. But new technology helped in their hunt.
Officers in the southeastern city of Xiamen used big data technology to find Lao and confirm her identity with a DNA test.