Police refute wild rumors in case of missing schoolboy
Hu is captured by a surveillance camera in the dormitory building of Zhiyuan High School on October 14, 2022.
Police have said no foul play is suspected in the case of a 15-year-old teenager who went missing from his school three months ago, speculating he walked away on his own.
The boy surnamed Hu, a 10th grader at Zhiyuan High School in Qianshan County, Shangrao City of east China's Jiangxi Province, went missing from the boarding school on the evening of October 14.
Police received the missing person's report from his parents and teacher on the morning of October 15.
Surveillance footage showed Hu looking in the direction of Suiyuan, a small garden in the school where people can climb over the wall and escape around 5:40pm that day. Hu was captured going toward Suiyuan twice and was last seen walking to the garden at 5:51pm, police said.
Hu had a middle or low ranking in academic performance. He has complained multiple times to teachers that he had difficulties studying, found it hard to concentrate, had sleeping problems and wanted to go home. He scribbled about these issues in his notebooks and textbooks several times.
He had three phone calls on September 27 with his mother, 43 minutes in total, crying and saying he didn't want to study and wanted to go home.
Before the weeklong National Day holiday which started on October 1, he talked with classmates about escaping from the school by climbing over the wall in Suiyuan Garden.
He ranked at the bottom among his 64 classmates in a geography exam on October 11. After that, he was seen looking in the direction of Suiyuan Garden frequently.
Police have eliminated from suspicion his class teacher, the headmaster and his deputy, and confirmed that the surveillance footage hasn't been edited, tampered or deleted.
They also denied various online rumors such as that blood-soaked clothes had been found in the mountains near the school, his body parts have been found in a septic tank, and his body has been dumped in a river after his organs had been harvested.
Police said they are not treating it as a criminal case and will continue the search. They have asked the public to assist with information.
