Mother, stepfather arrested for allegedly killing 10-year-old son
The mother and stepfather of a missing boy are in custody in north China's Shanxi Province, suspected of killing their 10-year-old son.
After going missing for 20 days, the body of the boy, surnamed Zhang, was discovered buried in a graveyard in his stepfather's village, Linyi County police said in a statement on Wednesday.
The photo shows the missing boy and the notice issued by the Public Security Bureau of Linyi County on Thursday.
The boy's mother, Xie, filed a report with local police on May 4, claiming that her son had left home and not returned.
On May 8, local police announced a reward of 10,000 yuan (US$1414) for any leads on the missing boy.
Following Zhang's disappearance, his mother and stepfather surnamed Wang made emotional pleas on the internet, appealing for help in finding their son.
In a screenshot of the video, the stepfather of the boy responded to netizens' doubts, saying, "Right now, my only focus is to calmly find the child. This is my greatest clarification."
Zhang's body was found in a graveyard in his stepfather's village on Wednesday, thepaper.cn reported. Zhang's uncle was quoted as saying that there were broken bones as well as scalding on the boy's body.
The couple is now under detention for further investigation.
