Big data is new tool in catching murderers

New technology has helped police in the north China nab two suspects, both wanted in a murder case, who had been on the run for 28 years.

Police in Chifeng City, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said one suspect surnamed Zhang was accused of killing a man, while his wife Liu was believed to have covered up the crime.

Police said Zhang went into hiding after bludgeoning a man to death with a club in 1991 for raising questions about his relationship with Liu, who after the killing also went missing.

They came to police attention this year after police used big data technology to analyze the fugitives’ information and identified a man in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province as Zhang.

In late November, police arrested Zhang and his wife, who had changed their names and identities.

Police said Zhang has admitted his guilt and the case is under further investigation.

Police across China have used data technology to capture several fugitives recently, including many on the run for decades.

Police in Hubei Province said on Monday they tracked down and arrested a man surnamed Huang for a murder 17 years ago, with the help of big data.

The province’s public security department said Huang and another man were hired to beat an electrician to death with steel pipes in the city of Suizhou in 2002.

The other man was nabbed and sentenced but Huang had escaped until he was arrested in southwest China’s Chongqing.