Editor's note: the following was translated and edited from an article that appeared on xinhuanet.com on May 7. The article discusses the nearly two-decade-old unsolved case of a Beijing student named Zhu Ling, now 40 years old, who was left paralyzed, nearly blind and severely brain damaged from an unusual poisoning. The Zhu Ling case made domestic and international headlines again recently, first following a similar case of poisoning at Shanghai’s Fudan University, and then after a petition was posted to the White House website, requesting that the former suspect in the poisoning case, Zhu's former roommate Sun Wei, who “mysteriously” escaped prosecution and currently lives in the U.S., be deported back to China to face a proper trial. The petition garnered more than 100,000 signatures within just a few days.

On May 3, a petition regarding the decades-old "Zhu Ling case" appeared on the American government’s White House website. Four days later, the petition had already been signed by more than 120,000 people, most of them Chinese netizens. According to new regulations (which went into effect in January 15, 2013), once a petition receives this many signatures, the White House is supposed to issue an official response.

The sponsor’s whitehouse.gov petition read as follows: "In 1995, Zhu Ling as a Tsinghua university student was found out to be purposely poisoned twice by lethal chemical: Thallium, which leads to her permanent paralysis. It was indicated that Sun, her roommate, had the motive, and access to the deadly chemical. Jasmine Sun was investigated by police as suspect in 1997. But resources show that the case was mystically closed due to her family's powerful political connections. Resources also show that she changed her name and entered USA by marriage fraud. To protect the safety of our citizens, we petite that the government investigate and deport her." (See full petition here)

Zhu diagnosed with thallium poisoning; unusual theft before investigation begins

Zhu Ling grew up in Beijing and attended Tsinghua University in 1992 to study chemistry. On November 24, 1994, Zhu began showing strange symptoms of having been poisoned. But in the hospital a month later, her condition returned to normal and she was sent home on January 23, 1995. Yet, several months later, on March 6, Zhu's condition began to rapidly deteriorate yet again, causing a great deal of harm to her body. In the evening of April 28, Zhu was diagnosed with thallium poisoning (thallium is a soft metal that has a history of being used as a murder weapon, as it is odorless, tasteless and dissolves in water).

On May 7, concluding that Zhu had no prior history of exposure to thallium, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau formerly opened an investigation to find the person responsible for her poisoning. However, during the May Day holiday period, before the investigations got underway (but after she'd been diagnosed with thallium poisoning), an unusual theft occurred in Zhu’s living quarters—her toiletries were stolen.  

“Very close to cracking the case”

In 1995, after the case was filed for investigation, the police informed Zhu Ling's family that they were “very close to cracking the case”. In 1996, the Tsinghua University Police Substation Chief Li Mucheng told her parents that a "suspect" had been identified and that "after the higher-ups approved it, they'd go after the person". In February 1996, the head of the No. 14 Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau told the family that there were great difficulties that needed to be sorted out before the case could proceed. In February 1997, Xue Fangyu, a professor in the Chemistry Department, told Zhu Ling's family that the school was going to cooperate with the police to solve the case. However, after that Zhu’s family were told of no more developments in their daughter’s thallium poisoning case.

It was only in April 1997—two years after the case was originally filed for investigation— that the police started looking into Zhu Ling's roommate Sun Wei as a suspect. In the previous March, Zhu’s family submitted a formal request for investigation to the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, on the grounds that their daughter's class had already graduated, making it difficult to find witnesses to the poisoning incident that happened two years previously. On April 2, 1997, Sun Wei was brought in by the No. 14 Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau for questioning as a suspect in Zhu Ling's poisoning case. The questioning session lasted about eight hours, at which point her family came in and escorted her home. Following this questioning, the case investigation apparently ended inconclusively, and the poisoning suspect is still at large today.

Suspect in the poisoning case comes from a prominent family

Sun Wei (now known as Jasmine Sun) was Zhu Ling's roommate at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. During the investigation over Zhu’s poisoning, it’s believed that the police identified Sun early on as the only person that could both legally obtain thallium and who was in close contact with Zhu Ling. Yet, although things seemed to point to Sun as the main suspect, she was never charged with the crime. It’s important to note that during the time of the investigation, Sun's grandfather, Sun Yueqi, and her uncle, Sun Suling both held important positions. This, coupled with her family's already prominent background, has led many to believe that the outcome of the investigation was "influenced" by her family's connections.

Police say the case is a "very sensitive matter"

In November 1997, Zhu Ling's mother, Zhu Mingxin, published a letter on the UCLA website regarding her daughter's diagnosis of thallium poisoning. In the letter, she said that the police had suspected that her poisoner was a female student who lived in her dormitory or was a classmate, and that they'd to continue doing their best to find and charge the guilty party in a court of law. However, since May 7, 1995 the case has never entered the trial state, the Beijing police have never announced any new suspect leads in the case and they have never disclosed any details about the case investigation either. The closest thing to an update that's been released so far came in 2006, when Li Shusen, speaking for the 14th office of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, mentioned in an interview with reporters, "Certain conclusions have already been reached during the investigation," adding, "This is a very sensitive matter." 

Fudan Poisoning Case Renews interest in the Zhu Ling case

Nearly 20 years on, all sorts of "whodunit" speculations and legends surrounding the case persist within the public, especially that Zhu Ling's roommate Sun Wei is the main suspect. In April 2013, in the wake of a similar case involving the poisoning (and killing) of a student at Shanghai’s Fudan University by his roommate, widespread attention has yet again returned to the unsolved Zhu Ling case.

On April 18, 2013, just following the Fudan poisoning case, Sun Wei posted a blog online professing her innocence: “I more than anyone else want the person that committed this act brought to justice." This statement, added to her privileged family background, only exacerbated the spread of pervious rumors of her guilt. Subsequently, the case also attracted the attention of many of China's most famous people, including Chen Kun, Fan Bingbing, Li Bingbing and more, who all posted appeals on their Weibo accounts to pay attention to the case and donate money to help Zhu Ling.

Source: xinhuanet.com

 

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