Body of 15-year-old missing boy found
China Daily
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The body of the 15-year-old boy who went missing at a high school in Yanshan county, Jiangxi province, last October has been found hanging in the woods near the school, local police said on Sunday.

File photo

On Oct 14, Hu Xinyu, a student at Zhiyuan Senior High School, was reported missing. According to video footage provided by the school, he was last seen around 5:48 pm at the dormitories. Hu was believed to be on his way to the classrooms in a nearby building for an evening study session. The search for the boy has been ongoing ever since.

Around 12:25 pm on Saturday, the police received a call from the public saying a body was seen hanging in the woods in Jinji Mountains near the school. After the crime scene investigation, the police found that the clothes on the body matched that of what Hu was wearing when he disappeared, Yanshan police said in a statement.

The police then asked local prosecutors, representatives of the family and the family's lawyer to preside the investigation. According to DNA results that came out on Sunday, the body belongs to Hu.

Also, a digital voice recorder found at the scene has been sent to be analyzed while China's criminal investigation experts have been invited to join the investigation, according to the statement. It added that details of the case will be made public in a timely manner.

Zheng Xiaojing, the lawyer for the family, said on social media on Sunday morning that the police have asked the family's permission to carry out an autopsy.

She added that she is saddened by the news and will hand in a request to go through the case files to establish what really happened.

Hu's mysterious disappearance has been one of the most hotly discussed topics in China. On Jan 7, the investigation team said in a letter to the public that the police are making the best efforts to locate Hu and four rounds of investigations have been carried out.

All school properties have been searched and there was no indication that Hu was killed, committed suicide or had an accident on school grounds. Also, the team also searched 39.27 hectare of woods south of the school and there was no sign of Hu, the letter said.

Since Jan 9, the investigation team has mobilized the locals to widen the search in the woods near the school. About 5,000 people were involved in the search, local media reported.