SHIJIAZHUANG, March 19 (Xinhua) -- It has been preliminarily determined that the killing of a junior high school student in north China's Hebei Province amounted to a premeditated criminal case, according to the local police authorities.

Aerial photo taken on Dec. 15, 2020 shows a view of Fuyang River in Cixian County, Handan City of north China's Hebei Province. (Photo: Xinhua)

The autopsy has been completed, while police in Feixiang District in the city of Handan have obtained a large amount of evidence through investigation, interviews and interrogation of the three suspects.

According to the investigation, the victim's body was buried in a pit 56 centimeters deep. The suspects first started digging the pit, located in an abandoned greenhouse, on March 9, the day before the crime, and continued digging it on March 10, the day the student was killed, said Li Yafeng, a police officer with the district police bureau.

Local publicity authorities announced on Sunday via their official WeChat account that a first-year junior high school student surnamed Wang from Feixiang was killed on March 10. All suspects involved in the case were apprehended on March 11.