A news conference on Hu Xinyu's death was held on Thursday. (Photo: thepaper.cn)

Hu Xinyu, a 15-year-old boy who went missing from a high school in Yanshan county, Jiangxi Province, in October committed suicide, leaving thoughts of ending his life on a digital voice recorder before doing so, local police said on Thursday.

Hu Mansong, deputy director of Jiangxi Public Security Bureau and head of the investigation team, said Hu Xinyu hanged himself with shoelaces from a tree in the woods around a grain depot near the school. There were no signs of struggle at the scene, and the possibility of homicide was ruled out after the autopsy results were released.

Cheng Jian, a senior police officer from Jiangxi provincial public security department, said that the shoelaces used by Hu to hang himself were made of polyester. Each was of 147 centimeters long and 8 millimeters wide. This material is nonperishable and can endure stretching, unlike similar cotton laces.

"In tests, the maximum weight load of the same material in the laces is 85 kilograms. In addition, as a body begins to decompose, it loses water and then loses weight, which will extend the load-bearing time of the laces. Thus, in this case, the laces did not break."

Hu Xinyu, who attended Zhiyuan Senior High School, was reported missing on Oct 14. According to video footage provided by the school, he was last seen at 5:48 pm in the school's dormitories. His highly decomposed body was discovered by a grain depot employee on Saturday, more than 100 days after he disappeared.

The body of Hu has been found intact, with no missing parts, the police said.

In the digital voice recorder found near his body, Hu made two recordings — one at 5:40 pm and the other at 11:08 pm — on Oct 14. It appears that he made both recordings while attempting to take his life, Hu Mansong said in a news conference.

"While I am really standing up here, I am starting to become nervous. My heart is pounding. What would happen if I really jumped?" Hu Mansong quoted Hu Xinyu as saying when he tried to jump from the fifth floor of the dormitories during the early evening attempt.

In another attempt later that night, Hu Xinyu was quoted as saying: "It's all meaningless. It's almost midnight and I will just wait a bit to die. My mind has become clouded today and I just want to die now. I feel it's all meaningless."

It's believed that he had developed mental problems after feeling stressed about his life at the school. He also had trouble sleeping and suffered from memory loss, Hu Mansong said.

Psychological experts found that the boy was introverted and mild in nature, showed an inclination to solitude and cared about the opinions of others, the investigation report said, adding that he lacked emotional support and channels for venting emotions.

Following his admission to Zhiyuan High School, the boy experienced psychological imbalances due to dissatisfying grades, and socializing and adolescent stress. This caused him to develop physical and emotional disorders, which eventually gave rise to suicidal tendencies.

Hu's disappearance became a high-profile case in China. After his body was found and identified at a site only 400 meters away from the dormitories, people began questioning why the police had failed to find him sooner.

Hu Mansong said the police searched the grain depot four times in October and November but failed to thoroughly search the surrounding woods.

Police have learned a lesson from the mistake, he added.

Hu Mansong said that after the disappearance of Hu, some people maliciously fabricated and spread fake information, splicing and concocting false videos to gain attention for profit. This had a terrible influence and disrupted social order.

"Regarding the widely spread story of Hu being blood type RH-negative, tests proved that Hu is type O. Regarding speculation that the body was hung in the woods after Hu was killed, police determined that Hu died by hanging himself, and his body was not moved. This conclusion was made from examining police surveys, on-site investigations, an autopsy, and physical evidence."

(With inputs from Xinhua and China Daily)