Rotten Mango - #150: The Chinese Corpse Dungeon (Serial Killer Jia Wenge)

Episode Date: March 27, 2022

She woke up disoriented in the dark. She didn’t know where she was… oh god, what’s that awful smell? Her hand was touching something sticky on the ground. When her eyes slowly adjusted to the dark she saw - bodies. Dead bodies. Stacked on top of each other. Some of their faces were frozen still as if they were still screaming. The stickiness on her hand? The bodies coming together and forming a sticky sludge filled with maggots. Now the question - how would she escape the dungeon? Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to this week's mini-sode of Rotten Mango. I'm your host Stephanie Sue, and let's jump right into it. This case is going to require trigger warning because there's a lot of graphic detail. I mean, most of it obviously is in the medical sense we're gonna get heavy into crime scene cleanups and all of that and just what happens to a body after they start decomposing so if you're scared of maggots or the descriptions of them please stay away from this one and I'll see you guys on Wednesday She woke up disoriented. Where was she? She didn't know. All she knew that it was dark. Her eyes needed time to adjust to the lighting and oh god, what is that awful smell? She feels her

fingers and her hand is touching something sticky on the ground and her eyes slowly start adjusting and she can see a little bit clearer and a little bit more clear and right in front of her bodies. Dead bodies, not one, not two, but many, dozens stacked on top of one another. Some of the bodies were skeletonized. Others, they were badly decomposing. She said, some of their faces were frozen as if they were still screaming in real time. She looked down at her hand, the sludge, the stickiness.

That was the combination of all the bodies coming together and forming a sticky sludge, a sticky mud. They called it corpse mud. It was filled with maggots. She started panicking and she scooted back and she bumped into more bodies. She couldn't even scream because he would come get her. All she could do was pray that he was gone and she needed to find a way out of the hole. But how do you do that?

The seller is twice her height, yet she's in an underground seller. I mean, the walls are dirt. There's nothing to leverage her self-off of. There's no good grip. The walls are smooth. She looks down, and it slowly comes to her. The only way out is to use the stacked bodies. Climb on top of them.

Try not to look at their faces. She said try not to look at the maggots. Try to use them as a step to hoist her body up and out of the hole. As always full show notes are available at rottingapodcast.com, but I do want to say a lot of the sources that I use for this one were professionally translated because I couldn't find any English articles or really anything on this case that was in English. So hopefully nothing is lost in translation, this is a Chinese case, and if you guys are

familiar with it, I would love to know more, like I can't stop thinking about it. It's been on my mind for the past week and a half, I tried to get as much information as I possibly could, so with that being said, let's jump right in. She was sitting down at the cold table of the interrogation room. She's at the police station. Her two buddies, her two guy friends, or gang members is what the police called them. They had been arrested. They were kept in separate rooms, and she was the first one to be interrogated. The police thought she's got to be the weakest link. I mean, the

other guys, well first of all, they're dudes. I don't know why they thought she was the weakest link. Their guys look at their stone-cold face. They don't look like the lever talk, but she on the other hand, she looks vulnerable, afraid, she looks the most concerned of the three to be arrested. So they start with her. They start talking to her asking her question, you want some water? You want some, you want anything to eat? Are you cold? They even get her a blanket. You look a little cold. They put it on the chair. Maybe it worked because she laid out an opening line of sorts. It was like she was almost directing her own crime thriller and the cops were just living in it. I mean to be honest,

it even sounded a bit childish, a bit stupid in the way that she talked about it. It was so dramatic, you would never think that this is happening in real life in a police interrogation room. She looked at them and said, you'll become a great hero. You'll make a big contribution to your team, to this country, to justice. And I, I, on the other hand, I will be executed. I must be executed.

I know for it. I know it's a fact. They're like, ma'am? You're arrested for sex work solicitation and robbery, potentially. You know, we don't even know if you committed the robbery. We're just shooting darts in the dark, you know? We're just going with the flow.

We're actually going to let you go in like point two seconds. So I don't know what you're talking about, just, we're going with the flow. We're actually gonna let you go in like, point two seconds. So I don't know what you're talking about, exit cue shit, you're doing the most. I mean, what are you, what are you doing? What I'm trying to say is I've committed a much bigger crime. We've murdered over 20 people. Well, at least I've helped in murdering 20 people. I think there's probably more, 40, 50, who knows?

And I request to talk to the director of the homicide unit. At first, the police didn't believe it. Okay, they're all right. She's crazy. She's losing her mind. Is this some sort of elaborate ploy to get out of this? It's just sex work solicitation. This should be a run of the Mill Police report, but something about the way that she said it, the way that her voice shook a little bit when she was talking about being executed. They they felt a tingle in their scalp. I don't know if that's a Chinese saying, but they just kept saying there was a tingle in their scalp. Oh yeah, topy fama. Oh, so does that mean it's like something bothering you? It's like when you hear something so unbelievable, it's so shocking and horrifying.

Okay. Your head is buzzing. Oh, okay, yes. So they felt a tingle in their scalp. They're like, if this is real, I mean, there's only one way to find out. She claimed the murders took place in a small city in China called the Town of Na River. Na-Hu. Na-Hu.

Na-Hu. Which even that alone sent a shiver down their spine because recently the town had a lot of bad press. You know how a bunch of cities have their own little catchphrase? So we've got New York City, the city that never sleeps. Las Vegas, what happens in Vegas? Stays in Vegas. And probably the most popular, the most famous of them all. Cheshire, Connecticut, bedding plant capital of Connecticut. You've never heard that one that's crazy. What is that? That's the most popular one I'm just kidding, okay?

I don't even know what you said. The bedding what? It's a bedding plant capital of Connecticut. Bedding plant? Yes, this was on a list of top 10 most well-known phrases for cities. And I was like, really? Cheshire, Connecticut? Sorry to anyone that lives there, but what?

So I'm kidding. Nauriver though had a catch phrase too. It said, Nauriver City, the place to go if you want to die. Yeah. It just seemed like the city had a black hole. And if you visited it, you just might be pushed into the black hole and never returned just evaporate into thin air. That's how people were phrasing it. People were going missing, left, right, everywhere, businessmen, women, children, everybody's going missing.

No answers, no suspects, no evidence, just vanished into thin air. Is the river eating them up? Is there a river monster coming out to eat everyone up? I mean, what? It's almost like the small town was a parallel universe and you just seized to exist once you enter. Which was a huge shame because the city itself was beautiful. I mean, it was filled with beautiful mountains. They had a ton of natural resources. But once the whispers, the city you go if you wanna die,

started. Businessmen started avoiding the city. Family start moving out. People are scared to be out and about. Even in groups in broad daylight they were terrified. They're like, we can't be out here, we gotta go home. That's how bad it got. It obviously had huge impacts on the economy and the city as a whole in the population.

But the police don't care about that right now. They're like, did she just say the town of Not River? I mean, yes she did, but she's probably delusional, she's probably lying. I mean, that's a rumor that everybody's known about recently. Maybe she's trying to convince us that she's crazy, so we'll just let her go and think that she's out of her mind bonkers. But the officers, they decided to send a message to the non-police department anyway. They said, we arrested a man who seems the leader of the group. His name is Ja Wanji. Ja Wenga. Ja Wenga. Ja Wenga. We're gonna call him what? They said, we arrested a man who seems the leader of the group. His name is Ja Wenji.

Ja Wenge. Ja Wenge. Ja Wenge. We're going to call him what? They said, we think he's the leader of his group. And one of his accomplices said that, I don't know, murdered and buried many people in a rented house in the Nah River City. So, do you all want to check it out? Apparently, there's a couple right there right now at the house guarding the dead bodies.

They're in a cellar somewhere in the house. So if you guys could just help us in investigating the case because it's not an arduous addiction, we're, you know, from a different town and arrest these people maybe just let us know if something happens. Just contact us. Thank you. The next morning the police get a response. Not a university police department said, case not found. Does it? So either they looked into it and they said, yeah, we don't really see a case here or maybe they didn't look into it

because they just said, no case here. I don't know. At this point though. Nobody's missing. Yeah, they're like, what are you talking about? I've never heard that. We just only heard about Cheshire Connecticut. We have a catchphrase?

Like, that's crazy. You know, so at this point, the officers, they were in too deep. The whole situation was creeping them out. They had these three in custody. They wanted to investigate. They wanted answers. They're a little detective gene is coming out, and they're like, we need to know.

So the woman, let's call her Lee. She's got to be telling the truth, right? So they ask her if you're lying. You know, this is, is this some sort of elaborate rules you're playing with us? Because if we find out that you're lying, oh, oh, sex solicitation is the last thing that's gonna be on your mind. Do you know how legal that is?

She's confused. She's like, what? What would I get out of that? The not-police probably didn't look hard enough because, okay, fine. You don't believe me? Ask the other guy. No, don't ask when.

He's the leader. ask the other guy. Hank, what's not his real name? Call in him Hank, okay? When is never gonna open up to you? He is the one that's facilitating all of this. He's the one that we take the orders from. He's the leader of the gang, but Hank, tell him. Tell him that I told you this and he'll tell you the truth.

He'll tell you exactly what I said. Okay, so they walled over to Hank's interrogation room. Tell him that I told you this and he'll tell you the truth. He'll tell you exactly what I said. Okay. So they walled over to Hank's interrogation room. They threw their files on the desk, fist to the table. We know what you did at the Naus city river. We know what you did in that rented house. It's time to come clean. We know about the bodies.

You think we're dumb? You think so? We're not. Your friends, what good friends you've got. They ratted you out. We know what you did Hank. Not first Hank wasn't budging he's like, what are you talking about? But the more they mess with him the more confidently they told him,

Hank, you're not listening. You're not getting with the program. We found the bodies. He finally gave up and he started confessing. Oh, he was singing. He was just a blah, everything was coming out. He started slipping out little details here and there, and that's when they realized that the details were matching. There would have been no way. I mean, since they were arrest yesterday, they had been kept separately. They weren't even near each other.

These are such elaborate lies. They're not. They're true. They got it. The one detail that stuck out to investigators, the one thing that made them feel like, okay, yeah, this is definitely the truth, was that they both talked about the seller. So this was in the 90s, and people still do this to this day all over the world, especially in rural areas, but Hengenly both said that they killed people and hid their bodies in

an underground seller. Not a big one, not a basement, don't think like that. Imagine like a wine seller, but in a lot of East Asian countries, you would use that cellar. It's actually a little hole in your kitchen floor, and you would put vegetables in there in the winter. It'd be like a... It's like a fridge.

Yes, Earth's natural fridge. I mean, it's still popular in Korea, and it's actually considered a luxury now. Really? So if you go to a nice restaurant, sometimes they have very, very, very fermented kimchi that comes from these cellars because that's how the authentic kimchi was made back in the day. Yeah.

So you'd literally dig like a seller in the hole, put the kimchi in, till it for months, take it out. It is the most dank kimchi you will ever eat in your life. You will never get that taste out of your mouth for like three days, but it's so good. So good. So you pay a little bit more for that than just your standard regular Samsung's refrigerated 2022 kimchi. Yeah, it's like aged wine. But now these people are claiming that they threw bodies down there. These said it was dozens and dozens of corpses that

are rotting, smelling, breaking apart in the cellar as we speak. So the police, they rushed to assemble a team together. They had to reach out to the neighboring police departments, different jurisdictions. They reported the case to the public safety bureau, and they rushed to that little house in the Nah River town. They also find the accomplices that Lee said would be there. The couple. One of them committed suicide to escape punishment, and she had found out that the police were coming,

and then another accomplice named Sun was arrested at the spot. So the police stormed into the house and they find these two pits in the ground in the kitchen, the sellers. They opened it up, eyes closed, bracing for either a dead body or maybe some really fermented kimchi and vegetables. And they said, either this was gonna be one of the worst serial killings of recent time, or just a big ruse. They were getting played. And as they slowly opened it up, they felt almost like a rush of, they don't even want

to say air. It was thicker than air. It was like gas. It was putrid gas, like a poisonous gas reaching up and just hogging their faces in casing. It's like a little gas bubble around everyone's face. They look down into the cellar now with the door open with this smell penetrating them and they see layers and layers of corpses piled up like a mountain. The bodies were badly decomposed.

They were rotting and the experienced forensics teams that had been doing this for years. Some of them had been doing it for decades. They were throwing up. They couldn't handle it. This smell was so thick, it was everywhere. It was like the bodies were melting into one sludge. There were 10 forensic experts at the scene.

The leader of the forensics team was investigator, you when bin? bodies were melting into one sludge. There were 10 forensic experts at the scene. The leader of the forensics team was investigator, you when bin, we'll call him Lance. Okay, Lance, that sounds like an investigator. Lance had decades of experience, and he felt like it was his mission to support his colleagues in a case like this. Not just with the actual work,

but with their mental and emotional states. I mean, if a regular case has a taxing, you know, impact on your mental health, which yes it does, this is gonna be something else. The experts said that the smell of excavating and even taking out these bodies after so long caused a huge 10 mile radius of this area to be penetrated with just putrid stench.

People were wearing masks and this was before COVID. They felt like the masks were still too thin. 10 miles. 10 miles. The smell was that strong. The more they went in there, the more bodies that they pulled out. The smell just got stronger and stronger and stronger.

Lance decided to go down into the cellar, and he was one of the very few that went down because it's not a big cellar. I mean, most there's probably one person in there working at a time because it's filled to the brim with corpses. The second cellar was made because the first cellar was already filled up. So yeah, it's pretty bad. He wore a hazmat suit. He would be crawling into the small pit. It was about 19 feet deep. And the whole thing had an opening, and the whole thing was actually two feet by three feet. Just straight down 19 feet. So it's like a whale.

Yeah, it's very, very, very small. I mean, it's terrifying to go down there, with just a small, tight, claustrophobic hole, filled with dead bodies and the rot and the scent. I mean, at times, lands would go down, and he was tasked with the important job of bringing the corpses up without adding extra damage, trying to preserve them as much as possible. And he said sometimes because the space was so small, he would get stuck with

the limbs of the bodies. Sometimes the stench of the bodies formed a thick fog that he could barely see. He could barely see. What was right in front of him? The fog was so thick that his gas mask wasn't even working properly. The smell became so much he was overworked. In this dark, just tiny little cluster phobic space with dead people, Lins passed out in the pit multiple times and he would just fall on the corpses. His team would have to jump down, rush him to the hospital, and when he got there, a bigger sh** showing suit. Because the whole crew just walked in the door.

Doctors and nurses, they were not ready. They were ready for almost everything. Trauma injuries, gunshot wound, stabbing, but they were not ready for the cloud of smell that this group brought with them. It said that when the doctors and nurses would start treating Lance, they would have to take breaks to go vomit up their lunch in the bathroom. And these are, healthcare professionals have crazy stomachs.

After one full day, Lance was discharged and he went straight back to work. And he would work all day, sometimes well into the night. Whenever he was out of that hole, he had to oversee and facilitate most of the autopsies. They even put him in charge of washing the clothes of the dead. Every time he looked up from the bottom of the hole, all he saw was a tiny little bulb hanging in, dangling into the hole, and that was his main source of light. It's depressing to say the least. One time he looked up, and the bulb suddenly went out.

And so since he'd been there all day And now it's dark. He's looking up. It's suffocating. He's overworked. He's exhausted. He was disoriented He fell straight onto his butt into what they called corpse mud Just it's not real mud. It's sludge All of the corpses bodies had collectively created these All of the corpse's bodies had collectively created these experiments of the purging process of the dead bodies and there were breakdowns of fat and juices and bile and maggots, maggots, eggs. It was probably the most toxic sludge that he had ever been around in his entire career, in his entire life. And that's how Lance said he contracted corpse poisoning.

So this isn't necessarily a real medical term. Like you're never going to be diagnosed with this even if you're a medical examiner, but it's similar to food poisoning. So this isn't necessarily a real medical term. Like you're never going to be diagnosed with this even if you're a medical examiner But it's similar to food poisoning. So after being exposed to toxic fumes and high concentrations of dead bodies According to Lance, it's when a dead body essentially becomes a giant culture dish Like a petri dish and people touching the rotting corpses could easily be affected. The rotting corpses are so, so infective with that bacteria that it can spread to the whole body through your skin tissue. He's at typically after working a crime scene, you might feel a little bit sick after. Maybe it's mental, maybe it's physical, and then a few days later, you're brand new again. But not this one.

Lance was not getting a break. He was working nonstop with no breaks, and the environment was extremely hostile. I mean, his coworkers were nice, but being in a small pit with nothing but a tiny little light bulb and dead bodies, I mean, that's not a pleasant work environment. So he felt like for a long time afterwards. He could still feel the stench. From even when he breathed out of his mouth, he could smell it. It just smelled like dead bodies.

It felt like his lungs were dead. It felt like it was in his body. They were penetrating his lungs, and his old body was filled with a smell, which aside note, obviously I'm not comparing this to actual human bodies, like what he was experiencing, but biomedical waste is fascinating. And it's just all these like undervalued,

unappreciated, unknown jobs in the medical field. Listen, healthcare professionals, they deserve all the love and praise, but there are so many medical professionals that barely get any recognition and they're so important to the process. So let's talk about biohazardist waste. So this is stuff like needles, syringes, medical, culture dishes, medicine, discarded surgical gloves, surgical instruments, swabs, chemical waste blood, bodily fluids, and sometimes body tissue, body parts, body organs.

So it gets discarded in different colored bags and they have different severities. So it's, you know, when you go to like even a vet's office, they have the biohazard. It's like a different trash can. So what happens to these trash bags? They don't get thrown into the regular trash can. You obviously can't dump them in the toilet or the regular trash. So they go into a biohazard container.

And from there, that's where I'm like, yeah, I don't know what happens. So I looked it up. A lot of the times, it's incinerated. Just straight up, they send in needles, syringes, pathogens, turn it into ash. You can't even recognize it afterwards. It's intense though, and that's a lot of pollution.

Oh, yeah. Can you imagine? Sometimes this is the more popular method. They send it into an autoclave, which even like tattoo shops have smaller versions of this, but it's like a steam sterilization. But in this case, it'd be like a giant steam sterilization machine, which it uses steam to sterilize objects.

Now, this is often used, and a lot of people like it because it still releases a lot of gases, but less. But it still leaves a very intense liquid ooze at the end of it. And that is no longer infectious, it's now going to landfill. It's just non-infectious, non-biohazardous. And it's a lot of waste. So for example, every single hospital bed, on average, that is filled with a patient,

is going to have on average 29 pounds of biohazardous waste per day, per bed. So that amounts to about 5 million tons of medical waste. Now listen, I'm not saying like, oh my god, how dare they they're killing our planet, they need to use the same tools and the same gloves. I'm not saying this as critique because I'm not smart enough to know, and even if I was smart enough to know, I don't think I could ever come up with a solution like this, you know, I'm sure lots of intelligent people have already thought about it, but I just think it's fascinating.

So put it into perspective, it's about 100 Titanic ships per year. And I believe that's just in the US. Anyway, all of this to say that autoclaves, the steamers, well, they're not going to steam themselves. There's a job, which I guess you could call them medical waste biohazard cookers. They help steam the bags of medical waste. They're putting in the bags, they're operating it. I mean, you're steaming it at like 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.

You have to wear super intensive protective gear and to even be near these machines. They said the smell, the smell is like a mix. It's a mixture of burning rubber in an oven and super intense body odor. And paired with super vinaigree, penetrating, it like opens up your nostrils, the scent of smelly feet. Oh my God. All mixed into one. And most of these people only get paid like $17 an hour. 1, 7. No way. Yeah. Oh, and don't even get me started on crime scene cleanups.

Okay. Yeah. There's cleaning companies for not just your spring clean, but your homicidal cleans. There was a really good piece in the Atlantic that talked about a bunch of crime scene cleaning companies, formerly known as biohazard cleaning cleaners. That's what they're like known as. And some of them from New York City, they said, you know, in the movies, you see the forensic experts, they come in, they do their job.

And then the house just vanishes. You never see it in the movie again. It's just like cleaned up, I guess, the blood disappears. No, somebody's gotta clean it up. And it's bad. That's some traumatizing job, no? So the two guys that were interviewed for that piece, they said that they try to know as little

about the victims as possible. They don't want to know. They do not want to know because it can be mentally draining and exhausting. But not only do you have to clean it up, but you have to make sure that it's not a biohazard. That a small child can walk in there, you know, play around on the floor, lift up the sheets, get around into the corners, and they're not going to get infected with anything. Or really even know what happened there. So they have to take care of the cleanups of homicides, suicides, unattended deaths,

so people who die of natural causes but aren't found for a while. Or even which is just as bad I guess, that's what they said, not in terms of the situation, but in terms of the cleanup, they do a lot of hoarders homes. They said it's just as bad in terms of cleanup. Things they do a lot of hoarders homes. They said it's just as bad. In terms of cleanup. Things could develop. Oh, yeah. And they said the biohazard suits are intense.

It protects you, but it lets no heat out. So within 20 minutes, you're sweating. Head to toe. You have to wear two pairs of gloves. The inner pair are taped to your wrist to make sure nothing seeps in. And sure, you're wearing a professional gas mask, but it helps you breathe, but it does absolutely nothing to keep the smell out.

Like it's not an air freshener. Maybe it blocks it a little bit, but really you're going to be in there. You're going to be in with the smell. They said the smell can sometimes be so strong that your eyes start to tear up. It lingers. It creeps through the mask. What it's described to be like is imagine, meat, get two pounds of beef, put in your fridge,

but with no power. Four weeks on a hot, humid summer season, then you open that fridge back up. And you just get this rush of smell, because when you open the door, just rushes into your face, and it's rot, it's mold, it's smell. But amplify it. Because a pound of beef is a pound of beef, it's not the same as 150 pounds of human gone bad. And you know, the beef is just meat. But humans, we have a lot of bile, we have a lot of excrement

that are waiting to come out once we pass. And another trauma cleaner from Australia said, but more than that, for some reason there's this relentlessage. I don't know if it's seeing the maggots everywhere, but you just, you feel this itch in your hair, your clothes, but you can't get to it because you're wearing protective gear. So you just feel this relentlessage all day. There's maggots everywhere in the mattresses, and if you die on a mattress, she said it's basically a giant sponge. Is there any worse job than this?

No. Like, come on, holy cow. Yeah. It's really bad. In the body, she said it leaks everything when you die. The fluid just so straight into the mattress, then into the carpets and even through the carpets and into the mattress, then into the carpets and even through the carpets and into the concrete underneath the carpet.

Why would you break into these apartments? For money, for drugs, whatever was in them. Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No. Who's going to catch us? What a police. It was the height of the crack era, and instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them.

I would suit up in my uniform and we're going to want some drug dealers, and I know how to do it really well. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat? 100%. I saved my soul just like everybody else does. Listen to and follow the set, an Odyssey originals documentary podcast series, available now in the Odyssey app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your shows.

I'm not a big guy man, but I love being that dirty mother f***er. A trauma cleaner was talking to Rolling Stone and they said, and I quote, there's so much liquid in other material, it's definitely not like what they show on law and order. They said that easier cleanups take about 10 hours. That's like really easy. It's super contained. The harder ones, the particularly bloody ones take about a week of That's like really easy. It's super contained. The harder ones, the particularly

bloody ones, take about a week of a team of people working day in, day out. A rolling stone article talked to a trauma cleaner, and they said that their hardest job was when a man had died in his bathroom, and nobody had found him for over a month. His body had literally, because it was wet at the time, had dissolved into the tiles. And hardened, it was like if you were to put something greasy into the oven, let it splatter all over the oven floor, and then just let it harden. They said it was just skin and hair at this point, and they had to literally scrape the deceased body matter off the floor tiles into plastic bags. I mean, the body wasn't even there, it was just so completely gone.

They still said though, that's not the hardest part. The hardest part is dealing with families. Not because they're hard to deal with, but I mean imagine the mental toll it takes to see families in shock, see them break down. One of them said, sometimes families will just get right up in there with you. They'll help you clean, because it's someone that they knew,

it's someone that they loved, and they wanna help. That's wild. They were not imaginative. Yeah, I can't imagine that. I can't imagine. And they said it's the hardest part of the job. But if you do it right, it's usually like a hug fest at the end. And surprisingly enough, they said that when you help

hoarders clean their house, the hoarders almost act like a grieving family member. Like they're grieving a loved one. So it's like the same emotions. That's how intense it is for them. So the blood, the body tissue, the gourd doesn't make them sad or emotional. They said it's usually the personal items. So when they look over and they see a shopping bag or a pot of mac and cheese with the spoon in it or like a jacket folded neatly over a chair, anything that shows off the dead's personality or

their behavior, it's really hard. They said it's very eerie. It's very strange. It's especially if they died in their house or they were murdered in their house, it feels like someone just hit paws on their life. And now you're there. It's someone that you would have never met and now you're there in the most intimate space that they call home. It's like they said it's freaky, kind of like a snapshot, but because you can actually picture what a person was doing right before they were killed or right before they died. So the team go in and they first clean up the blood, the main visual parts, like the big, you know, bulk cleaning.

You know, if you've got water on the floor, you've got to clean that up first. They look for anything that might have been wiped, they have to do the lumen all test, make sure there's absolutely no trace of blood, then they have to go in with hospital grade disinfectant, which kills off things like HIV hepatitis, so it's safe for people to go back in. But if the blood has soaked into the carpets and the floors, they'll rip it all out and get rid of it, but someone else has to come in and replace everything. And I'm mentioning this because this is a process that we don't really talk about much in the true crime world, but it's not a cheap process and most of the time it falls on

the family. A crime scene cleanup, on average, takes about 12 hours to three days, requires at least three cleaners and a supervisor, and can start anywhere from 6 to 10,000 dollars, but sometimes typically in like a homicide or an unattended death where the deceased is moving around a lot from room to room, it could cost the family $100,000 to clean it up And I guess there's no insurance for that. So sometimes homeowners insurance will cover part of it But it's very great area. So the families are oftentimes left with a big sum that they owe And they said it's hard imagine walking up to a widow and telling her

Yeah, I'm sorry. It's gonna cost you $30,000 to clean up your husband. It's not easy, but it's not even all profit. It's not like they're greedy, which I'm sure there's a lot of greedy crime scene cleaners, but it's the fact that the states charge them for permits to handle biohazards. Then, you know, just the cleaning supplies, the hospital grade ones, they can cost thousands

of dollars per job. I mean, one bottle for them cost $75. And if it's many rooms, you're going to need tens of bottles. One crime scene cleaner said the worst job he's ever taken was when there was a woman, and she had been dead in an apartment for five weeks. She was a heroin addict and a hoarder, and she was HIV positive, so they had to be extra careful. They had to go through every single inch

of that 800 square foot house with things cluttered five feet tall on every floor surface to make sure that there was no blood, no bodily fluids, and especially no needles because she was an addict. Okay, this is gonna get insanely graphic, so I'm just gonna put a little trigger warning right here. There was a redditor named Space Nerd Chris who worked in the industry but not as a crime

scene cleaner. He actually worked as a crime scene photographer. For the police? Yeah. He said this was the worst case he's ever had. They had a report once of a weird smell coming from a house. And you know, in summer, the police are assuming the worst. They call up Chris and they got the whole team together. Now when they open up the door they're immediately hit with the smell of rotting flesh. I mean they know what it is. John Doe had been gone for at least a week. Maggots were coming out of his mouth, his ears, everywhere.

There were no signs of visible violence. He seemed to have passed in his sleep. I mean he was on the mattress. They bust out the glow light and they see vaginal fluids literally all over him. So they're like, okay, that's a little bit weird. So their best guess is that he probably went having sex, and then I guess the person got so scared they left, or maybe they already left, and then he died,

probably the best way to go. Chris doesn't have a lot of details because he didn't follow up with the case, he's just the photographer. So this is what the police are saying while he's there. And now they can't leave any stone unturned. So they just need to turn him over, photograph his back to make sure that there's no needle marks or any injuries to implicate foul play. So he's photographing as they're turning him. And as the med team start turning him around,

he said the flesh started tearing off like fried chicken skin. Just falling off the body, like off the bones. And he said not to mention as they did that every bit of last liquid was just shooting out of the anus, like leaking out. And he said it was the worst crime scene ever. Sorry for that massive sidetrack, back to Lance, the forensic expert. He still had a job to do. It didn't matter that he was sick, so he started focusing on the autopsy and now that the bodies were out, the police decided to not transport them. Instead of trying to transport all these bodies and all these body parts, because a lot of

bodies started falling apart. There were just limbs that were thrown in too, and that wasn't natural decomposition. The police were like, okay, someone severed this limb. Some people were dismembered before they were thrown into. And that wasn't natural decomposition. The police were like, okay, someone severed the slim. Some people were dismembered before they were thrown in here. So instead of trying to bring that all to a medical center, they started to perform the autopsy's in Wentz backyard.

So I mean, this happens often, just as we talked about in the Robert Picked-in case where they had like a whole team of forensics outside and then they'll do another round at the hospital. So they made a makeshift autopsy area with tents with wooden boards, platforms, and they were finally in the fresh air and nobody complained. Nobody complained even though it was negative 10 degrees outside. That is, till the forensic experts so happy to finally get the bodies out, picked up their

little scapples, and their fingers were frozen. They could not cut a straight line or anything. So they're like, shoot, what do we do? They had to take off their gloves and in between cuts, whenever their hands were too frozen, they would stick their hands into hot water. And then re-steralize. Well, not fully sterilized because they're not operating on someone who's alive. They would warm them up, don a new pair of gloves and go again.

And again, because this was 1991, it was really important for them to be careful during the autopsy. Like now we have things like DNA technology, but then all they could really do to ID the bodies was off of how they looked. They're physical characteristics. So they're being extra careful.

But there's still a ton of body parts. And limbs, just falling off bodies dismembered laying around. So they got five to six giant pots. I know you know where this is going. I know where this is going we all do. And before anyone starts getting racist with it, we recently did an episode on the mysterious Vidox Society in the US and they did the same thing. Go listen to that episode.

So that one was wild. They were boiling heads. So in this one, the medical examiners got about six giant pots, filled it with random limbs and bones laying around and they boiled it. They needed to get through the maggots, through the flesh, and try to work with the bones. The investigator said that they would never forget the site,

just the mix of all the bones, all the maggots, all the random body parts just knowing in one of those giant pots was not one body, but God knows how many different people and how many of their limbs just in a boiling water tank with maggots and steam, the steam coming out of those pots, it was unlike any other smell you could ever imagine they said. So everyone that had been at the crime scene said it was one of the worst nightmares of their entire lives. It was horrendous.

One officer, I guess he's a very positive thinker, he must have been a joy to work with. He said, you know, the only thing that I got out of this case was that at least I'll never ever see another case that is as miserable and as devastating as this one. It cannot get worse than this. I thought for sure that seeing all these corpses day in, day out, just watching them dig out the bodies, I mean just watching schools come out, collarbones, crotchbones being pulled out of the hole, we were so scared to even go to the bathroom. Even though the entire place had been secured and blocked off, nobody wanted to go to the

bathroom without a gun. It just felt like the corpses were everywhere everywhere just watching us. It was terrifying. Some of the officers said that they fainted a few times and they were so terrified of fainting again in front of their colleagues that they would get a blow dryer. And they would blow into the air before entering the room. Other forensic experts had to wear IV drips while working because they were constantly fainting. They did have to have medical teams on standby just for the officers and the medical examiners. Most of them suffered really horrible pneumonia and other diseases and every single one of

them was left with lifelong psychological trauma and scars. They said the only thing that brought them together was this sense of being on a mission, getting justice, overcoming all of this for that light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dark they're going to catch the killers, they're gonna put them in prison, they're gonna get them executed honestly. They wanted the death penalty. Whoever did this, or even could think about doing something like this, they were monsters. So what really happened here?

Did the three people arrested? When, Lee, and Hank, did they just find random people, throw them into a pit and create a human decomposition sludge? Why would they even do that? Do they know these people? Is this some sort of ritual? They had all these questions that they needed answers for. So it's, how did we get here?

Well, we got here from the smallest case to a full-blown serial killer's pit because remember, the three were arrested as small town thieves and as sex work solicitors. And now the officers were standing looking into the pit of death. Now Lee knew a lot about that pit of death not just because she helped throw people in there but she had been thrown in. Next to the dead bodies she was thrown in as punishment and the only reason that she was alive was because she survived her first throw into the corpse cellar. Oh yeah, there's more. There's multiple more throws. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Okay, how did we even get here? The day was October 22, 1991. Two policemen were on duty at the Sujo Railway Station. Now this city is about, I want to say like an hour away from Shanghai, this wasn't the early 90s though, and in this part of the city, public safety was just not the best. So this subway station was a huge route that was used to transport goods just all over southern China, and a lot of people are passing in and out. And of course, with that, it comes a lot of illegal activity. This was before the good old days of potato quality CCTV. There were always policemen working the stations, patrolling non-stop to make sure nobody

was committing any crimes on their watch. So the main concern that they had typically was robbery. A lot of criminals would come to the station, rob people. The most common with, excuse me sir, oh, yeah sir, as you can see from my uniform I work here and your luggage is a tad too big to board the train. Do you mind if we just measure it to make sure it meets our requirements? Um, okay, this is annoying, but sure. Then he would be led to an elaborate setup with other employees right outside the station.

Here, place your bag here. So imagine, it's like the airport. You know, they got a little carry-on luggage for you. You got to put your luggage in to see if it fits. Oh, we're right. It's not that it's too big, but it's a little bit too heavy. So you have two choices now. You can either leave the luggage or you can take some things out and leave those things or you can just pay the small oversized luggage fee to hop on the train.

Of course, we'll give you a pass for your luggage. Now, most people, they would just pay the oversized luggage fee, which you know, this reminds me of, the luggage fees on airlines, you're telling me for that extra half a pound, you're gonna charge me 135 extra dollars. Tell me why. Anything upwards of 50 should be weighted

and charged by weight. It should be like the whole food's hot bar. No, does not make more sense. Which is probably $150. Yeah, we're out of that. Yeah. So sometimes if you were really unlucky, they would take your cash. Oh, okay, thank you, sir. Thank you for the $30.

We're actually gonna go get like a little sticker for your luggage, like a little patch of strap. We'll be right back. They would never be right back. Your luggage is gone. They took your luggage and they took your cash. Another famous trick was a man would walk up to you and say, man, man, I'm so sorry.

I just found this phone on the ground and I tried to return it to the rightful owner. I pretty much asked everybody if this is their phone and I'm sure the rightful owner is long gone now. So the only thing I can imagine to do is to sell it to pay for my train. I missed my ticket trying to find the owner and I need another one and I don't have the cash. So would you be willing to buy it to pay for my train. I missed my ticket trying to find the owner, and I need another one, and I don't have the cash.

So would you be willing to buy it? It's the newest latest model, and there's barely a scratch, and see, it works. How much are you selling it for? How much? I don't really know. I guess I wasn't trying to make some money. I just need some fair to get back home.

So what about like 5% of the original value? I mean, I really, I'm not looking for money. I just need to try and take it back home because I missed it because I was looking for the owner. OK, I mean, not being able to pass upon a good deal like this. I mean, who could? Right? Imagine you get a knife on for $5 and it's working.

You might take it. You might be like, OK, we'll do the right flounders not there. Let me just try, right? So they'll give the money and as they're counting their dollars or they're counting their reming bee, that person, the phone salesman, would switch the working phone with a brick essentially, a phone that didn't work and sell the person an unusable phone for way more than it's worth. It doesn't even work, it's worth nothing.

That was the second famous trick. So this is what the police were dealing with, and this is what they were trying to prevent. So anyways, while on patrol, one of the police officers spots a man and a woman. They look like a couple, but not really. Now if you want a police officer, maybe you wouldn't notice. But he noticed that the woman looked to be maybe a little over 20. She had short hair, she was beautiful. She had this gentle but plump face

and she was very, very short. And did I mention very beautiful? That's how the police were thinking, okay, wow, she's hot. So he's starting to look at her. I don't know if her work purposes are for fun, but he's looking at her, staring her down. And the guy that she's talking to seems like she's seducing him. The way that she's looking at her, staring her down. And the guy that she's talking to, seems like she's seducing him. The way that she's looking at him is very flirtatious.

But both of them, they were dressed from different areas. She was wearing a very chunky sweater, indicating that she probably traveled from the northern part of China, where it's a lot colder right now. Meanwhile, the guy was wearing lighter colored clothes and had a tan, so he's probably from the southern part of China, which means either they're meeting here or they don't really know each other. Now, this was before the great days of online

dating. So it's not that common that you meet someone on a dating app and you're like, oh yeah, let's meet at the train station for the first time. Can't wait to see you stranger. See you then. Just before those days. Yeah, those cops back then, they need to be really good at just looking at people and tell what's going on. Because at the train stations, that's where all the thieves going.

Because there's so many people. Pick pocketing is the most common there. So their job is to just look around and see who looks like they're doing something back. And study body language, clothing. Yes. Like, because if you're stealing stuff, you've got to have a place to put that stuff now, right?

You're not running back and forth from the station putting your stash away. It was a bit fascinating to watch for this police officer. The woman looked up at the guy flirtatiously and the man couldn't help. He'd get in hand with it. He had to rub his hands all over her bod. It was a lot. It was a lot. Little shickith. But it clicked. All of a sudden. Oh my god, this woman's a sex

worker and she's soliciting people at the station. I mean, it's so obvious. They look like they barely knew each other. They came from different areas, but there's this sexual chemistry, this sexual tension. That is the only way to describe it. And he starts looking around thinking to himself, do I really want to do another sex work solicitation report? Any sees another suspicious duo. Two men this time, staring at the couple from afar. Huh, were they people watching? Were they interested in her services?

Were they like, oh, okay, when he walks away and if he doesn't do it, we're gonna go and we're gonna talk to her. But they too were wearing thick clothes like the girl. So they must be from Northern China as well. The two guys were very different from one another. One of them, he looks really rough, almost like a bodyguard type. He looked like the type of guy that knew how to do manual work with his hands.

They were probably rough, maybe they had some calluses, that's what he looked like. The other man that was with him He looks very handsome. He looked like he never lifted a finger in his life He looked like the pretty boy the main character in a movie So the officer asked his buddy to keep Benaya for the two men. Wait, why? I think they're trying to pull the badger game on them. You're like the what? Okay, so the badger game in essence. Well, no, by definition, okay, it's just straight up extortion. It's tricking someone into a vulnerable position to make

them easy to blackmail for money. It usually goes something like this. Mr. X is married to Mrs. X, but he decides in his free time to salute the, you know, the goodies of a sex worker. And during this very passionate affair, or oftentimes before the passion even begins, and just like the heavy petting is going on, a strange man will burst through the door and catch them in the act. He'll say, that's my wife. You're sleeping with my wife. And unless you want your wife to find out, you'll better pay me extra amount of money. Unbeknownst to Mr. X, they're in on it. She's not the scared wife who was just caught cheating. No, she was in on it the whole time.

I mean the chances are the guys not even her husband. This is a lucrative business partner. Sometimes they take it a step further. They try to catch men with underage children or partaking in bizarre sexual fantasies, barking like a dog, some other illegal activities, or you know, something that will get them canceled amongst their peers. The most common method that the police were seeing right now was the one where a very attractive

woman would approach a stranger entice him to do the dirty with her, whether under the premise that she's a sex worker or make it seem like she just just finds them so irresistibly attractive they go to a private area they start getting hot and steamy a man will burst in, catch them in the act and demand justice that's my wife that you're touching either you had decked in the face why tell your wife or or you know what? right is do? $50 what do?

$50, fair as fair. Another variation of this is sometimes you actually finish through with the act like you do all the dirty and then you're sent pictures of you doing it. And you're blackmailed for even bigger sums of money. That's like big fish, okay? It just really depends on how these people

want to play the badger game. Technically, a good example of this scheme was Alexander Hamilton, Oh, yes. The famous US Secretary of the Treasury. He had an affair with Maria Reynolds, and her husband used that to extort money and information from Alexander Hamilton. Sound familiar? So anyway, that's the badger game.

Why do people fall victim to it? Well, it just seems like they can't help themselves. And secondly, usually the sum of money is not bankruptcy level. I mean, it's an uncomfortable sum. You don't want to pay it, but you'd rather just get the whole ordeal over with. Rather than letting it get out that you were soliciting sex work, or maybe you're cheating on your wife, or maybe you want to be spanked. You know, maybe you don't want that to get out.

It's just the price you have to pay for playing with fire. I mean, that's how most people thought of it. Oh, and yeah, they probably knew that you weren't the angry husband. Most of the time, they know you're getting scammed. So the badger game worked especially well on foreign clients. So these are people who are not familiar with this city. They're terrified of getting into trouble

at a place that they're unfamiliar with, so they just pay up and leave. So the police are watching this unfold. Both of them are certain. These three people, the woman and the two men watching from afar, they're in on it together, they're playing the Badger game. So the police calls for backup and they decide to follow them through the train station and out. So she's leading this guy into like an alleyway. And usually criminals like this crime groups, they had weapons and as the police, they had to share one gun. So they bring that one gun with them. They call for backup and they just wait for the right moment. The flirting woman and the man. I mean, the man is oblivious that he's

being followed not just by two men, but also like an entire police force. So like loves it. He's just in his own world. They head into the alleyway and they start rubbing up on each other. And just as they're about to get a little bit more steamy, two men appear out of the shadows. You guessed it. One of them throws the flirting man up against the wall.

What the hell are you doing? What the hell are you doing molesting my wife? He's like, what? She's your wife? Isn't she? We just negotiated a price. She's a sex worker. You can ask her if you want. If you don't believe me, she literally just told me how much.

Bullshit! Don't you dare slander my wife like that! How dare- I fucking kill you! Then the angry husband will turn to his wife, slap her across the face and say, you bit! I'll deal with you when we get home. Now the pretty boy comes forward and he says, hold on, calm down. Sir, I'm going to be trying to, I'm going to try to be the rational one here. That's my sister-in-law. This is my brother who just is yelling at you. You just molested my sister-in-law. Generally speaking, that means we have to kick your ass, right? Because that's just how the way the world works. But you see my brother here. He just got out

of prison and we don't want him getting in trouble again. But we will if we have to. But you know how it goes. You think my brother or any man for that matter can just be cheated on so blatantly, cuckolded. Ugh, definitely not. I mean, think about what that would do to his mental state. He would never get over it. So how about this? You give him $300 and we leave. It's all over. We don't want trouble and you don't want it either. This way we can all walk away as men. Given the $300, the police were watching and they knew. The freaking Badger scam. Okay, now it's time, right? They're about to pounce.

But the client just said, oh I get it. You're scamming me. I'm not scared though call the police why don't you I bet you're not off the guts I want to see whether they're gonna arrest me or they're gonna arrest you so go a freaking head this pissed off the guy the handsome guy he punched the dude in the face starts kicking him the sack you want me arrested is that what you want off can kill you the police are watching this like oh she we're the police we got to interview so they're like hey stop it

What are you doing? Please don't move The three guys freeze and the two scammers and the client they were so shocked They all start making a run for it together in the same direction The police already had backup called on the other side of the alleyway so all of them were arrested and placed in separate rooms At the police station. Listen, it's a crime for sure, but it's not the most rewarding, satisfying work. You just ask the standard questions as a police officer. File a report, probably charge them with a minor offense, and let them on their merry way.

But when the police start going through the handsome boy's bags, which by the way, that's when the leader of the group is handsome boy and the bodyguard is Hank. So they go through their bags and they find a bunch of cash, two IDs of foreigners that were obviously not theirs, and drugs. Drugs that would work as local anesthesia, like oral drugs. So why would you need drugs that would knock people to fork out? Why do you need this? So they ask, hello, what's up with this? Now the two of them, they're not in the same room and they start stammering,

hesitating and they're obviously lying. They had been a string of robberies recently, where the victims were knocked unconscious. They had cash and other belongings stolen, so does that mean that they just caught their robbers? The police called in the foreign IDs and they were found to have been missing. Not the IDs, but the people themselves were considered missing. So this is hinting at something a little bit more sinister, but they don't know quite yet. The two guys went and hanged, they seemed perfectly calm. They said that they were here for work.

They stuck with their story. Meanwhile, Lee, the woman, she seemed nervous, she seemed anxious. And when that police officer grabbed her blanket, because it was cold in the station, and he let her wear it, she felt comfortable enough to tell him, you know, I'm on my period. He went out of the station, out of his way, to go buy her some feminine hygiene products. And I guess this really touched her. I guess it made her feel safe, because that's when she said, I have something to tell you, and

when I do, you'll be a hero. You'll make a huge contribution to the nation, to your team, to justice, and I will be executed. But the story actually all starts with Wen, though. Not Lee, not the woman. Wen, the handsome boy, he was clearly the leader of the group, the one that everyone was scared of, the one that called the shots, the boss of the gang. Growing up, when was a pretty smart kid, and Mandarin, his name literally means revolution. So his parents thought their kid was special, that he's gonna be something big

when he grows up. And he might have been. He was the headmaster in both his primary and middle schools. He had really good grades. He was an overall superb student, but then both of his parents tragically died. He had really good grades. He was an overall superb student, but then both of his parents tragically died. He actually witnessed his mother taking her own life. And from then on, he just always had a big frown on his face. I mean, he never looked happy. He was always upset.

He didn't care about anyone or anything else. He continued to live in the family home, but all by himself, which can't be good for anyone going through grief, but especially not a teenage boy. He really starts acting out, smashing things in broad daylight. He would curse at people for the smallest things verbally abuse his neighbors. He was like the unwanted community member. I mean, of course at the beginning everyone felt bad. They were just like, oh, he's grieving. He's a he's a torn up teenager. But after enough insults, I mean

And your mailbox is smashed up. I mean you stop feeling bad. You start being like we need to get him out of here So when just became this super isolated kid Nobody wanted to talk to him. Nobody wanted to hang out with him So it was a miracle when a local factory agreed to hire young one He had a secure and decent job even before graduating high school, and a lot of people said it had to do with the fact that he was pretty handsome. He was pretty charismatic when he wanted to be. Sure, none of these things really matter in a factory, but good impressions can get you

a leg up. During interviews, you know? Female co-workers, they didn't even know when well, but they called him the melancholy prince. He was just like this handsome and attractive but like, midi emo boy, you know what I mean? He was in his vibes. And I think that just added to his appeal. Girls were really into him. So in the factory, he fell in love with a girl named Yumi. Now she was adopted by his mentor.

So this is the adopted daughter of his boss essentially, which by the way his boss is super upset to find out that his daughter was now marrying this guy. He's like absolutely not, you mean like I don't care how attractive he is, sure he's okay at his job, but you're no disgusting. But she married him anyway and when was immediately fired from the factory, the higher ups did not want this to become a disease. They didn't want all the men to think, oh, just marry our daughters and expect to get away with it.

You're fired, you're fired. So after getting married and being fired from his job, when only got weirder? He starts working for the local butcher, slaughtering meat for a living, which that's not weird. That's a great job. Okay, like you love making a living, I love it. But he just went, um,

built too hard into the role. He started walking around, covered in blood all the time. His neighbor said it was strange, it's like he was trying to look like he walked off a horror movie set. First it was the blood of cows, later it was the blood of humans. But the neighbors wouldn't know the difference, or at least they wouldn't for many, many years. So when just at this strong distaste towards all of society, he hated everyone. He hated that people were doing better than him.

He hated the fact that he was fired from the factory. He hated that people didn't treat him like the genius God that he was. He hated it all, and he wanted to get his revenge. So during his time off when he wasn't slaughtering cows, he was busy being lazy. Everyone described him as just super extravagant. He loved to spend all of his money on gambling and sex workers. He could spend his entire monthly income in just one day.

So he comes to the conclusion. Instead of working so hard for my money and spending it in 24 hours, why don't I just take other people's hard earnedearned money? What am I doing with my life? So this is how when got into the business of Theaving. And just to really seal the deal on what this guy was like, he was married at this point, but he had a mistress and everything, and together with his mistress they would break into

houses and steal things. She would just wait at the door being the lookout. And I mean, there's only so much you can steal and resell from this rural area where everybody knows everybody. So he was left with a ton of random TVs, cows, donkeys, and sheep. He would steal sheep and donkeys. So every day, he just fell deeper and deeper into financial distress. And finally, his wife couldn't take it anymore. She filed for divorce, which only made him more mad at society. What the hell is wrong with society? To deal him such shitty cards.

Fine, leave whatever I don't care. Now with all the money that he stole, he saved up enough to run to Little House in the town of Non-River. His plan was to open up a candy factory. It was gonna be glorious he would get a business license and with that business license, he could now go to the train stations and recruit vulnerable people to work for his candy factory

It's a hey Young woman coming here. You look very professional. My name is one. I'm the CEO of this candy company And I would love for you to come work for me. I need to hire some cashier some candy maker some warehouse clerks You know the likes. it's very easy job. And you would sell so much candy, you look very pretty. But as he's doing this, he would, you know, kind of bring these women over to his house, rob them, and then throw them back on the streets. But he realizes that most of these women don't really have that much money on them.

So to make it worth his time, he starts targeting businessmen that are traveling into the town. So this town was known for potatoes and beets. It was one of the largest distrib known for potatoes and beets. It was one of the largest distributors of potatoes and beets. So a lot of businessmen would come in by bulk potatoes and beets. Sometimes they would sell you know agricultural machinery to these potato and beet farmers. And typically they came pretty cash heavy when they traveled. And they were unfamiliar with the area. And this was just the best of all the worlds. But one's first victim was actually not a businessman. It was a real father and his son who came to the area for grain sales.

So he said, hey, why didn't you guys come over? I know a ton of good grain wholesalers come on over. We can eat some barbecue, drink a little bit and it'll be fun. We'll talk business. Everything was going great till right after the meal. When suddenly changes his entire attitude and he says, all right, well, I need you guys to leave and I need you to leave every single penny that you've brought with you on the table before you go.

They're like, there's no way we're doing that. I mean, first of all, this is our hard earned money and we have to save up a year for this. We can, we'll start off the death. Okay, fine, have it your way. And when took out a hammer and started to beat the father and son until they were dead. He threw their bodies into the little seller that he had in the kitchen, and that was that.

He took all their money. He didn't even feel any remorse. In fact, he actually started getting cockier. He thought to himself, I had just killed not one person, but two people. With a hammer at that. And nobody's knocking on my door? Nobody's even looking at me. And nobody's knocking on my door? Nobody's even looking at me. Are you kidding me?

I can get away with anything! So he starts getting more and more bold. But oddly enough, when I actually really loved the panic feeling, he loved the money. That was his main motivation. But he loved that adrenaline, the slight sweat forming on the back of his neck, his elevated heart rate. He just couldn't get enough of it.

He found it comical almost, that it was so easy to murder someone. I mean, how can it be so easy to take a human life? So July 12th that year, he was out looking for a new target, and he saw her at the train station. There, she was, a beautiful young woman. She was dressed impeccably. She looked as if she came from a very well-off family, And this was already tickling his pickle. I mean, this is gonna be easy. It was harder for him to go after businessmen since they typically knew specific lingo. They were very skeptical typically. But women, I mean, they just fell at one's feet. That's what he said. He was handsome, charismatic. He knew how to hold a conversation. So he invited her over for tea. And she accepted. Now the house should have

already been a red flag and it was because when she walked up she wanted to run out. I mean she tried to at one point. From the outside it was just bad. Like the break house was not well maintained. It looked like if a tornado had went through it it was just really grimy and dirty. It looked like in the neighborhood only a tornado went through this one house. The living room, I mean the floor was just caked with dirt and blood sometimes, because you know he's still a butcher, and there was just not really much furniture, nothing, I mean it was bad. She tried to leave, but he dragged her inside through her onto his bed and choked her until she died. He took the money from her purse and her ring and threw her into the cellar of his house. And with that money, he hired a couple to be his full-time assistant.

They would live in the house, help him with whatever he needed, and he told them the truth. So in here, I'm ripping people and killing people, and I'm making a fortune off of it. The couple listened and shocked, and they were so shocked that they had never thought to do it before. They were obsessed with money, they would do anything to make a dollar, even if it meant helping kill people. So a little gang of sort starts. They start killing off more people. He recruits some other guys. More businessmen start to vanish in the area which backfired because now businessmen were straight up avoiding the town. They were on edge. Their guard was up. it's getting harder and harder for them to procure a victim.

So the saying is, if you want to die, go to the non-river town. That's how popular it was becoming. The police felt like they had to do something about it. They needed to get rid of this reputation. So they start going from house to house, interviewing families and seeing, you're doing anything weird. Now, okay. But when they got to one's place, his gate was closed.

They said, anybody home? They shouted. No answer. They just left. They never came back to question him. And that's how one kept getting away with it. But he was still annoyed. The police are looking into the disappearances and no businessmen wanted to talk to strangers

anymore, even if they were offered the deal of a lifetime. So now when decided to focus on sex workers. He knew at least that they would have cash on them from that day and he was good at seducing women. So he's really playing into his strengths. So he starts going to the train stations to pick up these women. When they would get back to the house, he would brutally kill them and throw their bodies in the cellar. In a year over 20 people mysteriously vanished. It was after 20-something victims. He met someone he couldn't kill or maybe he didn't want to. He spotted a woman named Lee. Yes, the one we've been talking about from across the train station and Lee had lived a very harsh life but you probably couldn't see it on her face. Her

parents died when she was really young. She was raised by her older sister and they ate leaves off of trees to keep from starving. They licked salt whenever their hunger got bad. And Lee just had to develop thick skin. She knew how to adapt to really harsh conditions. She had a crazy work ethic. She put food on the table and as she got older, she just kind of married the first person that offered her some stability. She had no attachment to this guy and it didn't get any better after they had kids.

I mean Lee hated him and wanted him to leave. So one day after a super big fight, she storms out of the house and heads over to the train stop. She didn't really have a destination in mind, she just wanted to blow off some steam. I mean she's this tall, beautiful, well dressed woman just wandering around, she's wanted to blow off some steam. I mean, she's this tall, beautiful, well-dressed woman just wandering around, she's going to get some attention. So when approaches her, and she was completely and immediately smitten. In her anger at her husband, she felt like, see, I can still get it.

My husband is lucky that I'm so with him. I mean, look at this handsome man that's talking to me. And he asked her, if you're not enjoying your life right now I can whisk you away you know you're beautiful. I would love for you to come check out my candy factory and if you like it I can pay you to work there and with enough pay you can totally leave your husband. So with that she followed him out of the train station and at his house she was very happy and excited to start a love affair, the ultimate revenge on her husband. So they get right to business and towards the end, Lee suddenly feels pressure around her neck. She couldn't breathe, it's getting hard to swallow when was choking

her. After strangling her, when tosses her body into the seller and takes her money. But Lee didn't die. She had just fainted. So she came to a little while later in the seller and she said that she almost fainted again, because the smell almost knocked her out. She had no light, her eyes start adjusting, and she just sees dozens and dozens of dead bodies. Some of them completely skeletonized, a lot of them crawling with maggots in and out of their mouths, eyes noses.

A lot of them had this pained expression on their face and the corpse mud, it was bad. And then I hit her. Lee had been hearing these rumors that you should never go to the Nah River city because the devil lives there and you only go if you've got a death wish. So now she's thinking, I have freaking met the devil. And here I am now in the corpse cellar. The only way to get out, like I said, was to stack the bodies and climb out. And that's what she did. She stacked the bodies and she started lifting her body up and getting herself out of the hole. The corp's pit, if you will.

And when she got to the top, she lifted her head. And she's like pretty much out now. She lifts her head and she's face to face with when. He had been watching her with shock and some amusement on his face so he grabs a shovel and he's like alright fun's over and he's about to whack her on the head. And she's been neuro please don't kill me. Listen I just had a fight with my husband that's literally it I didn't mean to be her I don't want to be here I'll never tell anyone about what you've done please just let me live.

And Wen was intrigued? Not because of her rambling, no. But because she had just crawled out of the corpse pit, like that's a lot of dedication. I mean, it's just kind of unusual. She didn't even seem terrified about the corpses. She forgets used them as a step ladder for crying out loud. And she was pretty. And you know what?

She could be useful. The badger game, you know? That's a good one. Okay, fine. So he helped her up, tied her up, and started grilling her about her family. For the next few weeks, he just kept her tied up. If she tried to escape,

he would throw her into the corpse pit again. Just let her suffer there, and then he would drag her back out, and keep her tied up. He was able to get enough information out of her to find her family. He traveled to where her family lived, found the address, and told her. Number one, you're gonna cooperate with me for your life.

Number two, if you don't, I'm not just gonna kill you. I'm gonna kill your husband and your son. You think I won't? Look at all the people that I killed in the corp seller. Lee thought about the idea of her son laying in the corp seller and it just broke her heart, it shattered her heart. So she said, okay, I'll do whatever you want, you want me to do this guy, scam them of money, whatever I'll do it. Please, just don't hurt my family.

Lee later said that she regretted this moment. She wishes she would have just died instead. So the first person Lee killed, she said she remembers it vividly. When had, well, I guess when had killed the man, and he wasn't moving or breathing, but he grabbed Lee, dragged her to the dead body, grabbed a knife, take the knife, stab him, do it or I'll kill you. She did it, and the whole time one took pictures. Now you try to tell anyone about me, you're going down too.

They'll think that you're just as ruthless of a killer as I am. For the next six months, they killed more than 15 people. They were escalating. It was just getting easier to kill people with, quote, pretty bait likely. She would seduce foreign farmers, salesmen, businessmen. She would lead them to Wenz House all the while. The other gang members would watch from afar,

making sure she didn't try to run. Once she brought the victim back to the house, they would murder them, take everything on them, and throw them into the cellar. At one point, the cellar was so filled to the brim and the smell was getting so bad, they dug another hole, and threw more bodies in there. Every single night after it was all said and done, Lee was raped by the men in the gang. They didn't care, I guess, and then when's mistress was also in a complice? Yeah, he was still with his mistress after his wife left him. And she saw what was happening and she didn't do anything about it. So then the gang gets bored of the

killing. At the height of their crimes, they were throwing a body into the cellar every four days. And I realized when bad people get bored, I mean, it's terrifying, because they start doing terrifying things. They started dismembering the bodies, feeding some of the parts to stray dogs. Sometimes they would cut open the bodies, take out the heart and the liver so that they could fry them. They would all sit around and eat the fried hearts while laughing about how powerful they felt. And the more perverted part, so when had been struggling to have sex recently, he couldn't maintain an erection. And I mean, it was really forking with his sense of being a macho man.

And there's this old myth that you eat whatever you want to fix. Sometimes literally, sometimes not. Sometimes it's about eating the food that looks like the part you want to fix. For example, you want a better brain, eat walnuts. They look like brains. Some more literal examples. Do you have a broken bone? You need to drink a? Eat walnuts. They look like brains. Some more literal examples. Do you have a broken bone? You need to drink a lot of bone broth.

You need to eat a cow heart for heart health. You've got to live a problem? Eat a cow liver. You've got stomach issues? Eat some tripe or some cow intestines? Well, when took this really literally? And he noticed that one of his victims had a body part that was quite impressive.

So he cut off the testicles and the penis. And he noticed that one of his victims had a body part that was quite impressive. So he cut off the testicles and the penis and he ate it. He said that after eating it, his sexual capacity was unlocked and he could have sex again. Allegedly, Lee, who was being raped by when at the time, was so impressed about how good his sex got after he ate the penis, that she willingly stayed because the sex was so good. This is a rumor, okay? That he didn't even need to threaten her anymore. He just had to whip it out and wow, she was in love, she wanted to kill people with him

because his sex was so good. This is definitely a rumor, a guy started. I just wanna mention that, okay? But that's what they said. Now the police had a lead. The group had asked to purchase 30 bags of soybeans from a local farmer, but on the condition that the farmer had them delivered to the house.

So it sounds great. The father shows up with his son helps unload all 30 bags, and when he asks for payment, when drags him inside, beats him to death. Since his son is right outside, he heard the commotion, and they run after him before he can get away, and they stab him to death. Now the two had family that reported them missing nonstop.

They went to go sell like 30 bags of grain, you know, you gotta find them. The police officer starts going door to door but he got lazy. He only went to two houses, which happened to be on the same street as one. And people even reported seeing 30 bags of soybeans in one's yard, but he still didn't investigate or ask questions. Yeah, so they really messed up. Meanwhile, Summers' vastly approaching in the gang decides, oh god, we gotta get outta here.

The smell is hurting my eyes, I can't even keep my eyes open. It's like the smell is so thick, it's penetrating my body. So the rest of the gang, they leave, and they just leave the couple there at the site, to monitor the place. This is the one one of them commit suicide and one of them gets arrested. The other gang members they decided to target other cities since the non-river was too dead. I mean, I guess that's a really bad way of saying it, but they were too scared to murder people in other cities so they just started playing the badger game over and over and over again.

A lot of the times instead of going through the whole song and dance of, oh that's my wife! They would just jump out of nowhere, place a cloth over the victim's mouth until they passed out, usually chloroform was used, and once they were knocked out, they would just take everything on that person and leave. And that's how they got caught at a train station in Suzhou, and they confessed. So back to the crime scene, the police are tasked with trying to ID all the bodies, and they only found 20-something of the 40-something people that were killed. The police were scared that the gang would commit suicide or try to hurt themselves so they put them in helmets, handcuffs, blindfolded, and even their ears were covered to prevent self-mutilation. January 8th, the trial was set to start. They had killed 42 people, 24 women, 18 men within two years.

Six of them were tried. When, Lee, Hank, Wentz, Mistress, and one of the guys guarding the house. The other partner had committed suicide before they were arrested. They were all found guilty and were set to be executed. Now, Lee, the woman that confessed she begged a guard, I've been living an inhumane life during the past years.

I have only two requests please. I want to see my three year old son and I want to be and I don't want to be tied up before being executed. Meanwhile, on the day that when was set to be executed, the whole town of Nau River, they stopped work, they shut down their shops, they closed down the schools, and they held a parade of sorts before his execution. They said the devil was dead. It said that when Wen was killed by a firing squad, they fired 42 shots, one for each of the 42 victims. Into Wen? Yeah. Lee was executed shortly after. She was only 27 years old when she died. Now, there is a lot of controversy on her execution. I would say that at the time most people hated her,

but I think in 2022, most people would definitely see more, her more of a victim. I mean, she was kidnapped, definitely. Yeah. And the lead investigator that took Lee's confession, he said that he felt so bad, and he wanted to help Lee not avoid prison, but avoid the death penalty.

So when Lee was executed, he accepted the fact that he had failed. Is he the one that she confessed? to help Lee not avoid prison, but avoid the death penalty. So when Lee was executed, he accepted the fact that he had failed. Is he the one that she confessed to? Yeah. And he went to go shave his head. So this is a very strong way of saying that you failed at something that you don't really, you know, you don't have time to be vain. This is not, you know, you don't have that luxury or that privilege. He said that he felt so bad because she was a victim too, and she was coerced into doing all of these things and sure what she did was wrong, but she would have never have done

them without being forced to. She didn't want to be there. I mean, it's definitely not as evil as the rest of them. So he said, every Friday, since then, since Lee's execution, he goes and he gets his head shaved. And he said he will for the rest of his life. And this became so controversial that a lot of people in the press and you know, just the general public, they said that the officer fell in love with Lee.

And that's how good she is at manipulating people. And he said, I don't care about these speculations. I've always been a loner and I never regret what I decided to do. And that is the story of the Chinese corpse seller. Have you heard of this case before? I heard of the name before, but I didn't know the details. Yeah, it's so. Yeah, I don't even know what to say.

I mean, how many times did they fumble the ball on this one? I'm just at a loss for words. It almost sounds like the case happened much longer ago than the 90s Just because of how inadequate the police force was at the time like it's just what is happening Exactly. I hope you guys enjoyed this week's mini-sode and I will see you guys on Wednesday for the main episode. Bye