Liu Mingwu
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Tan Renhong
Liu Mingwu | |
|---|---|
| 刘明武 | |
| Born | January 1960 Wulou, Songtao Miao Autonomous County, Guizhou, China |
| Died | 6 November 2002 (aged 42) Lu'an, Anhui, China |
| Cause of death | Execution by shooting |
| Other names | "The Beggar Killer" Tan Renhong |
| Conviction | Murder x22 |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 23+ |
Span of crimes | 1992; 2001 – 2002 |
| Country | China |
| States | |
Date apprehended | 23 March 2002 |
Liu Mingwu (Chinese: 刘明武; pinyin: Liú Míngwǔ; January 1960 – 6 November 2002), known as The Beggar Killer (Chinese: 乞丐杀手; pinyin: Qǐgài Shāshǒu), was a Chinese beggar and serial killer who, from February 2001 to March 2002, attacked and killed at least 23 people, predominantly other beggars, across various cities in China. After his arrest, he claimed that he had done it out of hatred for the homeless, whom he considered "dirty and smelly." He was later convicted, sentenced to death, and subsequently executed in 2002.[1]
Little is known of Liu Mingwu's background. Born in January 1960 in the small village of Wulou, in Guizhou's Songtao Miao Autonomous County, he was the child of a poor peasant family who eventually took over the farm as he grew up. He was considered a normal, upstanding citizen until sometime in 1992, when he got into a fight with the village cadres over land disputes.[2] During this fight, he killed one of the cadres' sons and then fled to avoid arrest, wandering around the country and living as a beggar on the streets.[3]
Despite his situation, Liu developed an inexplicable hatred of other beggars he encountered, whom he considered "dirty and smelly."[2] Eventually, he resorted to killing them, reasoning that since they lived on the street, nobody would take interest in their deaths. The first known killings were recorded between February and October 2001, when approximately 15 beggars were either stabbed with a knife or bludgeoned with a brick before their bodies were set on fire. The killings occurred in the cities of Xuzhou and Suqian in Jiangsu and in Si County in Anhui.[4]
From November 2001 to 21 March 2002, similar killings were recorded within Anhui. On 26 February, the burned body of a beggar was found under the Tongji Bridge in Feidong County, and ten days later, a fire broke out in a vacant house in Hefei. After putting the fire out, a human head was found among the ashes.[5] By the time police had connected the two crimes, the burned body of an unknown man was found on 17 March in Lu'an, followed by that of another only four days later. Suspecting that the killings were the work of a single perpetrator, local authorities initiated a large-scale operation to track down the killer, frequently frisking and questioning any beggars they met on the streets.[2]