A 47-year-old man in China has been sentenced to death for intentionally pushing his wife into the sea from a ferry and attempting to claim her life insurance payout to cover his debts and finance his lifestyle. The case, reported by China’s state broadcaster CCTV on November 21, involved the husband, surnamed Li, who was convicted of intentional homicide by the Liaoning Higher People’s Court in December 2023. However, it is unclear whether the sentence has been carried out.
The tragic incident took place on May 5, 2021, when Li and his wife, also surnamed Li, were aboard a ferry traveling from Dalian, in northeastern Liaoning province, to Yantai, in Shandong province. His wife, 46, fell over the ferry’s railing into the sea. Authorities discovered her body 45 minutes later. At the time, the husband appeared shocked and claimed the incident was accidental.
However, suspicions arose when investigators discovered several inconsistencies in Li’s story. The location where his wife fell was a blind spot in the ferry’s surveillance system, which boasts over 200 cameras. Forensic examination of the woman’s body also revealed bruises on her face, raising further doubts about the nature of the fall.
Adding to the investigation’s complexity, Li quickly sought to obtain his wife’s death certificate, citing local customs that require cremation within three days of death. While Li was being processed for the certificate, police secretly launched an investigation into his background.
Investigators uncovered that Li had been financially struggling for years. The owner of a restaurant in Shanghai, Li had frequently been in debt to his staff and suppliers. He had married his wife in October 2020, just six months before her death. She had worked at his restaurant since 2016.
Police also learned that the couple’s marriage had been kept secret from his restaurant staff and neighbors, who noted that the couple did not appear to be close. During the investigation, police found that Li had been involved with a 19-year-old girlfriend.
In an unexpected twist, the investigation revealed that Li had purchased four life insurance policies for his wife just two months after their marriage, naming himself as the sole beneficiary. The policies, which covered transport-related accidents, would pay out a total of 12 million yuan (about US$1.6 million) if his wife died in such an incident.
Authorities also found that, after his wife’s death, Li had sought the services of a prostitute in a hotel room arranged by the police, a meeting that was caught on surveillance cameras.
Forensic experts later reviewed the ferry’s surveillance footage, which had initially been unclear. Enhanced images showed that the manner in which Li’s wife fell indicated she had been pushed, not that she had fallen accidentally. Further analysis revealed that the arm of the man wearing a black suit—Li—was visible in the footage just before the woman fell.
Li was arrested and charged with murder. Despite the mounting evidence against him, he continued to deny the accusations. In July 2022, a first trial sentenced him to death. The Liaoning Higher People’s Court upheld the sentence after an appeal.
This case has shocked many, sparking comments about the tragic outcome and the husband’s apparent greed. One observer remarked, “It is always the husband,” while another added, “This is what people mean by ‘too clever by half’. Those who lay traps for others often find themselves ensnared by their own schemes.”
The case serves as a stark reminder of the extreme lengths to which some individuals may go for financial gain, even at the expense of human life.
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