Suburban
A Borrowdale Brooke couple which went missing on Valentine’s Day in 2020 was kidnapped, killed and their bodies dumped in a dam, it has emerged.
The couple of Chinese nationality has been missing for the last three years and it took Zimbabwean police working the International Police Organisation (Interpol) and Chinese police to crack the mysterious dissapperance of the husband and wife.
Lei Ding (35) and his wife Chi Lifen (30), disappeared on Valentine’s Day after visiting a friend in Highlands, Harare. The couple stayed in Borrowdale Brooke, Harare with the husband running a company involved in mining and building materials. The personal details of the couple emerged as local police engaged Interpol and Chinese authorities as they widened their investigations into the dissappearance of the couple.
Their family and friends offered a reward of $1 million to anyone who could help with information into the investigations to establish what happened to the couple.
However, it didn’t assist the investigation at the time.
But, there has been a big breakthrough made by the police.
Chen Long, who is a Chinese national residing in Avondale, Harare, has been arrested and charged with allegedly murdering the couple.
Long was implicated by Xu Lin Lin and Luo Yengshen, who were arrested by Chinese police in China.
The duo confessed that they kidnapped the couple, with Long’s assistance, and dumped them in a dam in Zimbabwe.
The two are set to be brought to Zimbabwe to face trial.
They will be charged with murder upon making indications to the police.
The two were linked to the offence after the police managed to recover the couple’s cellphones, which were taken to China, where data was retrieved.
The State is alleging that on February 14, 2020, Lei Ding, who was in the business of quarry and river sand mining called his friend Xu Lin Lin, telling him that he was proceeding to see him.
It is believed that Ding went to Lin’s place with his wife driving a white Mercedes Benz ML.
However, the couple was never seen again.
The couple’s car was recovered the next day, dumped along Arcturus Road, with the keys on the ignition, by police officers from ZRP Mabvuku.
A report was made at the CID Vehicle Theft Squad.
The car was searched and the police recovered the couple’s car keys and a firearms certificate.
The police went to their home and no one was there.
Investigations were conducted by a joint team of Zimbabwean and Chinese police which led to the recovery of an iPhone, which was being used by the couple.
The Chinese police took the cellphone to China and restored all the data and pursued investigations.
They arrested Xu Lin Lin and Luo Yengshen, who indicated that they fatally assaulted the couple, and dumped their bodies into an unknown dam.
They implicated Long, whom they had left in Zimbabwe, to have been involved in the offence.
Long appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi who remanded him in custody pending finalisation of investigations. – H-Metro
