The attempted murder of Zhu Ling, a bright student of China’s most prestigious university remains to be one of the most popular unsolved cases of the country. What started as what everyone thought were flu symptoms ended up almost taking her life and leaving her with the mental capacity of a 6 year old. No one would have known it was a murder attempt if not for the efforts of two of Zhu Ling’s friends and hundreds of doctors from around the world exchanging information on an online forum. Just what were the events that led to this? Who was out to kill her? What exactly did they have to do to make sure almost no one finds out?
Zhu Ling was a sophomore at Tsinghua University in Beijing where she majored in Physical Chemistry. She was described by her classmates and professors as an attractive, intelligent and talented student. She excelled not only in academics but was also a talented musician. As perfect as her student life was during her second year in the university, Zhu Ling suddenly showed strange symptoms by December of 1994. This included acute stomach pain and extensive hair loss. She was hospitalized at TongRen hospital during which, doctors concluded that she was just experiencing the winter flu. Following hospitalization, her condition gradually improved and she was allowed to get back to class.
On March of the following year, however, after her flawless performance at a guqin recital, she started to exhibit symptoms again – only this time, they were far worse. This time, symptoms included pain in the legs, partial facial paralysis and inability to breathe. It got very bad that she had to be placed on a respirator.
Doctors were baffled and had no idea what could be going wrong with Zhu Ling as she had no history of a fall or trauma to the head and no history of any neurological defect, the sudden onset of symptoms just could not be explained. Until, Dr Li Shun-wei, a physician at Peking Union Medical College Hospital strongly suspected Thallium poisining as he saw a resemblance to a diagnosis he had in the 60s.
Zhu Ling, however, denied any known exposure to Thallium during her classes and laboratory experiments. This was also confirmed by the Chemistry department of her university. Ultimately, the doctors had to rule this out and were once again clueless of what her condition could be.
As time went on, Zhu Ling’s condition only worsened and worsened. This led two of her good friends, Cai Quanqing and Bei Zicheng, sought for the help that the help they needed online. In April, they started posting letters on a number of forums and groups on the internet, which read: “Docs in China unable to diagnose this disease. HELP!!”, describing Zhu Ling’s condition and symptoms. In a matter of hours, thousands of responses from Western physicians came in and roughly a third proposed the possibility of Thallium poisoning – further suggesting giving Zhu Ling doses of Prussian blue, Thallium poisoning’s known antidote.
Presented with this theory, Zhu Ling’s doctors were skeptical at first – having already scratched off Thallium poisoning as a probable cause. However, after subsequent tests and pretty much having nothing to lose anymore as Zhu Ling’s condition only worsened, they started to administer doses of Prussian blue. Almost instantly, Zhu Ling got better and was saved from the brink of death. Although the antidote did save her life, the neurological damage that she suffered thus far were irreversible. Although she recovered the ability to breathe without a respirator, she has lost the ability to speak, remains largely paralyzed and visually impaired and was left with the mental capacity of a 6 year old. The once young, bright and talented student was left crippled and unable to function without 24/7 care.
During subsequent tests, it was later discovered that Zhu Ling has been exposed and even ingesting Thallium for months – with increased amounts towards the last weeks. In fact, almost ten times the lethal dose was found in her system. The fact that she was able to survive the poisoning was considered to be a miracle in itself.
This now begs the question, if Zhu Ling was never involved in any experiment or class with direct contact to Thallium, how was she poisoned? All the signs immediately pointed to none other than Sun Wei, Zhu Ling’s own roommate. Sun Wei came from a wealthy family. However, compared to Zhu Ling, when it came to academics and musical talent, she was considered average.
Witnesses reported that Sun Wei was jealous of Zhu Ling’s talents and intelligence. How could a less privileged peer be better than her? More importantly, as a science major and research assistant to a top professor, Sun Wei had access to Tsinghua’s modern laboratory of obscure chemicals – including Thallium, a soft metal that is odorless and carries no trace; a single gram has the ability to inflict a long and lingering death when ingested.
Sun Wei was questioned by the police for eight hours. However, she was quickly released. The case became cold with no new leads and was closed in 1998. Everything was quiet until 10 years later – when in 2005, a former student of Tsinghua University went online to accuse Sun Wei as the only person who could have poisoned Zhu Ling – having means, motive and opportunity. Even after all those years, however, and even when the case was still fresh. Sun Wei seemed to be protected. It was alleged that her family had close ties to then-president as well as the senior mayoral official in Beijing.
Over the years, classmates and peers started to speak up. How Sun Wei had been completely indifferent and hostile to her dying roommate. It seems that Sun Wei was not very discreet about her jealousy of Zhu Ling’s talents. Sun Wei eventually moved to the US and has now supposedly changed her name into Jasmine Sun – leaving the case still cold and no justice has been served for Zhu Ling.
At one point, Sun Wei did post her own response, saying that she was also a victim of hearsay and hostile public opinion. She then proceeded to add that the laboratory’s security during that time was lax and that anyone could have gotten their hands on Thallium when they wanted.
In the end, the question remains: who poisoned Zhu Ling? Was it really Sun Wei? Was there really a cover up? Or was it someone else? Someone who somehow had access to Thallium as well? Will the truth ever be uncovered? Will justice prevail for Zhu Ling?
Blogger’s Note:
Finally back after a looooong period without posting. This case got my attention in particular as I thought about how it could easily have been the perfect murder. If no one figured out it was Thallium poisoning, Zhu Ling’s condition could have easily been dismissed as an unfortunate neurological disease that struck out of nowhere. This, however, was not the case. Thanks to Zhu Ling’s loyal friends and thousands of doctors from around the world, Zhu Ling was properly diagnosed and treated. I guess the question that remains is, who did it to her?
Sun Wei was the only suspect of the case and even though she did have the means, motive and opportunity, a thing that’s most crucial to convicting murderers is missing: physical evidence. All the police has up to this point is purely circumstantial – witness accounts and hearsay. It does make me think though, if the police had just dug further, would they have been able to solve this case? I mean, if Sun Wei really wasn’t responsible, could the police have found the suspect?
It is my hope that this case will one day be solved – and that Zhu Ling gets the justice she so deserves after a whole life ahead of her was snatched from her very hands. To this day, even when efforts were made to make sure this case was never talked about again, people are still seeking justice for Zhu Ling. In fact, a similar case in 2012, one that involved another poisoning by a roommate (which unfortunately led to death this time but thankfully a conviction as well) sparked interest in this case once again. A case I might even talk about in the next few posts. Until then, stay safe, keep healthy and stay at home.
Sources:
https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/05/the-resurrection-of-zhu-ling-poison-victim/275644/
https://newrepublic.com/article/113116/zhu-ling-attempted-murder-case-weibo
https://www.wired.com/2013/07/the-chemist-as-murderer-a-thallium-story/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallium_poisoning_case_of_Zhu_Ling