The disappearance of a teen gripped China. The discovery of his body raised more questions

January 30, 2023 at 09:38

CNN —For three months, the disappearance of Hu Xinyu gripped China.
The whereabouts of the 15-year-old, who vanished from a boarding school in southern Jiangxi province in October, was for months among the most discussed topics on the Chinese internet.
Then, on Sunday – more than 100 days after Hu went missing – local police said Hu’s body had been found in the woods near his school.
The body was wearing clothes matching those Hu wore when he went missing, prompting police to summon his family and their lawyer to the scene.
DNA tests later confirmed the body to be Hu, police in Shangrao city said in a statement.
A voice recorder found near the body had been sent for analysis, the statement said.
An autopsy has been conducted, but the results have not been released, according to The Paper, a state-run news website.
According to the Zhongmin Social Assistance Institute, a Beijing-based nonprofit, a million people went missing in China in 2020 – an average of 2,739 per day.
This screengrab from surveillance camera footage shows Hu Xinyu walking down a hallway in his dormitory.
Courstesy Hu Xinyu's familyHu had just started studying at the Zhiyuan High School, a private boarding school Yanshan county where he was admitted with a scholarship in September, when he suddenly vanished.
Hu’s family was notified by the school of Hu’s disappearance about six hours later, the family said in a missing person notice.
“The Hu Xinyu incident has attracted the attention of the whole country.
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