Cheng Peng

Peng Cheng (; 1962 – 25 September 1995) was a Chinese serial killer and dog breeder who killed six people in Yinchuan from 1988 to 1995, occasionally with the help of three accomplices. He is best remembered for the fact that he fed some of his victims' remains to his dogs, one of which was featured in the 1993 film An Old Man And His Dog , directed by renowned Chinese director Xie Jin, in which Peng himself was also cast as a body double to lead actor Xie Tian.

Peng and his main accomplice, Shao Xiaodan, would later be jointly convicted of the crimes, for which they were both sentenced to death and executed.

Early life Peng was born in 1962 in Yinchuan to a family of cadres originating from Jingbian County, Shaanxi. Due to his father's position, he grew up in a relatively privileged background and was well cared for by both of his parents. However, Peng himself proved to be a problematic child, as he was expelled from junior high school for beating a teacher who had scolded him for bullying other children. However, he struggled with finding a dog suitable for the project, and so, the film crew published an ad in the local newspapers and on the TV that they were searching for any puppies that could fit the role. While many people applied for the offer, Xie proved to be demanding and frequently rejected the applicants, until he eventually came across Peng and one of his dogs, which he immediately approved. On his instructions, Peng was allowed to stay on set and help his dog perform in some of the scenes, with the payoff that he was cast as a body double for the main actor, Xie Tian, being filmed in some of the scenes in which the protagonist rides on horseback.

After the film's release, it proved to be a commercial success in China and won several awards, leading to further interest being drawn to Peng as a dog breeder. As a result, many customers came to his farm to either observe or buy some of his dogs: one of these people was a woman named Mrs. Yu, a married woman who was seven years older than Peng and had been part of the film crew for An Old Man And His Dog. The two soon started an affair. At some point, Peng gave her a spare key and told her she could visit him any time she wanted, so long as his wife was not at home.

In April 1994, Yu called Peng to ask if she could visit him the next day. As they had not seen each other for a long time, since Yu's father had died and she had to return to attend his funeral in her native Hebei, Peng accepted her offer. On the next day, the pair met up, dined at a high-end restaurant, and then went to a karaoke hall, before eventually returning to Peng's house. After having sex, Yu suddenly revealed to him that she was pregnant and the child was likely his. She was unaware that Peng did not want to have children with anyone else besides his wife, and upon being informed of this, he immediately started making plans to get rid of her.

On the following morning, while Yu was putting on makeup, Peng got one of his shotguns and shot her in the back, leaving her to bleed out on the floor while looking at him. Unlike his previous victims, he did not dismember her remains and instead buried her whole body in his backyard. He burned some joss paper on top of the grave as a last send-off.

Final murder Approximately a month after Yu's murder, Peng was unexpectedly visited by a man wearing glasses and riding a bicycle. While he was initially confused about who the man was, he introduced himself as an old classmate from junior high school, Ma Wei. According to Ma, he had heard from friends that Peng was in the dog breeding business, and since he had recently bought ten Tibetan Mastiffs which he did not really know how to train, he came to him for advice. Peng agreed, and after Ma left, he realized that this specific breed of dog was sold for a lot of money. He called Shao and informed him of the new money opportunity, with the latter agreeing to help him out.

On the next day, Shao visited Peng and the pair began waiting for their target, but when Ma arrived, they were shocked to realize that he was a police officer. While both men contemplated luring him into the house and killing him right there, Peng indicated that it was a bad idea and let Ma live. After this incident, he helped several additional people in the dog breeding business. This caught the attention of two former classmates, Zhang Ming and Mr. Wang, who were the manager and deputy manager of a trading company situated in Yinchuan. At first, Zhang approached him under the pretence of helping him raise some dogs, but later on, he let Peng into a business opportunity relating to buying cashmere wool for 1.5 million yuan. Peng agreed but Zhang asked to be given some time to gather the money, to which Peng agreed.

Another person who approached Peng because of his business was another old classmate, Li Sanwei, an employee at the local nitrogen fertilizer factory. The two eventually became close friends, and after listening to Li complain about his low wage for some time, Peng asked him if he was willing to be recruited for a quick money-making scheme. Li then said that as long as it would make money, he was willing to do anything, and immediately agreed. Zhang soon informed him that he had managed to gather the 1.5 million yuan and that the money was at his house. He offered Zhang to visit him one day so they could make the deal.

On 7 January 1995, Peng invited Li and Zhang to his house to have dinner. After eating, he prepared strong tea laced with sleeping pills and gave it to Zhang, who soon faded into unconsciousness. As an initiation ritual, he gave a shotgun to Li and told him to kill Zhang, but Li refused and returned the shotgun. Peng then shot Zhang in the head, killing him instantly. The pair then dragged his body to the backyard and buried it hastily, before they travelled to his house to get the money. To Peng's surprise, however, he only found a few hundred yuan. Believing that Zhang had likely hidden it somewhere, he thought of asking his wife, but as asking directly would make it seem suspicious, he thought up a plan to extract information from her.

Investigation and flight On the following evening, Peng went to a payphone and called Zhang's house. When his wife answered, he pretended to be an anonymous business partner and explained the situation, but Zhang's wife said that she knew nothing of the money and told him to ask her husband. After finishing the call, Mrs. Zhang became worried and called Mr. Wang to ask him where her husband was. Wang said that he had not seen him for the past two days and that when he called him on his telephone, he was surprised to hear that it was not Zhang, but Peng who answered, claiming that he had been given the phone by Zhang himself.

After hearing this, Mrs. Zhang felt that she had heard the name Peng before, realizing that it was her husband's old classmate, who was also likely the same person who had called her on the phone. She pondered on the situation for the next few days, before eventually contacting the police to file a missing person report. After describing the strange circumstances that had occurred, the authorities immediately started investigating Peng. Upon learning that Peng was also the last person to have seen Zhang alive, he was summoned to the police station on 16 January for questioning. Peng explained in a calm and collected manner that Zhang had gone to Yunnan to sell drugs with his relatives, who were operating out of Lanzhou, and that he had borrowed 3,000 yuan and the telephone from him.

Peng's claims were investigated, and while police confirmed that Zhang did have a relative living in Lanzhou, the relative chuckled and said that he would never engage in such a thing. When he was questioned as to Zhang's whereabouts, he said that he did not know, as he had not visited Lanzhou for quite some time. While they had caught him in a lie, authorities did not have enough evidence to charge Peng with anything at this time, which was further complicated when he suddenly became uncooperative and went on a hunger strike.

Two days later, police officers took Peng back to his house to check for clues. Since he was not considered a suspect at this time, he was not handcuffed and was allowed to roam freely under supervision. When they arrived at the house, he informed them that he had to go and lock up his dogs, which the officers permitted. Upon entering the yard, Peng jumped on top of the kennel and onto the roof, before jumping down and fleeing the area. This act was seen by the officers, but as they were unfamiliar with the property's layout and were blocked off by the dogs, they were unable to catch him.

Nonetheless, authorities continued to investigate the house, finding numerous incriminating items inside. Among them was a large number of shotguns which, upon checking the serial numbers, were found to be the shipment of weaponry that had disappeared from the forestry institute five years ago. Upon closer inspection, they also found bloodstains on the roof, door, and on a lampshade, which were immediately sent back for identification. The subsequent results showed that it was human blood, and shortly after, an excavation team was sent to the house to dig up the backyard. Upon doing so, the police uncovered several bundles of human remains, all belonging to different people.

Fugitive After unearthing the remains, the authorities put out an arrest warrant for Peng, whilst at the same time investigating whether he had any possible accomplices. Soon after, people close to Peng informed officers he was almost inseparable from his cousin, Shao Xiaodan, who by that time had fled to Shenzhen, where he hid with some relatives. With cooperation from local police, Shao was quickly arrested and extradited to Ningxia on 29 January. Under police interrogation, Shao quickly confessed involvement in the murders of two taxi drivers and the stealing of the guns, additionally implicating Yu Dawei, who was subsequently arrested days later.

In the meantime, he travelled westward along the Yingu Highway, attempting to avoid any police roadblocks in his way. He eventually came across a school for students with disabilities, which was currently empty due to the winter vacation. For the following ten days, he hid in a heating ditch inside the school, surviving by eating food from the canteen and drinking tap water. Afterwards, using some of the money he kept on his person, he bought an old hat and cotton-padded jacket from a farmer and continued walking along the Yingu Highway, where he saw a wanted poster on a telephone pole that displayed his face. He then flagged down a passing farmer riding a bicycle, claiming that he was from Lanzhou and had just been cheated out of a large sum of money, but was unable to return home due to his weak legs. The farmer gave him a ride to the nearest bus station, where he got on a bus bound for Otog Front Banner in Inner Mongolia.

He eventually found himself in Otuokeqianqi, where he checked into a local motel under the name "Bai Baoshan", which was coincidentally the name of an unrelated serial killer who would be arrested a year later. No known connection has been established between the two men, and this is thought to be a coincidence. He soon moved to Uxin Banner, where he eventually found a small restaurant operated by Mr. Xu and his son. He repeated the previous lie he had told to the farmer, with Mr. Xu allowing him to stay the night, instructing him that he had to leave the day after, as he wanted to visit his family for the Chinese New Year.

After wandering the bus station, he eventually befriended the watchman, Lao Zhengtou. After hearing his made-up story, Lao introduced him to a local witch doctor, who took him in as an apprentice for the next two months. In addition to assisting the witch doctor, he also worked in the local coal mine and did odd jobs.

On 10 March, he burgled the local police station in search of a weapon, but only found a pistol magazine and several ID cards. After finding a picture that looked similar to him, he burned the remaining ID cards and fled. On 19 and 20 March, he broke into two government offices but again found only a few bullets and magazines. Eventually, an oilfield excavation team from Ningxia came to Otuokeqianqi to do some excavation work and fearing that they would recognize him, he fled Inner Mongolia for Jingbian County in Shaanxi, on the pretence that he wanted to "drink water and eat food from his hometown."

After spending two days in Jingbian County, he returned to Yinchuan by car. Since he could not go back to his house, he thought of returning to the school but abandoned the idea after finding that the heating ditch had been turned off. After staying for another two days, he drove to Pingliang, where he checked into a hotel using one of the stolen identities and stayed there for another ten days. Eventually, he decided to travel to the Weiyang District in Xi'an, where he attempted to find his nephew, who had recently opened a sand manufacturing factory.

Arrest and trial After eventually finding his way to his nephew's factory, he went to the offices and introduced himself to the man present there. The man turned out to be a distant relative whom he did not know personally, and who informed him that the nephew was currently away on business and he should wait for him to come back. While he was treated to a cup of tea and some cigarettes, the relative suddenly realized that the man he had seen on the wanted poster a few days ago was actually him. After contemplating whether he should turn him in or not, he told a security guard to inform the police while he kept him distracted.

When members of the local police station were informed of the situation, six officers were dispatched immediately to the factory to arrest the fugitive. Upon arriving, they dressed up in plain clothes, pretended to be customers, and entered the offices. When they saw that he was not paying attention, two of the officers pushed him to the ground and immediately arrested him.

At the subsequent trial, Peng, Shao, and Dawei were all charged with first-degree murder. During the proceedings, he confessed to his crimes and bragged that they would never find all the body parts since he had fed them to his dogs. Before a verdict could be reached, several interviews were conducted with him, during which he expressed no remorse for his crimes and said that his victims, especially the women, deserved to be killed for interfering with his family matters. When asked by a reporter if he was terrified of the remains buried in his backyard, he replied, "I don't believe in ghosts and gods!"

Execution and aftermath On 27 September 1995, both Peng and Shao were sentenced to death, while Dawei was given a suspended death sentence, with all three defendants being deprived of their political rights for life. Immediately after the pronunciation of the sentence, Peng and Shao were brought to the execution grounds in Yinchuan, where they were summarily shot.

In the aftermath of the executions, all of his dogs, including the one which starred in An Old Man And His Dog, were forcefully put down. Due to the notoriety surrounding the film, it was banned for more than two decades before the ban was rescinded sometime during the 2010s.