Courier murders woman at home

A 30-year-old female singer was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered at home by a courier who frequently delivered express packages to her apartment.

The suspect, Zhang Kunpeng, 29, from Anhui Province, was arrested while attempting to flee on a train bound for Hebei Province and returned to detention in Beijing last Wednesday, said Beijing police Sunday.

He targeted Fu Li, a woman who lived in Tonghui Jiayuan, Chaoyang district, as he assumed she was rich, due to the frequent packages she received, police said. 

On the night of July 30, Zhang used dropping off a package as an excuse to enter Fu's home. After discovering she was alone, he tied up her hands to assault her first and then killed her, according to the press release from Beijing Public Security Bureau.

Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper, reported Fu's death Sunday, and alleged she was a singer from Henan Province.

According to the Beijing News Sunday, eight undercover police from Beijing Railway Public Security Bureau boarded train T215 and arrested a "muscular looking man," alleged to be Zhang, around 10 pm Tuesday before the train arrived in Cangzhou, Hebei Province.

"It freaked me out as I shop online and get deliveries all the time. I definitely won't have stuff delivered to my home address anymore," said a resident, surnamed Qi, who lives in Tonghui Jiayuan.

While many were concerned about their safety after learning of the murder, some residents pointed to the low entry requirements in the delivery industry. 

"It's been reported that many delivery staff stole goods they should have delivered, and now this guy attacks a woman; the companies should really be aware of the kind of people they hire," said a resident surnamed Wu, from Jingmian Xincheng compound, Chaoyang district.

According to a Legal Daily report this April, half of the theft cases in the express delivery industry in Beijing were committed by employees from local companies, and cases of breaking and entering committed by delivery staff were also on the rise in 2011.

Most of those suspected of stealing from customers had only a middle school education, Haidian district prosecutors told the paper, and therefore might be easily seduced into a life of crime to get rich quick. 

A public relations manager from Shunfeng Express, surnamed Chen, thinks Fu's death is an exceptional case, and so long as a company has a strict management system, the educational level of its employees should not matter. 

"We have several thousand delivery guys on the roads in the city every day, and we make very black-and-white rules about the fines and bonuses according to the feedback we get from the customers," said Chen.

The company has circulated Zhang's case as an alert to the delivery staff, said Chen, but will not forbid staff from entering customer's apartments.

"Sometimes the customer would invite them in for help if the package is heavy," said Chen.

"Customers, especially ladies, should prepare themselves with more self-protection skills as well," he noted.

Neither Chaoyang district nor Beijing railway police were available for comment on the case Sunday.