Son suspected in couple's murder

Police have arrested a local man suspected of killing his parents and then burning their bodies inside their home in rural Fengxian district, police said Monday.

Officers found the suspect, surnamed Wang, and two severely burned corpses in the family's house after they responded at 8:40 pm Sunday to a report of a house fire, according to a press release from the Fengxian District Public Security Bureau.

Police said Wang admitted to murdering his parents and setting fire to their bodies before attempting to commit suicide.

Shanghai Television Station (STV) identified the victims as Wang's father, 56, and his mother, surnamed Chen, 54, according to a news report aired Monday. The report said Wang is 31 years old.

Police did not disclose who first reported the case, but local officials said that a relative was the first person to discover the bodies.

The family was supposed to attend a relative's wedding Saturday, but none of them showed up, according to a staff member of the village committee that oversees the Tangwai residential community, where Wang's family lived. "A relative called the family several times over the weekend, but no one answered. The relative went to the house Sunday and discovered the scene," the staff member told the Global Times.

Relatives and neighbors said that Wang's parents spoiled him by giving him almost anything he wanted, STV reported. He had a lot of credit card debt, but no steady job. The family also had financial problems.

Although neighbors speculated that Wang didn't get along with his parents, the village committee staff member said she had never seen the family argue.

She said that the house was not seriously damaged in the fire.