NYC Detectives Reopen 1997 Slaying Case
By Heather Harlan

Two years after 11-year-old Quin Rong Wu was found strangled in the East River near the Manhattan Bridge, detectives specializing in “cold cases” have heated up the search for her killer.

On May 13 -- the second anniversary of her disappearance -- detectives stood outside the slain child’s school handing out Chinese and English language flyers with her picture.

“Time works to our advantage in many cases because people become less reluctant to come forward,” said Lt. Joseph Pollini of the Cold Case Squad.

“I’m very adamant about finding whoever did this,” Pollini said. “This is not a typical homicide. Most of the cases we deal with are drug murders or gang murders. But this was just an innocent child. Whether it takes two months, two years or longer, we will eventually find who is responsible.”

The 35-detective squad can handle less than 5 percent of the city’s 8,000 open homicide cases at any one time, and Detective Margie Yee is exclusively assigned to Quin Rong’s case.

Pollini said the squad tries to pick cases “with a good solvability factor,” and Quin Rong’s slaying “is a very intricate case because of the lack of substantial evidence.”

A man identified by the sketch at left is no longer considered a "major suspect" in the death of Quin Rong Wu. The fifth-grader was wearing jeans, red sneakers and a green and white coat when she disappeared May 13, 1997.

Nonetheless, he said, when “there are cases like this one -- we take it anyway. In this case it’s an innocent victim. Also, it drew a lot of public attention and concern.’’

The fifth-grader, who spoke only Toisanese, vanished after her mother dropped her off one block from P.S. 2 on Henry Street in New York Chinatown. She never made it to class.

Two weeks later, her badly decomposed body was found two weeks later in the East River. An autopsy determined that the girl had been strangled with bare hands. Bruises were found near her vagina.

Shortly before the body was found, a woman reported having seen Quin Rong, crying and disoriented, in the subway with a bearded and apparently homeless man on the day that she disappeared. The woman told police that the two got on an uptown B train at the Grand Street Station in Chinatown at about 9:20 a.m. and that she happened to see the pair again at about 3:45 p.m. as she was riding a Brooklyn-bound train.

From her description, police included a sketch of a bearded man in 1997 flyers about Quin Rong’s disappearance. Her description led police to John Hayward, a homeless man who was taken in for questioning but released when the witness could not identify him in a lineup.

“At this point, Hayward is not considered a major suspect,” said Pollini, who added that the woman’s account was “on the back burner” as well.

In the weeks after Quin Rong’s death, her parents became the focus of investigation after they reportedly gave police contradictory accounts about the child’s baby sister. Police said You Qin Wu told them that the girl had died soon after birth and that her body was dumped in a river; interviewed separately, her husband, Qun Sheng Wu, reportedly told officers that the child was sick from birth and was left outside a hospital.

The parents have denied any involvement in Quin Rong’s slaying, which came only 17 months after they had immigrated from Guangdong province.

Pollini said “they’re still part of the investigation” and are still possible suspects, though police have no plans to re-interview them.

“After she was found dead, the police were trying to pin it on my client but there is nothing against them and they didn’t do it,” said the Wus’ lawyer, Chun W. Wong. He said the parents, who speak no English, had no comment.

Wong said that after Quin Rong’s sister was born, her parents feared retribution under the country’s one-child family planning policy. They decided to leave the baby on the steps of the hospital where Qun Sheng Wu worked as an accountant, said the lawyer. Quin Rong, who was born afterward, was sent to live with relatives about an hour away in the hope that the government would not find out about her.

The parents left for America almost a decade later with Quin Rong, her older sister, Hua Rong; and her younger brother, Jia Rong. Quin Rong’s other sister had been adopted, said Wong, and her adoptive family would not give her back to the Wus.

Once in the United States, the family of five shared a one-bedroom apartment on Henry Street, near where they live now. Her father worked an overnight shift at a nearby noodle factory, and her mother sewed in a garment factory.

Pollini said police are continuing efforts to seek more information about Quin Rong’s sister in China. Though he said the Chinese embassy rebuffed officers two years ago, Pollini remains hopeful. “We’ve developed some channels of communication with them since then, so hopefully we’ll get a better response this time,” he said.

Up to $22,000 in reward money is being offered for information leading to a conviction. Call 1-800-577-TIPS or the Cold Case Squad at 212-374-0312.