A man suspected of beating to death a 27-year-old female village official in Chengdu has been arrested thanks to some investigative work by netizens, sconline.com.cn reported on Friday.

Police officers in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province, arrested Li Bin, the suspect, Thursday afternoon. Li confessed to the crime after the first questioning.

Che Yating [West China City Daily]

The Chengdu municipal government will hold a press conference Friday on the latest developments.

At about 1:40 p.m. on August 10, 2009, Li Bin quarreled with the victim, Che Yating, on the third section of the West First Ring Road in Chengdu. He then assaulted Che, who died the next day after being sent to hospital.

A graduate of Sichuan University, Che Yating worked as a village official in Youfang Village, Xinxing Township. A recent national policy encourages many college graduates to work as village officials in rural areas.

According to Che Yating's colleagues, she was a very hard worker and had planned to marry soon.

Hearing of Che's murder, some outraged netizens decided to help the investigation by making possible portraits of the murderer based on witness' descriptions.

Netizen Ai Jiangshan was one of them. When he saw the portraits of the murderer posted on the Sichuan Online BBS, he printed them and went to the scene of the murder.

Ai asked one assistant at a nearby shop to point out the portrait that most resembled the murderer. Although the assistant could not remember the exact appearance of the murderer, she was able to point out one portrait that was most similar.

Guided by nearby residents, Ai found another witness surnamed Liu.

According to Liu, the murderer was strong, 1.7 meter's tall and had a round face. In addition, Liu had noted the murderer's vehicle, a motorized tricycle. "It was old and dark blue. Because the color is not common for motor tricycles, I remembered it clearly," Liu said.

So far, the case is still under investigation.

(CRI August 14, 2009)