Dec. 12, 2025
USA Unsolved 13 (NY)- Quin Rong Wu
The player is loading ...
USA Unsolved 13 features an unsolved murder from New York. A young girl disappears on her way to school. Her body is found weeks later floating in the river. Despite a few witness accounts, no one was ever able to find who took her or what happened to her. Was she abducted? Did she wander off with someone?
If you have any information on the death of Quin Rong Wu, please reach out to the numbers below:
New York City Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-asian-madness-podcast7296/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
WEBVTT
00:00.031 --> 00:05.561
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey there, welcome back to another short and not-so-sweet episode of USA Unsolved.
00:06.422 --> 00:10.570
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for taking the time to look into this disappearance and unsolved cases with me.
00:11.632 --> 00:15.739
[SPEAKER_00]: Today's case involves that of a minor, or rather, a child.
00:16.701 --> 00:24.334
[SPEAKER_00]: She initially went missing, but only weeks later, her lifeless body would be found floating in a nearby river, already decomposing.
00:25.495 --> 00:37.407
[SPEAKER_00]: She was just a child, and while I can ask who would do this to a child, you know that there's no shortage of people out there who are willing to risk it all just to cause harm on to others.
00:38.308 --> 00:42.453
[SPEAKER_00]: Her name is Ulkun Rung, and hopefully I'm pronouncing her name right.
00:43.213 --> 00:47.078
[SPEAKER_00]: I was unable to find her name written in Chinese, so this is my best guess.
00:47.978 --> 00:50.741
[SPEAKER_00]: I will be referring to her as a woo going forward.
00:51.302 --> 00:52.363
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's begin.
00:52.968 --> 00:58.216
[SPEAKER_00]: Wu was born on January 30, 1986, in Guangdong Province, China.
00:59.398 --> 01:11.116
[SPEAKER_00]: As you may recall from your history class or wherever you get your information, China was at one point reinforcing the one child policy, where all families were only legally allowed to have one child.
01:12.017 --> 01:18.267
[SPEAKER_00]: While this was the law, there were also various families that somehow got away with having multiple children.
01:19.040 --> 01:24.658
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether it was lack of local scrutiny, perhaps paying off the government, I'm not sure.
01:25.360 --> 01:29.674
[SPEAKER_00]: But in the case of Wu's family, they were trying their best to follow the law.
01:30.768 --> 01:35.234
[SPEAKER_00]: When Wu was born, Sherry had an older sister who was six years her senior.
01:36.155 --> 01:42.324
[SPEAKER_00]: So perhaps in an attempt to protect her, Wu was sent to a place about an hour away to live with some relatives.
01:43.345 --> 01:54.480
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't say whether the relatives were good to her or not, but it would seem as if Wu's parents still made the effort to connect with her daughter whenever possible, despite living apart.
01:54.460 --> 01:59.746
[SPEAKER_00]: Her parents worked hard to provide, her father and accountant, and her mother as a farmer.
02:00.307 --> 02:02.910
[SPEAKER_00]: So most likely they did not have a lot of free time.
02:04.032 --> 02:09.558
[SPEAKER_00]: A few years after Wu was born, her mother gave birth to her younger brother, the last of their siblings.
02:11.441 --> 02:17.228
[SPEAKER_00]: Not sure though about the brothers' living arrangements as he would have been an additional child in their household.
02:18.489 --> 02:21.413
[SPEAKER_00]: With that said, let's move forward with this case.
02:23.333 --> 02:27.958
[SPEAKER_00]: In 1995, an opportunity for the family came, and they took it.
02:28.659 --> 02:34.946
[SPEAKER_00]: Move parents under three children moved to the United States, settling down in the lower east side of New York City.
02:35.887 --> 02:46.118
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't have much to start with, so they may do with what they had, which was a one-bud dream apartment located on the second floor on 199 Henry Street.
02:46.098 --> 02:52.507
[SPEAKER_00]: To make ends meet, Lou's father worked at a noodle factory while her mother began work as a seamstress.
02:53.729 --> 03:05.406
[SPEAKER_00]: At this point, the three children were all enrolled in school, with Lou and her younger brother, both attending public school too, which was just down the street from their apartment, about five minutes on foot.
03:06.753 --> 03:09.657
[SPEAKER_00]: Her older sister attended Seward Park High School.
03:10.698 --> 03:16.125
[SPEAKER_00]: The three kids got along well, and they were enjoying all these new things in their new American life.
03:17.346 --> 03:23.173
[SPEAKER_00]: Wu was set to have, quote, Captain Electronic English Chinese dictionary on a desk near her bed.
03:23.794 --> 03:31.484
[SPEAKER_00]: She shared a bottom bunk with her sister and kept her clothing in a cardboard box on the top half of the bed, unquote.
03:31.504 --> 03:33.486
[SPEAKER_00]: Wu was set to have enjoyed going to school.
03:33.466 --> 03:42.379
[SPEAKER_00]: Despite receiving poor grades and struggling to learn and master the English language, I'm sure with time and patience, she would have been able to pick it up perfectly.
03:43.500 --> 03:46.645
[SPEAKER_00]: Life for the family wasn't perfect, but it was doing its thing.
03:47.486 --> 03:52.453
[SPEAKER_00]: Things were moving in the right direction, and the family was finally able to live together as a unit.
03:54.357 --> 04:00.766
[SPEAKER_00]: On the morning of May 13, 1997, Wu left home in jeans, a sweatshirt, and red sneakers.
04:01.607 --> 04:04.712
[SPEAKER_00]: Her mother was with her, and the two began walking towards her school.
04:05.493 --> 04:12.042
[SPEAKER_00]: Her mother only walked with her half way to school, most likely assuming that nothing could go wrong in the last hundred yards.
04:13.064 --> 04:19.453
[SPEAKER_00]: Wu had been walking by herself here and there, so no one assumed anything would be different that day.
04:19.433 --> 04:22.358
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Wu's mother turned back and went to work as a seamstress.
04:23.199 --> 04:28.187
[SPEAKER_00]: It was later that day that the school notified Wu's parents that their daughter was absent from school.
04:29.108 --> 04:32.654
[SPEAKER_00]: It's unlikely that she would skip school, and she never returned home either.
04:33.715 --> 04:45.053
[SPEAKER_00]: Her forensic parents called the seventh precinct, police, and in no time, law enforcement and the local Chinese community were all doing their best to search just streets, hoping to find the 11-year-old girl.
04:45.033 --> 04:52.309
[SPEAKER_00]: Sadly, nothing came up, no backpack, no piece of clothing, nothing though it indicate foul play.
04:53.091 --> 04:54.815
[SPEAKER_00]: New York is a crowded and busy city.
04:55.456 --> 05:00.728
[SPEAKER_00]: Just the idea of trying to find one specific person in these crowds feels like mission impossible.
05:01.630 --> 05:04.476
[SPEAKER_00]: But if Wu didn't run away, what happened to her?
05:06.093 --> 05:11.080
[SPEAKER_00]: About two weeks after her initial disappearance, on May 28, she was finally found.
05:12.002 --> 05:14.005
[SPEAKER_00]: Not safe and sound, unfortunately.
05:14.045 --> 05:25.702
[SPEAKER_00]: The body of a young girl was reported to have been found just north of the Manhattan Bridge, and a single red sneaker, likely the one who was wearing the day she went missing, was also found nearby.
05:25.763 --> 05:34.075
[SPEAKER_00]: The girl's body was already in the late stages of decomposition, and had clearly been in the water for some time due to the bloating.
05:34.797 --> 05:44.728
[SPEAKER_00]: Please believe they had found the missing Chinese girl, and after receiving dental records, they finally confirmed to the family and to the public that their little girl was finally found.
05:45.690 --> 05:52.037
[SPEAKER_00]: Her body was of course carefully examined, and her cause of death was determined to have been from manual strangulation.
05:52.057 --> 05:59.185
[SPEAKER_00]: I also did wonder if she was perhaps sexually assaulted, but this was not mentioned in any of the articles.
06:00.818 --> 06:03.893
[SPEAKER_00]: Once news hit the media, many witnesses came forward.
06:04.315 --> 06:07.470
[SPEAKER_00]: We telling what they had seen on the day we had gone missing.
06:08.716 --> 06:17.530
[SPEAKER_00]: According to one witness, they had a legile scene a middle-aged white bearded man with a distrust Asian girl on the subway, boarding a northbound train.
06:18.391 --> 06:22.478
[SPEAKER_00]: This incident took place about an hour after Boo was last seen by her mother.
06:23.379 --> 06:29.068
[SPEAKER_00]: That same witness then told officials that they saw the man and the girl again later that day.
06:29.789 --> 06:33.475
[SPEAKER_00]: But this time, taking a train from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
06:33.455 --> 06:39.169
[SPEAKER_00]: This, of course, is very difficult to verify, but it is nonetheless a solid lead.
06:40.332 --> 06:49.033
[SPEAKER_00]: A few other witnesses had also come forward stating that they had come across a strange white man who spent a lot of time staring at young girls near public school too.
06:50.380 --> 06:56.707
[SPEAKER_00]: Assuming a white bearded man did approach who, after her mother left, could these sightings be of the same man?
06:57.588 --> 07:01.493
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps a child predator looking for a victim, someone he can lure away?
07:01.513 --> 07:09.662
[SPEAKER_00]: A serial rapist was set to have been running around Chinatown at the time as well, targeting many young girls around New Zage.
07:10.503 --> 07:13.907
[SPEAKER_00]: Was this the same person or someone else entirely?
07:16.452 --> 07:23.468
[SPEAKER_00]: While this was a good lead to start with, the police wanted to keep an open mind and took some time to look into the Wu family as well.
07:24.370 --> 07:29.001
[SPEAKER_00]: They were relatively new to America, so it would be important to learn about the family.
07:30.003 --> 07:35.676
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps it was someone they knew casually, someone who Wu would have trusted to walk away with.
07:36.095 --> 07:39.924
[SPEAKER_00]: But the more they looked into the family, the more suspicious the police got.
07:40.947 --> 07:48.265
[SPEAKER_00]: Here are a few things that they found odd, and I will add some commentary that I consider necessary from a cultural perspective.
07:49.308 --> 07:55.339
[SPEAKER_00]: First, they had allegedly found out that the Wu family had another daughter who died when she was just a baby.
07:56.120 --> 07:57.783
[SPEAKER_00]: Back when they were still living in China.
07:58.845 --> 08:02.712
[SPEAKER_00]: This was never verified, and how they found out I cannot confirm.
08:02.732 --> 08:07.180
[SPEAKER_00]: The strangest thing was that this baby was set to have been found in a river.
08:08.242 --> 08:13.071
[SPEAKER_00]: So the parents were asked about the circumstances surrounding this deceased child.
08:13.051 --> 08:20.599
[SPEAKER_00]: According to the mother, the baby was a stillborn and they left her in the river, but the father though gave a different story.
08:21.560 --> 08:23.743
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, this looks a bit suspicious.
08:24.523 --> 08:29.308
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps the mother told the truth and gave a different version to the father or the other way around.
08:30.350 --> 08:40.020
[SPEAKER_00]: I know the suspicion involves the parents killing their daughter by drowning her in a river, but without further information,
08:41.435 --> 08:46.041
[SPEAKER_00]: Second, after the body was found, the cause of death was determined.
08:46.602 --> 08:50.947
[SPEAKER_00]: The police grew suspicious of the parents when they did not follow up about case updates.
08:51.909 --> 08:55.814
[SPEAKER_00]: This is something you hear about often in true crime documentaries, no doubt.
08:56.434 --> 09:01.301
[SPEAKER_00]: Parents or loved ones are constantly calling the lead detective, asking for updates.
09:01.922 --> 09:06.868
[SPEAKER_00]: But when the police asked the Wu family, why they never called to inquire,
09:06.848 --> 09:11.034
[SPEAKER_00]: whose father told them that he wasn't aware that this was an option.
09:11.815 --> 09:18.285
[SPEAKER_00]: This might sound ridiculous, but I would like to point out that things may have worked very differently back in their Chinese village.
09:19.186 --> 09:26.477
[SPEAKER_00]: Officials under communism do not necessarily work the same way the way that you or I are used to.
09:26.457 --> 09:32.952
[SPEAKER_00]: I can imagine this being a cultural difference that the family was simply not aware that they had the right to ask.
09:33.875 --> 09:39.167
[SPEAKER_00]: This was their first real experience with America's law enforcement after all, how would they know?
09:39.890 --> 09:44.837
[SPEAKER_00]: Third, witnesses came forward with stories surrounding the relationship between mother and daughter.
09:45.678 --> 09:50.805
[SPEAKER_00]: Wu was a young girl, and her mother sometimes took her to the factory where she worked as a seamstress.
09:51.847 --> 09:58.836
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the workers admitted that the mother would sometimes put Wu to work on the sewing machines, sometimes berating and scolding her.
09:59.577 --> 10:03.062
[SPEAKER_00]: Quote, the mother would call her stupid, unquote.
10:03.042 --> 10:08.304
[SPEAKER_00]: Sounds pretty harsh and terrible, but let me tell you, it happens and it is not strange.
10:09.007 --> 10:13.305
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of my teachers in Taiwan used to call a stupid, and we would just laugh.
10:14.737 --> 10:18.743
[SPEAKER_00]: I hear my friend's parents call my friend's dumb, and no one bats an eye.
10:19.684 --> 10:23.790
[SPEAKER_00]: Some also said that Wu was mistreated, and her brother got better treatment.
10:24.631 --> 10:30.439
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't believe that, though, because he's a boy, and, well, traditional families love having sons.
10:31.220 --> 10:34.785
[SPEAKER_00]: But whether or not that men Wu was mistreated, I cannot confirm.
10:35.847 --> 10:43.157
[SPEAKER_00]: Also on the surface, it does sound like Wu was put to work, which would mean going against child labor laws I would assume.
10:43.137 --> 10:45.260
[SPEAKER_00]: but let's not forget where this family came from.
10:45.861 --> 10:46.222
[SPEAKER_00]: China.
10:46.923 --> 10:53.632
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's probably not at all on common to see kids helping their parents with work in many Chinese towns and villages.
10:54.514 --> 10:56.016
[SPEAKER_00]: Some even not going to school.
10:57.017 --> 11:01.965
[SPEAKER_00]: While this is found upon in the west, it was not strange, perhaps, to the Wu family.
11:02.806 --> 11:11.659
[SPEAKER_00]: But with these accusations against her, Wu's mother insisted that while she did
11:11.639 --> 11:15.163
[SPEAKER_00]: She was allowed to play pretend on the sewing machines, that is all.
11:16.145 --> 11:20.450
[SPEAKER_00]: Quote, I don't exclude the possibility that she visited the factory six months ago.
11:21.111 --> 11:24.135
[SPEAKER_00]: But since then, we hired the new Foreman six months ago.
11:24.716 --> 11:27.239
[SPEAKER_00]: He has not allowed any children to enter the factory.
11:27.720 --> 11:31.124
[SPEAKER_00]: The Foreman had seen the fifth grader only twice over the past six months.
11:31.785 --> 11:33.307
[SPEAKER_00]: She was turned away both times.
11:34.028 --> 11:37.512
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a policy of not allowing children into the shop, unquote.
11:38.403 --> 11:45.004
[SPEAKER_00]: The factory owner, John Lamb, had stated, Of course, this results in a he said she said situation.
11:46.047 --> 11:49.999
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't tell you who or what to believe but to just keep an open mind about it.
11:51.042 --> 12:03.353
[SPEAKER_00]: If, in fact, the parents were somehow involved in their daughter's death, they must have been really good actors, whose mother soon stopped working after her daughter's death, and every time the family was interviewed, they would get very emotional.
12:04.174 --> 12:10.640
[SPEAKER_00]: Her father lamented their move, saying that if he had known this would happen, he never would have brought them to America.
12:11.541 --> 12:19.328
[SPEAKER_00]: Their goal was to give a better life to their kids, and now one of them was dead, and sadly, this case is still unsolved.
12:19.308 --> 12:38.245
[SPEAKER_00]: Understand this is a rather old case and unless the police know more than they've revealed They would be relying on someone's deathbed confession or perhaps someone close to them speaking up On the off chance that you or someone you know resided in the area at the time this may jog your memory just a bit
12:38.900 --> 12:43.773
[SPEAKER_00]: As usual, if you have any information, please reach out to the number listed in the show notes.
12:44.835 --> 12:48.084
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you again for taking a time to revisit this older case with me.
12:48.966 --> 12:51.733
[SPEAKER_00]: And please remember to stay safe and vigilant.
12:52.595 --> 12:53.297
[SPEAKER_00]: Till next time.
00:00.031 --> 00:05.561
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey there, welcome back to another short and not-so-sweet episode of USA Unsolved.
00:06.422 --> 00:10.570
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for taking the time to look into this disappearance and unsolved cases with me.
00:11.632 --> 00:15.739
[SPEAKER_00]: Today's case involves that of a minor, or rather, a child.
00:16.701 --> 00:24.334
[SPEAKER_00]: She initially went missing, but only weeks later, her lifeless body would be found floating in a nearby river, already decomposing.
00:25.495 --> 00:37.407
[SPEAKER_00]: She was just a child, and while I can ask who would do this to a child, you know that there's no shortage of people out there who are willing to risk it all just to cause harm on to others.
00:38.308 --> 00:42.453
[SPEAKER_00]: Her name is Ulkun Rung, and hopefully I'm pronouncing her name right.
00:43.213 --> 00:47.078
[SPEAKER_00]: I was unable to find her name written in Chinese, so this is my best guess.
00:47.978 --> 00:50.741
[SPEAKER_00]: I will be referring to her as a woo going forward.
00:51.302 --> 00:52.363
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's begin.
00:52.968 --> 00:58.216
[SPEAKER_00]: Wu was born on January 30, 1986, in Guangdong Province, China.
00:59.398 --> 01:11.116
[SPEAKER_00]: As you may recall from your history class or wherever you get your information, China was at one point reinforcing the one child policy, where all families were only legally allowed to have one child.
01:12.017 --> 01:18.267
[SPEAKER_00]: While this was the law, there were also various families that somehow got away with having multiple children.
01:19.040 --> 01:24.658
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether it was lack of local scrutiny, perhaps paying off the government, I'm not sure.
01:25.360 --> 01:29.674
[SPEAKER_00]: But in the case of Wu's family, they were trying their best to follow the law.
01:30.768 --> 01:35.234
[SPEAKER_00]: When Wu was born, Sherry had an older sister who was six years her senior.
01:36.155 --> 01:42.324
[SPEAKER_00]: So perhaps in an attempt to protect her, Wu was sent to a place about an hour away to live with some relatives.
01:43.345 --> 01:54.480
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't say whether the relatives were good to her or not, but it would seem as if Wu's parents still made the effort to connect with her daughter whenever possible, despite living apart.
01:54.460 --> 01:59.746
[SPEAKER_00]: Her parents worked hard to provide, her father and accountant, and her mother as a farmer.
02:00.307 --> 02:02.910
[SPEAKER_00]: So most likely they did not have a lot of free time.
02:04.032 --> 02:09.558
[SPEAKER_00]: A few years after Wu was born, her mother gave birth to her younger brother, the last of their siblings.
02:11.441 --> 02:17.228
[SPEAKER_00]: Not sure though about the brothers' living arrangements as he would have been an additional child in their household.
02:18.489 --> 02:21.413
[SPEAKER_00]: With that said, let's move forward with this case.
02:23.333 --> 02:27.958
[SPEAKER_00]: In 1995, an opportunity for the family came, and they took it.
02:28.659 --> 02:34.946
[SPEAKER_00]: Move parents under three children moved to the United States, settling down in the lower east side of New York City.
02:35.887 --> 02:46.118
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't have much to start with, so they may do with what they had, which was a one-bud dream apartment located on the second floor on 199 Henry Street.
02:46.098 --> 02:52.507
[SPEAKER_00]: To make ends meet, Lou's father worked at a noodle factory while her mother began work as a seamstress.
02:53.729 --> 03:05.406
[SPEAKER_00]: At this point, the three children were all enrolled in school, with Lou and her younger brother, both attending public school too, which was just down the street from their apartment, about five minutes on foot.
03:06.753 --> 03:09.657
[SPEAKER_00]: Her older sister attended Seward Park High School.
03:10.698 --> 03:16.125
[SPEAKER_00]: The three kids got along well, and they were enjoying all these new things in their new American life.
03:17.346 --> 03:23.173
[SPEAKER_00]: Wu was set to have, quote, Captain Electronic English Chinese dictionary on a desk near her bed.
03:23.794 --> 03:31.484
[SPEAKER_00]: She shared a bottom bunk with her sister and kept her clothing in a cardboard box on the top half of the bed, unquote.
03:31.504 --> 03:33.486
[SPEAKER_00]: Wu was set to have enjoyed going to school.
03:33.466 --> 03:42.379
[SPEAKER_00]: Despite receiving poor grades and struggling to learn and master the English language, I'm sure with time and patience, she would have been able to pick it up perfectly.
03:43.500 --> 03:46.645
[SPEAKER_00]: Life for the family wasn't perfect, but it was doing its thing.
03:47.486 --> 03:52.453
[SPEAKER_00]: Things were moving in the right direction, and the family was finally able to live together as a unit.
03:54.357 --> 04:00.766
[SPEAKER_00]: On the morning of May 13, 1997, Wu left home in jeans, a sweatshirt, and red sneakers.
04:01.607 --> 04:04.712
[SPEAKER_00]: Her mother was with her, and the two began walking towards her school.
04:05.493 --> 04:12.042
[SPEAKER_00]: Her mother only walked with her half way to school, most likely assuming that nothing could go wrong in the last hundred yards.
04:13.064 --> 04:19.453
[SPEAKER_00]: Wu had been walking by herself here and there, so no one assumed anything would be different that day.
04:19.433 --> 04:22.358
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Wu's mother turned back and went to work as a seamstress.
04:23.199 --> 04:28.187
[SPEAKER_00]: It was later that day that the school notified Wu's parents that their daughter was absent from school.
04:29.108 --> 04:32.654
[SPEAKER_00]: It's unlikely that she would skip school, and she never returned home either.
04:33.715 --> 04:45.053
[SPEAKER_00]: Her forensic parents called the seventh precinct, police, and in no time, law enforcement and the local Chinese community were all doing their best to search just streets, hoping to find the 11-year-old girl.
04:45.033 --> 04:52.309
[SPEAKER_00]: Sadly, nothing came up, no backpack, no piece of clothing, nothing though it indicate foul play.
04:53.091 --> 04:54.815
[SPEAKER_00]: New York is a crowded and busy city.
04:55.456 --> 05:00.728
[SPEAKER_00]: Just the idea of trying to find one specific person in these crowds feels like mission impossible.
05:01.630 --> 05:04.476
[SPEAKER_00]: But if Wu didn't run away, what happened to her?
05:06.093 --> 05:11.080
[SPEAKER_00]: About two weeks after her initial disappearance, on May 28, she was finally found.
05:12.002 --> 05:14.005
[SPEAKER_00]: Not safe and sound, unfortunately.
05:14.045 --> 05:25.702
[SPEAKER_00]: The body of a young girl was reported to have been found just north of the Manhattan Bridge, and a single red sneaker, likely the one who was wearing the day she went missing, was also found nearby.
05:25.763 --> 05:34.075
[SPEAKER_00]: The girl's body was already in the late stages of decomposition, and had clearly been in the water for some time due to the bloating.
05:34.797 --> 05:44.728
[SPEAKER_00]: Please believe they had found the missing Chinese girl, and after receiving dental records, they finally confirmed to the family and to the public that their little girl was finally found.
05:45.690 --> 05:52.037
[SPEAKER_00]: Her body was of course carefully examined, and her cause of death was determined to have been from manual strangulation.
05:52.057 --> 05:59.185
[SPEAKER_00]: I also did wonder if she was perhaps sexually assaulted, but this was not mentioned in any of the articles.
06:00.818 --> 06:03.893
[SPEAKER_00]: Once news hit the media, many witnesses came forward.
06:04.315 --> 06:07.470
[SPEAKER_00]: We telling what they had seen on the day we had gone missing.
06:08.716 --> 06:17.530
[SPEAKER_00]: According to one witness, they had a legile scene a middle-aged white bearded man with a distrust Asian girl on the subway, boarding a northbound train.
06:18.391 --> 06:22.478
[SPEAKER_00]: This incident took place about an hour after Boo was last seen by her mother.
06:23.379 --> 06:29.068
[SPEAKER_00]: That same witness then told officials that they saw the man and the girl again later that day.
06:29.789 --> 06:33.475
[SPEAKER_00]: But this time, taking a train from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
06:33.455 --> 06:39.169
[SPEAKER_00]: This, of course, is very difficult to verify, but it is nonetheless a solid lead.
06:40.332 --> 06:49.033
[SPEAKER_00]: A few other witnesses had also come forward stating that they had come across a strange white man who spent a lot of time staring at young girls near public school too.
06:50.380 --> 06:56.707
[SPEAKER_00]: Assuming a white bearded man did approach who, after her mother left, could these sightings be of the same man?
06:57.588 --> 07:01.493
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps a child predator looking for a victim, someone he can lure away?
07:01.513 --> 07:09.662
[SPEAKER_00]: A serial rapist was set to have been running around Chinatown at the time as well, targeting many young girls around New Zage.
07:10.503 --> 07:13.907
[SPEAKER_00]: Was this the same person or someone else entirely?
07:16.452 --> 07:23.468
[SPEAKER_00]: While this was a good lead to start with, the police wanted to keep an open mind and took some time to look into the Wu family as well.
07:24.370 --> 07:29.001
[SPEAKER_00]: They were relatively new to America, so it would be important to learn about the family.
07:30.003 --> 07:35.676
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps it was someone they knew casually, someone who Wu would have trusted to walk away with.
07:36.095 --> 07:39.924
[SPEAKER_00]: But the more they looked into the family, the more suspicious the police got.
07:40.947 --> 07:48.265
[SPEAKER_00]: Here are a few things that they found odd, and I will add some commentary that I consider necessary from a cultural perspective.
07:49.308 --> 07:55.339
[SPEAKER_00]: First, they had allegedly found out that the Wu family had another daughter who died when she was just a baby.
07:56.120 --> 07:57.783
[SPEAKER_00]: Back when they were still living in China.
07:58.845 --> 08:02.712
[SPEAKER_00]: This was never verified, and how they found out I cannot confirm.
08:02.732 --> 08:07.180
[SPEAKER_00]: The strangest thing was that this baby was set to have been found in a river.
08:08.242 --> 08:13.071
[SPEAKER_00]: So the parents were asked about the circumstances surrounding this deceased child.
08:13.051 --> 08:20.599
[SPEAKER_00]: According to the mother, the baby was a stillborn and they left her in the river, but the father though gave a different story.
08:21.560 --> 08:23.743
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, this looks a bit suspicious.
08:24.523 --> 08:29.308
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps the mother told the truth and gave a different version to the father or the other way around.
08:30.350 --> 08:40.020
[SPEAKER_00]: I know the suspicion involves the parents killing their daughter by drowning her in a river, but without further information,
08:41.435 --> 08:46.041
[SPEAKER_00]: Second, after the body was found, the cause of death was determined.
08:46.602 --> 08:50.947
[SPEAKER_00]: The police grew suspicious of the parents when they did not follow up about case updates.
08:51.909 --> 08:55.814
[SPEAKER_00]: This is something you hear about often in true crime documentaries, no doubt.
08:56.434 --> 09:01.301
[SPEAKER_00]: Parents or loved ones are constantly calling the lead detective, asking for updates.
09:01.922 --> 09:06.868
[SPEAKER_00]: But when the police asked the Wu family, why they never called to inquire,
09:06.848 --> 09:11.034
[SPEAKER_00]: whose father told them that he wasn't aware that this was an option.
09:11.815 --> 09:18.285
[SPEAKER_00]: This might sound ridiculous, but I would like to point out that things may have worked very differently back in their Chinese village.
09:19.186 --> 09:26.477
[SPEAKER_00]: Officials under communism do not necessarily work the same way the way that you or I are used to.
09:26.457 --> 09:32.952
[SPEAKER_00]: I can imagine this being a cultural difference that the family was simply not aware that they had the right to ask.
09:33.875 --> 09:39.167
[SPEAKER_00]: This was their first real experience with America's law enforcement after all, how would they know?
09:39.890 --> 09:44.837
[SPEAKER_00]: Third, witnesses came forward with stories surrounding the relationship between mother and daughter.
09:45.678 --> 09:50.805
[SPEAKER_00]: Wu was a young girl, and her mother sometimes took her to the factory where she worked as a seamstress.
09:51.847 --> 09:58.836
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the workers admitted that the mother would sometimes put Wu to work on the sewing machines, sometimes berating and scolding her.
09:59.577 --> 10:03.062
[SPEAKER_00]: Quote, the mother would call her stupid, unquote.
10:03.042 --> 10:08.304
[SPEAKER_00]: Sounds pretty harsh and terrible, but let me tell you, it happens and it is not strange.
10:09.007 --> 10:13.305
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of my teachers in Taiwan used to call a stupid, and we would just laugh.
10:14.737 --> 10:18.743
[SPEAKER_00]: I hear my friend's parents call my friend's dumb, and no one bats an eye.
10:19.684 --> 10:23.790
[SPEAKER_00]: Some also said that Wu was mistreated, and her brother got better treatment.
10:24.631 --> 10:30.439
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't believe that, though, because he's a boy, and, well, traditional families love having sons.
10:31.220 --> 10:34.785
[SPEAKER_00]: But whether or not that men Wu was mistreated, I cannot confirm.
10:35.847 --> 10:43.157
[SPEAKER_00]: Also on the surface, it does sound like Wu was put to work, which would mean going against child labor laws I would assume.
10:43.137 --> 10:45.260
[SPEAKER_00]: but let's not forget where this family came from.
10:45.861 --> 10:46.222
[SPEAKER_00]: China.
10:46.923 --> 10:53.632
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's probably not at all on common to see kids helping their parents with work in many Chinese towns and villages.
10:54.514 --> 10:56.016
[SPEAKER_00]: Some even not going to school.
10:57.017 --> 11:01.965
[SPEAKER_00]: While this is found upon in the west, it was not strange, perhaps, to the Wu family.
11:02.806 --> 11:11.659
[SPEAKER_00]: But with these accusations against her, Wu's mother insisted that while she did
11:11.639 --> 11:15.163
[SPEAKER_00]: She was allowed to play pretend on the sewing machines, that is all.
11:16.145 --> 11:20.450
[SPEAKER_00]: Quote, I don't exclude the possibility that she visited the factory six months ago.
11:21.111 --> 11:24.135
[SPEAKER_00]: But since then, we hired the new Foreman six months ago.
11:24.716 --> 11:27.239
[SPEAKER_00]: He has not allowed any children to enter the factory.
11:27.720 --> 11:31.124
[SPEAKER_00]: The Foreman had seen the fifth grader only twice over the past six months.
11:31.785 --> 11:33.307
[SPEAKER_00]: She was turned away both times.
11:34.028 --> 11:37.512
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a policy of not allowing children into the shop, unquote.
11:38.403 --> 11:45.004
[SPEAKER_00]: The factory owner, John Lamb, had stated, Of course, this results in a he said she said situation.
11:46.047 --> 11:49.999
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't tell you who or what to believe but to just keep an open mind about it.
11:51.042 --> 12:03.353
[SPEAKER_00]: If, in fact, the parents were somehow involved in their daughter's death, they must have been really good actors, whose mother soon stopped working after her daughter's death, and every time the family was interviewed, they would get very emotional.
12:04.174 --> 12:10.640
[SPEAKER_00]: Her father lamented their move, saying that if he had known this would happen, he never would have brought them to America.
12:11.541 --> 12:19.328
[SPEAKER_00]: Their goal was to give a better life to their kids, and now one of them was dead, and sadly, this case is still unsolved.
12:19.308 --> 12:38.245
[SPEAKER_00]: Understand this is a rather old case and unless the police know more than they've revealed They would be relying on someone's deathbed confession or perhaps someone close to them speaking up On the off chance that you or someone you know resided in the area at the time this may jog your memory just a bit
12:38.900 --> 12:43.773
[SPEAKER_00]: As usual, if you have any information, please reach out to the number listed in the show notes.
12:44.835 --> 12:48.084
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you again for taking a time to revisit this older case with me.
12:48.966 --> 12:51.733
[SPEAKER_00]: And please remember to stay safe and vigilant.
12:52.595 --> 12:53.297
[SPEAKER_00]: Till next time.
