Who Killed 11-Year Old Quin-Rong Wu?

A 1997 Cold Case Still Haunts New York City

Quin-Rong Wu was 11-years old when she was kidnapped and murdered; photo source.

It was the American Dream gone horribly wrong. A Chinese couple immigrated to Manhattan in 1996 to make a better life for themselves and their children. A year later, they would bury their youngest daughter after her lifeless body was found floating in the East River.

Background

The Wu family were one of the countless immigrants who, over the last century, left their homeland to move into the crowded tenements of the Lower East Side. The father worked at a Chinese noodle factory on Canal Street, the mother, a seamstress in a garment factory in Chinatown.

Both of their jobs were labor-intensive and grueling. And despite their dual earnings, they could barely afford a tiny one-bedroom apartment for their family of five. But they powered on, driven by hope and optimism for their children’s future.

Chinatown in New York City; photo source.

Quin-Rong was their middle child. At 11-years old, she was sandwiched between a 7-year brother and a 17-year old sister. Because the apartment was so cramped, Quin-Rong’s parents slept with her brother in one bed while Quin-Rong slept with her…