Bloody man found next to dead prostitute

By Wu Shen | 2009-9-21

A 21-YEAR-OLD suspect has been arrested after being found in bed and covered in blood next to a prostitute he allegedly stabbed dead in Minhang District, prosecutors said yesterday.

Xu Lishi, from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was a former restaurant worker who became depressed after gambling away his life savings of 30,000 yuan (US$4,392), prosecutors said.

Xu confessed that he had killed the prostitute with a fruit knife on August 17. "I wanted to commit suicide but didn't want to be lonely, so found someone to die with me," Xu told prosecutors.

With the last of his money, he bought a knife in a supermarket and had a last supper in a small restaurant in Qibao area, prosecutors said.

He went into an unnamed salon about 10pm and chose a young prostitute at random.

"I didn't intend to have sex with her. I just wanted to die with her," Xu said. He grabbed her by the neck, but "the more she struggled, the harder I strangled her, until she lost consciousness," Xu said.

Then he took out his knife and stabbed her in the stomach. "When I saw the blood coming out, I stabbed myself and lost consciousness," Xu told police.

Both were sent to hospital, where the prostitute died.