#251: Chinese Man Murdered His Mom’s Killers 22 Years Later - Hero or Villain? (Case of Zhang KouKou)

0:02Chinese New Year is crazy. it's a day for families to be reunited for people to be like thankful for what they have and pray for the next year's blessings it's a serious holiday i believe everything shuts down in china for like an entire week during chinese new year yeah sometimes it's like it's a month of celebration it's insane if you've ever done business with anyone in china for like a week and a half radio silence they will not respond to an email they will not text you back they will not whatsapp you It is a very serious holiday And just like Christmas People are typically in good spirits They're all gonna go home Visit their parents And eat their favorite little dishes But Zhang Coco We're gonna call him Coco Zhang Coco He had other plans Chinese New Year He went home to spend time with his family He watched all the little neighborhood kids Set off their little fireworks And he walked around his hometown Taking in the views The memories of like What he grew up with And all the things he used to see as a teenager and then he packed his knife and murdered three people.

1:04He didn't even do it quickly. It was painful, brutal. He admitted to every single part of it. And yet, and yet, in court, he stood in front of the judge and he basically said, I don't regret a single thing I did. He admitted to killing all three people and the entire nation supported him. They were rooting for him. They protested the government for even arresting him. They were upset at the fact that this killer, this admitted killer, was being arrested. Literally? Why? Like how? Have we all just like collectively lost our minds on this one? It's because I think there's one thing that humans seem to gravitate towards.

1:45Revenge. And I'm not talking some unhinged man that gets rejected so he takes revenge by killing a woman. The type of revenge people can get behind. It's like those eye for an eye cases. 22 years ago, Coco was a 13-year-old little boy. He witnessed his mom get beaten to death by a group of men. For 22 years, that was all he thought about. He watched the killers move on with their lives. Some of the killers became figures in local governments, successful business owners. They started their own families. Coco waited until 2018, Chinese New Year's Eve, where everyone comes home to their families, to their hometowns, to celebrate, to feel unity and peace.

2:25Coco came back to kill three people and he smiled in court and said I don't regret what I did I wanted revenge as always full show notes are available at rottenmangelpodcast.com and with that being said let's talk about this is a case that fascinated Tiffany that's his little sister okay first of all that makes it sound like Tiffany is plotting some sort of intricate revenge she's not but she was really emotionally moved by this case and I think my family sat there and debated this case for like four hours during dinner one night. So I would love to know your thoughts on just how far you would go for revenge or maybe not even just you, but like how far do you think it's acceptable for anyone to go for revenge?

3:05Like if you saw this play out in court in real time, how would you feel? What would you be rooting for? And like, do you think if the law doesn't get justice that humans should be able to get justice in their own ways? Coco says that he has three core memories. Like, you know, those moments that change your brain chemistry, like those types of memories. These are his three. I mean, sure, maybe there's like a couple other moments in his life that seem memorable, but he says his entire life, 30 something years of living can be summed up by three events. One, watching his mom get beaten to death in front of him when he's 13.

3:37Two, holding his dead mom in his arms while he cried. And three, he remembered watching his mom, her body get autopsied in front of the whole hometown. The medical examiner didn't take her to a hospital or a morgue or anywhere to do this He cracked her skull open in front of 13 year old Coco In front of the entire town and performed an autopsy right then and there He was 13 when all three events took place He was literally a kid Just a kid living in a village So the killer of Coco's mom are actually his neighbors I have to break down this neighborhood and its dynamic for you real quick And we're gonna take it really all the way back All the way back before his mom was murdered The story takes place in Wangping Village in China.

4:20And Coco's family, they're the Zhang family. It's Coco Zhang. And it consisted of mom and dad, Coco's older sister, and Coco, the youngest. Their next-door neighbors were the Wang family, which consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Wang, and they had three sons. So the two families initially, they actually got along really well. They were like really good neighbors. They were tight. Both families relied on farming and crops. So these are really intensive, labor-intensive jobs. And for them, at least, it was unstable. Like one year they're doing okay. They can put food on the table. The next year they have no crops.

4:52They're barely getting by. So on seasons when one family wasn't harvesting as much, the other family would step in, share some grains with them. Or maybe during a season when one family was so swamped or somebody got injured, the other family would come in and they would help. So it seems like a pretty wholesome relationship. So for years, this is how they're getting along really well. The Zhang family, the Wang family, they're on good terms. And then a huge government project comes into town. So back in the 90s, this is still a thing that happens, but in the US as well. The government were rolling out these grain contracts.

5:22So they're like, we're going to come into these little towns, these little villages. We're going to partner with local farmers and produce a ton of grain and a ton of this and that. And we're going to not only guarantee that local farmer work, but typically the government contracts would give you a lot more money than what these farmers would normally get during harvest season. It's very lucrative. It's an amazing opportunity. And there's tough competition to get these contracts. It's not like every single farmer in the area, like you get a contract, you get a contract. People have to really fight for it.

5:52So the Zhang family and the Wang family, they're both eyeing these contracts. And like a lot of stories where there's competition and money on the line, the neighbors just become not so friendly anymore. They start getting into these heated public arguments. Okay, so at first it starts with bickering. Like you don't really need the contract. Like we need the contract. Then it slowly escalates into full-blown arguments of like, well we helped you that last season so you need to give up this contract bid so that we can win and their relationship as neighbors was just completely ruined the whole the zangs the wangs they hate each other now over this fight for these government deals the zang family just i mean they were so upset but i think they're the type to go home and kind of feel bad they're heated i'm not gonna act like they're angels and they didn't share a couple bad words and like you know say a bunch of things but they go home and they're like uh maybe i took it too far like maybe that is too much.

6:44I mean, we have been neighbors for years now. So their thinking is, okay, there's got to be a way that we can all win. It's got to be a win-win situation. Maybe they need it more. Maybe the Wangs, because they have three sons, we only have two. Maybe they need more money for that extra mouth. Okay. What about this? So the Zhang family comes up with this proposal. They're like, listen, Wangs, this is going to be a win-win situation. Why don't we do this? You guys sign a two-year government contract deal. We will give up our bid for it. And the minute your two-year contract ends, you let us take over the next two years.

7:16We go back and forth two years, two years, two years, until basically the government is like, sorry, we're done with these contracts. So at this point, both families need these contracts. They're in dire financial situations. The Wang family agreed and they shook on the situation. Things never really went back to normal, but at least they're like cordial again. So for two years, the Wings are working hard, making their money, making a lot of money. And they're like, it's been two years, but I like it. You know, it's hard for them to think about even going back to the times where they didn't have this guaranteed money or this influx of cash.

7:48They just like couldn't bear the idea of that. So behind the Zhang family back, they renew their government contract for another two years. They're basically screwing the Zhangs over. This meant the Zhang family would not be getting their turn. And the Zhangs, when they find out, they're rightfully pissed. to make matters worse instead of having some shame, instead of tucking their tail between their legs and hanging their head and saying, you know what, I just really need the money. You know, coming up with some lame excuse. The Wangs are like, yeah, so what are you gonna do about it? Yeah, we re-signed.

8:18What are you gonna do about it? We never said we would give you the contract. Do you have it in writing? Do you have it proof? I didn't think so. And this is like the village in China. So a lot of people just run off their word. This is not like New York City where everyone's like, oh, put it in writing, signed this end yet? You know what I mean? The Zangs are furious. But Mrs. Zang has always been kind of the more outspoken one. She's the matriarch of the family. She also has a really strong moral compass. So this is going against everything that she was taught as a kid. If you say you're going to do something, you have to do it.

8:48What's wrong with the Wangs? So she would storm over to the Wang family house and she would scream at them. How dare you do this? Like, how could you do this? We had an agreement. How could you do this to our family? Mr. Zang would run after his wife, he would hear her literally screaming because they're neighbors and it would just echo through the entire neighborhood. He would try to calm his wife down. Come on, let's just go home. They're not even worth it. But the Wangs were not helping. Every time she would go into their house or go to their front door in a fit of anger, they would just egg her on.

9:16They would scream out the window. What are you barking about? We haven't even made money yet. We'll pass it on when we make enough money. Mrs. Singh would lose her mind. She would scream back at them like, what the hell did you just say? Villagers would start gathering around to see what the commotion was. And, you know, most of the time, Mr. Zhang was successful at convincing his wife to come back home. Mr. Zhang felt like there's got to be a better way to handle this. You know, we can't just go and scream through people's windows anymore. We're embarrassing our family. So he goes to the village committee in hopes of having his deal honored.

9:46He basically goes to the mayor and like the officials of the village. And they're like, he's like, come on, this was the deal I made with the wings? Can you force them to honor this deal? And the committee listens. He's emotional about how his family really needs this. They don't have food. They don't have money. They're barely scraping by. And they listen to him and they say, we think you should drop it. Honestly, like I think you shouldn't push this issue any further. Just move on with your life. This has never happened before. Okay. It sounds like it might happen in like a big, big mayor's office, a big city.

10:16This is a village. Everybody knows each other. The village committee is known for resolving these types of disputes. Turns out the reason why the Wang family was so confident and cocky that they could get away with going back on their word was their eldest son had become the president of the government management office. Basically, he had a lot of sway with the village committee. And with that, he forced them to ignore the Zangs. And that's what they did. So the Zang family, they hate the Wangs even more now. Not only are they disgusting for going back on their deal, but they're greedy, manipulative liars.

10:45And on top of that, they're corrupt and using their power to get rich and screwing people over. Coco's mom went around yelling about how the Wangs were evil. Like literally every neighborhood stopped. She's going yelling about how they're evil. So fast forward to August 27th of 1996. Coco's mom took her two kids down to the river to wash their clothes. On their way back, they have to pass the Wang family house. And Coco's mom didn't. I don't think she necessarily had the intention of starting a fight. And this is just one version of the story. We're going to get into another version later. But the second son of the Wangs happened to be squatting by the Wang family front door.

11:17he was maybe around 20 years old at the time keep in mind coco's like 13 so coco's mom is walking past the wing family house and she's like you know what why the hell not so she spits at the second son she doesn't really spit on him just at him the spit lands in front of him on the ground and he gets up and he screams at her what a fucking crazy lady at this point coco's mom had already walked past the wing house but when he's screaming at her what a crazy freaking lady She stops in her tracks, makes a U-turn, and it's like, what did you just say? She starts marching towards his face, and she gets in his face, and she spits on him.

11:52This time, it lands on his jacket. The 20-year-old responds by slapping her across the face. So Coco's mom, she freaks out, and a full-blown fight ensues. Coco's mom and the 20-year-old are in a physical altercation at this point. Coco's older sister runs home to grab their dad, Mr. Zhang, and the Wang family, they hear what's going on. It's like right at their front doorstep. they rush out of the house now mr zhang and the whole wing family members are trying to break up this fight or at least that's what they're trying to do initially because as they're trying to pull coco's mom away and as they're trying to pull the 20 year old away they start having words with each other they're like well if your wife didn't do this they're like well if you didn't do this and instead of breaking up the fight we had all these like mini fights breaking out it's just pure chaos.

12:37It's like a full-blown brawl between the two families now. Coco's mom was getting the biggest of the beatings though because compared to the 20-year-old that she's quote fighting, I mean she doesn't stand a chance. So when she sees the youngest, the youngest Wang's son coming straight at her, she's like, I'm about to get jumped by these two kids in their physical prime. So in the heat of the moment, she's probably scared. She grabs the iron bar that her husband had brought and she starts waving it. She's like, stand back, stand back. And she's frantically waving it and it hits the youngest Wang's son twice on the head.

13:11Coco remembers Mr. Wang screaming at Coco's mom, kill her, kill her. And in the chaos, it's not really clear. It's going to be debated later. But one of the Wang family members pulled out a wooden bat, starts waving it around and you just hear these like crack noises. Coco's mom was hit on the head with the bat. she fell over to the ground and she had blood streaming down her nose and her mouth she was motionless it was just all of a sudden chaos chaos chaos and then silence the Zhang family immediately tried to help her back up but she's not responsive the Wang family I guess they sense that something is very very wrong because they just stood there frozen and silent they don't even try to help now a little bit of context for what's about to happen they live in a village they don't have cars they can't really call an ambulance because that would cost a lot of money.

14:01Like imagine how much it costs here. It's going to be a million times worse. The closest hospital is like a few towns over and it's not even a big hospital. The Zangs are yelling at the Wang family to call a car for them to take her to the hospital. The Wang family, they're standing there like, no, that's not our responsibility. So Mr. Zang ends up leaving his wife and kids laying there in the Wang driveway and he starts running towards the head of the village. So kind of like a mayor and he can't even catch his breath. He's explaining the situation Like we were over there and they're fighting us and then they hit my wife on the head and now she's down and we need to go to the hospital.

14:33And the head of the village is like, hold on. What? Okay, let me go over and see what I can do. He goes over and the Wang family are like, why? Why do we need to call her a car? Our son was hurt too. So technically, if you want to do that, the Zhang family needs to call us a car to take our son to the hospital. Is that what they want to do? But the mayor is like, yeah, well, the key difference is that your son is standing and coherent. Coco's mom is bleeding from her mouth and nose and is laying motionless on the ground.

15:04So with the urging of the village head, the Wang family, they begrudgingly, like did not want to do this, called for a car for them and sent her to the hospital. She was pronounced dead at 10 p.m. that night. The hospital that they went to is a couple of towns over, but it's just another small village. It's not a city. So it's this tiny little hospital. And once they pronounce her dead, they didn't even have a space to keep her body. So they released the body to the Zhang family that night. It's not really standard for them to do autopsy, even when someone's death was clearly a beating. So they release her body and the Zhangs are broken.

15:39They don't really know what to do. Mrs. Zhang was kind of the matriarch of the family. She was the glue that kept everyone together. And now she's gone. So under all of this emotional distress and grief, they bring Mrs. Zang's body to the front of the Wang family house and they demand justice. So imagine Coco and his whole family. Coco's sitting there in front of the Wang driveway, holding his mom's dead body while his dad is crying and screaming like, do something. Villagers were gathering around. The Zang family reported the case to the police. And because of this, and this part is so wild, but the police hired a forensic expert to go to the weighing house to check up on Mrs.

16:18Zhang's corpse. And because they're in the village, they can't transport her body back to the hospital. The village committee can't afford it. The Zhang family can't afford it. It's impossible. The forensic expert just performs an autopsy right then and there. They don't even force the other villagers to leave. So the whole village is just watching an autopsy in real time. I don't know why they did that. Coco is just there watching. The forensic shaved off all Mrs. Zhang's hair, used a towel and hot water to clean her scalp, cut open her scalp, and looked inside. Nobody tried to give this woman any privacy.

16:52Not a single person was like, everybody leave. Nobody, not even the kids, were told to go to another room. 13-year-old Coco literally watched his mom get autopsied. They just proceeded to saw her skull right open and close it back up after. During all of this, the villagers were crowding around, and the forensic experts stated publicly the results confirmed that Mrs. Zhang's death was caused by blunt force trauma to the head, most likely from a wooden bat. So that night, three members of the Wang family were promptly arrested. Mr. Wang, the father, the second son, and the youngest son were arrested.

17:29They were all taken into police custody. But after their interrogations and after the police investigations, the police said that the youngest son was responsible for killing Mrs. Zhang. This is where it gets weird. Okay, so the Zhang family remember, yes, it was chaotic, but we distinctly remember that it was the second son that was waving the bat around towards our mom. And we remember this, it wasn't the youngest son. But the police are shutting down the Zhang family. Like, just let it go already. The youngest son already confessed to being the one that hit her on the head. What more do you want?

18:00The belief that the Zhang family held was that the second son was the one responsible, but because he was 20, he would be charged as an adult for murder. The youngest son was still a minor. The Wang family made it so that the youngest son would go down for it and he would still have to go to jail, but the sentencing was so infuriatingly light and lenient. He wasn't even charged with murder. Because he was a minor, he was charged with intentional violence, basically assault. And the judge said because Mrs. Zeng started the fight by spitting on the family member, the youngest son's actions were not as heinous and premeditated.

18:34He was only sentenced to seven years in prison. The Zhang family immediately tried to appeal the sentence. They demanded funeral fees, emotional damages, child support, death compensation from the Wangs. All in all, they asked for about$40 ,000 US dollars. They took the Wang family to court and the court decided the Wang family should only have to pay merely$1 ,500 US dollars. That barely covered the funeral. They lost their mother and all they got was$1 ,500. But I don't think that they just lost their mom that night. Coco was 13. He witnessed all of this. Even the messy aftermath and how the justice system wasn't on their side disregarded his mom's death and said, okay, her life was worth$1 ,500.

19:15I mean, he witnessed the autopsy for God's sake. Like clearly this kid's mental health is going to be affected. People said immediately they started seeing the effects. He became really withdrawn, incredibly introverted. He hated the idea of interacting with just anyone. Once he was done with middle school, he drops out and he just tries to find work. His dad wasn't able to support the family alone. So he's like, I gotta, I gotta man up. Coco's dad was really worried about him. He's like, Coco, you can't keep doing this. You can't just get these odd jobs here and there. This is no future for you.

19:46Please, why don't you enlist in the army? They can teach you skills. People in the army are respected. And then afterwards, maybe it's easier for you to find a job. So Coco was in the army from 18 to 20 years old. And he was a remarkably great soldier. Like All of his comrades and his commanders said just really good things about him. He was so good to the point where in the beginning, his commander sat him down and was like, what made you join the army? Coco was very transparent. He said, sir, I want to train myself so that I can get revenge from my mother. Whoa. The commander is like, what? So they sit down and he tells him everything.

20:22And his leader was very sympathetic. But he warned Coco. You know, like these thoughts of revenge, they never end well. This is so extreme. I know you're young, but I think you should try to change the way you think. So for the next two years, the commander kept in close touch with Coco, trying to slowly get him to change his thinking about wanting revenge and maybe even think about his own future. And what do you want after you leave the army? And for a moment, Coco second guessed his plan. He thought, you know what? Maybe my leader is right. Maybe the best revenge is success. he dreams about going back to the village working with his dad to renovate the house build a second story for their old family home maybe coco could get a job work his way up he would be successful but because he dropped out of school after middle school nobody wanted to hire him anymore he was just jumping around taking odd jobs and as the days went by coco's like are you kidding i'm already 30 years old he's looking around and everyone around him they're getting married having children they have careers, and Coco has nothing.

21:23He tried to find out how the Wang brothers were doing. They had all moved out of the village. They were doing well. The Wang family and themselves were making good money. The parents were retiring, not in luxury, but they had the luxury to retire, which is a lot. The eldest son was a successful government worker. All three of the sons moved to the city, bought nice fancy cars, just living the dream. Even the youngest son, after he got out of prison with a criminal record, his older brother helped him get a job. Coco wasn't even able to get a job. And he just kept asking himself, if my mom were still alive, would my life be different?

21:57Would I have dropped out of middle school? Would I spend so much time with all this hate and anger? Would I have been okay? Would I have found a girlfriend? Would I have made friends? Would our family be different? Coco just tried anything. He at one point moved to Argentina. that didn't end well. He just came back feeling even more discouraged and upset. He bounced around from town to town and this is so sad but while he was gone his dad was completely alone in the village living next to the wings. I mean he could see out the window and see the very spot that his wife had died. Coco's older sister had moved away and gotten married.

22:30Coco was out feeling lost in his life and Mr. Zhang worked every single day in building a second floor to his house. He spent every penny, every waking moment building this by his hands. In China, in order to get married, especially in places like the village, men need to have a house. Otherwise, as a man, you'll be hard pressed to find a wife. And the nicer the house, the more likely you'll find a bride. And Mr. Zhang just wanted his son to get married. So he poured his life into this house. He's like, you know what? My son has been through so much. He saw his mom die at 13. I'm going to make the most beautiful house so that he can marry the love of his life and create his own family.

23:13We're going to make better memories in this house. So he's doing this for years and years and years, and he doesn't even see Coco for years. And finally, in 2017, December of 2017, he gets word from Coco that Coco is going to be visiting this year for Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is huge. Typically, every kid that makes it out of the village and goes to live in the city, they make it back. They make that long journey all the way back home for Chinese New Year. There's even movies that we watched of these journeys of like these kids that were from the village and now they're like city career people and it's like an absolute must.

23:46So it's 2017, almost 2018, and it's now been 22 years since his mother's death. Coco remembers stepping foot back in the village and seeing some kids playing with fireworks. And he warned them, be careful, kids. You might get burned. They're like, wait, are you Uncle Coco? Do you remember us? I was like a little kid when you saw me, but I'm like nine now. And I'm nine, so my parents said it's okay to play with fireworks. So Coco smiled. He walked home. His dad greeted him at the door, and he told him, good, good, Coco. You're back, good. And that night, Coco unpacked, and he handed him an envelope.