Police in Kaijiang county, southwestern Sichuan province, detained the 51-year-old, identified by his surname Huang, after corpses had disappeared mysteriously from local cemeteries since 1988, the West China City Daily said.
According to preliminary investigations, he snatched the bodies after a fortune teller told him fresh body parts were the only remedy for his wife’s seemingly incurable illness, which was not identified.
Huang was arrested after comprehensive detective work, triggered by outrage when a recently buried corpse was discovered near a local market with both arms missing and the chest carved open, it said.
According to traditional Chinese beliefs, it is essential to be buried with all body parts intact, as otherwise they will be missing in the afterlife.
