Literal Murder

Liu Yongbiao, was 53 when he received the death penalty in a cold case that went unsolved in Huzhou for nearly two dozen years.

The author and an accomplice reportedly killed a couple and their grandson during a robbery in November 1995 at their family-owned hostel.

The  pair evidently killed the family to cover up the murder of one of the guests.

For 22 years the murders remained unsolved, due to lack of surveillance cameras at the hostel.

Police were able to finally make a break in the case last year after using DNA evidence from a cigarette at the crime scene.

Liu later admitted in an interview that the gory details in some of his novels were based on the killings.