A California man executed a business associate who he owed $80,000 along with the victim’s wife and set their bodies and cars on fire in the desert, according to police.
Huangting Gong, 30, of Glendale, owed the large sum to his business associate Kuanlun Wang, 37, who he shot in the head when met in the desert on Oct 12, according to the Orange County Prosecutor’s Office.
Gong then stuffed Wang’s body in the back of his Tesla and drove back to Wang’s home in Brea, where he lived with his wife, 37-year-old Jing Li.
He then attacked Li with a hammer until she gave him the passcode to her phone, according to police. He put her inside of her own Tesla and drove her out to a desert area in San Bernardino where he shot her and then burned her body, police said.
Gong went back and retrieved Wang’s back at the Brea residence and took his body to the desert in Riverside County, where he also burned his body.
The alleged killer also took the couple’s Teslas to different parts of the desert and set them ablaze.
“Depravity does not adequately describe the callousness involved to kill a human being and then drive around in the victim’s own car with his body inside in order to carry out the rest of his plan,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
“No one deserves the fate of being executed and then set on fire in the middle of the desert in a desperate attempt by a killer to cover up his crimes,” he added.
Still not done with his crimes, Gong returned to Wang and Li’s home two days later and stole nearly $250,000 worth of luxury watches, shoes, handbags and clothing, cops said.
One of Wang’s family members reported him missing on Oct. 15 after not hearing from him for several days, which police said was “unusual.” Wang had told the family member that he was owed $80,000 by Gong.
The family member had contacted Gong about the couple on the day of the murder, but Gong said that the two victims never showed up for a trip to New York City to meet with another business associate who was going to cover Gong’s $80,000 debt.
Wang’s family had never heard of this New York trip, cops said.
The same family member contacted Gong again on Oct. 14 after seeing a man on the patio at Wang and Li’s home — but Gong denied that it was him and shut off her access to the surveillance system.
Gong was arrested by Brea Police on Nov. 5 at the Los Angeles International Airport after he returned from a trip to Seattle and charged with special circumstance murder.
Gong arraignment hearing has been scheduled for December 2 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.
Following that hearing, the DA’s office will hold a special circumstances committee to determine whether to pursue the death penalty. Spitzer will make the final decision.