NEW YORK—Relatives of the mother and four children who were killed in a stabbing rampage on Oct. 26 blasted local Chinese media on Thursday for publishing inaccurate articles.
The relatives were angry that the New York branch of Tsing Dao Daily, a media influenced by the Chinese Communist Party, wrote a story claiming that the murdered mother had cheated the accused killer out of money.
The father, Yilin Zhuo, is the only surviving member of the Sunset Park, Brooklyn family. He attended a press conference in Chinatown on Thursday, but was still too distraught to speak.
Zhuo arrived home from work last Saturday to a home surrounded by police. His wife, 37-year-old Li Qiaozhen and their four children, Linda Zhuo, 9; Amy Zhuo, 7; Kevin Zhuo, 5; and 18-month-old William Zhuo, were stabbed to death.
The accused murderer, Zhou’s cousin Chen Mingdong has been in police custody since shortly after the murders.
Fujian associations in Chinatown are raising money from local overseas people, including their members, to give to the family of the murder victims.
Some relatives of the murdered woman and her children still live in Fujian, China, and are applying for visas to attend the funeral in New York.
The conference was held in the Chinese language, and English-speaking media were not notified.
According to court documents, Chen admitted through a translator to killing his cousin’s wife and four children with a knife. The documents quoted him saying, “I know I am done.”
Chen stayed with the family in their apartment for 10 days after losing his job in a restaurant.
Police said that Chen stabbed and slashed the necks and torsos of the victims:
“It’s a scene you’ll never forget,” said Chief of Department Philip Banks III, shortly after the murders.
