Xiong Zhenlin, a suspect haunted by police, is arrested on January 11, 2009. [Photo: Xinhua]

Police searched Xiong's junkyard and found six more bodies as well as blood-tainted axes and hammers.

The bodies of the three men and three women were identified as employees at Xiong's junkyard. They were all natives of Luoyang town, aged from 45 to 69.

A neighbor of Xiong said Xiong divorced his wife three months ago hoping to marry Zhu. "After Zhu turned him down, Xiong wanted to make up with his wife but she too rejected him."

Other people in the town confirmed the story, said Wan Xuebin, public security chief of Suizhou. "But no one could explain why Xiong might have killed the junkyard workers."

Zhu's husband died many years ago and her son and daughter-in-law were working away from home.

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2009)