"The procuratorate authorities have started an investigation into the case of Xu's death, and a just conclusion will be made," Li Jibin, head of the Danfeng County, told Xinhua Wednesday.

Xu allegedly murdered a girl student of another high school in the county on Feb. 10. He was questioned by police on the night of Feb. 28 and confessed to the killing early next morning, according to the government statement.

But police did not identify Xu's motive behind the murder. It was not known what happened to Xu during his custody.

Xu and the girl, 21-year-old Peng Lina who was a student at the Shangzhen Township High School, were schoolmates during their junior high school time.

"They were once lovers in junior high school. But now they are only close friends," said Chen Lu, a classmate and friend of Xu at the Danfeng High School.

"Xu cannot be the murderer," Chen said.

Xu had lived in a rented room for almost three years outside the school, which did not provide dorms for male students, and his landlord, Huang Ping, spoke positively about him.

"He has behaved well. He isn't that type of boy to be a troublemaker," Huang said.

The body of the girl, who was from the Zhaoyuan Village in the Siping Township, was found on a river beach in the county on Feb. 10 with her face disfigured. Residents said the local government had ordered police to crack the case within a month.

"The public security bureau has set up another team to re-investigate the murder case," Li Jibin, the county head, said Wednesday.

In late June last year, a controversial police report on the death of a teenage girl led to a violent protest involving 30,000 people in Weng'an county in southwestern Guizhou Province.

The authorities later admitted that it was related to public grievances long being neglected by the local government on issues like mining disputes and relocation programs.

(Xinhua News Agency March 18, 2009)