World Journal: Shooting of Chinese-American Family Related to Security Official

The apparent murder of a Chinese-American man, along with three family members, at his home in Houston, Texas, this January was recently said by an established overseas Chinese newspaper to have some connection to the former Chinese security official Zhou Yongkang, who is at the center of an intense corruption investigation.

The World Journal reported simply that, according to a source, the murder of the family “was related” to the corruption investigation of Zhou Yongkang. Zhou, before becoming the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s security apparatus, held power positions in the petroleum sector.

The 50 year-old Sun Maoye, his wife, and their two young sons, were all found dead in their house in Cypress, on the outskirts of Houston, this January. All four been shot in the head.

Sun graduated from the China University of Petroleum and was working at an oil company in Houston before his death. According to the World Journal, a number of senior executives at PetroChina, who were alums with Sun, have also mysteriously died.

The report quoted Wei Shi, with the overseas Chinese language news website Boxun, known for its frequent purported insider accounts of elite politics and power struggles in China, who said that the way Sun’s family died obviously points to premeditated murder.

Wei Shi said sources told him that Sun was involved in PetroChina’s allegedly corrupt procurement activities in the United States, and that he and his family were eliminated to prevent any information being leaked.

Local police say that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the case. They also offer a $70,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of suspects.