DPS chief: Search for Li ongoing

The search for missing Saipan Fresh Market owner Zhi Yuan Li is still ongoing and there were no body parts found anywhere on the island, according to Department of Public Safety Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero.

In a news briefing yesterday afternoon, Deleon Guerrero squashed widespread rumors that Li’s body or parts of a body had been found.

Department of Public Safety commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero stresses a point as DPS police information officer Travis Hurst listens at yesterday’s news briefing pertaining to the disappearance of businessman Zhi Yuan Li. (Ferdie de la Torre)

“At this point of time none of that has occurred. We have not located the victim in this particular incident,” the commissioner said.

He disclosed that DPS detectives are working closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an effort to locate and hopefully rescue the 43-year-old Li.

On Monday, rumors spread that Li had been beheaded and that his head and body parts have already been found.

Saipan Tribune has been contacting DPS since Sunday after learning that Li has been reported missing since Saturday afternoon, but DPS only released brief details confirming the incident yesterday at 3:08am—or after three days.

Deleon Guerrero admitted yesterday that they indeed tried not to inform the media because they were still doing a search operation. He said they decided as a department to withhold information early on because of the fact that the victim had not been located.

“Sometimes, what generally happens in these type of circumstances unfortunately is that it leads to something more tragic,” he said.

The commissioner explained that it was a judgment call based on his conversation with the department’s investigators.

“We’re hoping quite frankly that the media would not discover this but you did,” said Deleon Guerrero at the news briefing.

He said they have been working with Li’s family and the family too wanted the fact that Li has been missing to be kept quiet.

“The reason is because we don’t want anything to happen to the victim,” the commissioner said.

Deleon Guerrero confirmed news reports that Li’s white Toyota Tacoma pickup truck was found by a patrol officer on a dirt road between Ladder Beach and Obyan Beach on Sunday at 8am.

The commissioner said he has no information what items were found in Li’s truck.

“As far as I know, the vehicle looks to be in good order. It appears to have been driven there and just parked there. There was no damage to the car. There was nothing messy inside the vehicle. Everything appears to be in kind of normal order,” he said.

Investigators towed the truck as its key could not be found.

Deleon Guerrero said there is nothing to suggest at this point of time that foul play is involved.

He said investigators combed the entire Obyan Beach and Ladder Beach areas since Saturday and that much of the search operation continued on Sunday.

DPS activated its search and rescue unit as well as its Tactical Response Enforcement Team to assist in the search at Obyan and Ladder Beach areas.

After the initial news blackout, Deleon Guerrero is now appealing to the public for information that will lead to locating Li.

“We are appealing to members of the community that anyone with information as to where this particular person may be to give us a call at Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation at 664-9042 or the Crime Stoppers at 234-7272,” he said.

Since the last double homicide incident in November 2014, DPS has assigned five additional investigators to the Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation to assist the office in its current workload.

Deleon Guerrero said they also initiated a new activation protocols.

“If anyone is reported missing, we immediately send out teams that go out and conduct searches and follow up on leads,” he said.

The commissioner noted that the two double homicides in February and November and Li’s disappearance point to the same group of families and same areas in Koblerville.

“Something is wrong. Something seriously is wrong. And those things need to be dug up further,” said Deleon Guerrero, adding that they’re doing the best they can right now in coordination with federal law enforcement partners.

Li is the nephew of Hai Ren Li, one of two Chinese farmers who were murdered and their bodies dumped at the old runway in Koblerville last November.

As for some local individuals implicated in the two double homicides, the commissioner said they were all interviewed both at the state and local levels. He declined to elaborate.

Last Feb. 23, the bodies of Guo Huang Xu and his wife, Qing Xiu Zheng, both farmers, were found charred inside their house that had been burned to the ground. Police classified the case as a double homicide.

Deleon Guerrero said they have been communicating with a Chinese group on the island and they are providing some information that is giving investigators leads.

“We are pursuing every single lead that is coming to our department,” he added.

He said none of the information, however, had led investigators so far to locate Li.

“We do not know at this point in time as to what his status is and we are hoping that we can find him in good health,” the commissioner said.

DPS police information officer Travis Hurst confirmed that the family reported Li’s disappearance to DPS on Saturday at 7:56pm.

Hurst said Li was last seen on Saturday at 11am seeing a friend at a tire shop in Puerto Rico.

Li’s daughters, ages 13 and 23, are on Saipan. Li is already separated from his wife, who is in China, a family member told Saipan Tribune.