Suicide, not murder, cause of Mongolian woman’s death in Shanghai

Shanghai police on Wednesday ruled out murder in the death of a Mongolian woman.

Boldbaatar Maralmaa, 21, was found dead on the second-floor terrace of a residential building in Shanghai Xuhui district on Dec 29. Her body was spotted by a resident living on the third-floor of the building.

The autopsy showed no other injuries on the body except for fractures that matched fall from a height and a shallow cut across her left wrist, which could have been done by herself. The ethanol level in her blood was 137 microgram per 100 milliliter — in China, the legal limit for drunk driving is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood — and no toxic content was found. The estimated postmortem interval is three days.

Maralmaa’s parents confirmed her daughter’s suicide and signed the death report on Wednesday.

Maralmaa was a student at Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University from September 2016 before she quit her study in July 2017.

On Nov 29, Maralmaa flew back to China, arrived at Beijing Capital Airport and went to Shanghai on the same day. She then stayed with her boyfriend, a Shanghai citizen surnamed Rao, 37, in a hotel in Xuhui district.

The two went to visit Thailand on Dec 14 and came back to the same hotel on Dec 21. Rao went back to his home alone the next day. From Dec 23 to 25, Rao visited Maralmaa in the hotel twice.

On Dec 26, Maralmaa was found leaving the hotel at 1:11 am and returned drunk later. She then left the hotel at 5:53 am, hailing a taxi to Rao’s place.

The neighborhood surveillance video showed Maralmaa managed to get into Rao’s building following other residents. After a quarrel with Rao at his doorstep, Maralmaa slapped Rao and left. She then went missing before her body was found.

Rao said to the police that he and Maralmaa had a relationship problem.

Between Dec 26 and 28, Rao had tried to reach Maralmaa several times either through phone calls or visiting the hotel she stayed, but failed. The police confirmed Rao’s search attempts.

After search and investigation at Rao’s place, the police didn’t find anything suspicious and excluded murder or accidental falling for Maralmaa’s death.

Maralmaa was found dead in the building where her boyfriend lives, but it was clear that she didn’t fall from his apartment, the police said.

On Jan 2, Shanghai police delivered the investigation result of the case to the Mongolian embassy. The next day, the police accompanied Maralmaa’s parents to check the site of the event and see her remains at Longhua Funeral House.