A teen disappeared for 100 days before his body was found near his school in a mystery that has gripped China.
Hu Xinyu, 15, had been attending Zhiyuan High School, a private boarding school in Yanshan, Jiangxi province for around a month when he vanished without a trace in October.
His case sparked fierce online speculation and a number of extensive police searches covering nearby forests, railway lines and rivers.
One of the searches earlier this month saw thousands of locals come out to help track down the boy.
But any hopes of his survival were dashed last week when Hu's body was found in the woods by his school. The discovery, made by a member of the public on Thursday, came on the 100th day since his disapperance.
He was wearing the same clothes he wore the day he went missing.
Instantly identifiable by his dress, cops summoned his family and their lawyer to the crime scene.
DNA eventually confirmed their worst fears and a voice recorder found close to the corpse has been sent off for analysis, according to a statement from police in Shangrao city.
While some would expect the discovery to bring closure for Hu's distraught family, it has only raised more questions.
Amateur online sleuths took to China's Weibo platform to ask why the extensive police searches, in which corpse detecting dogs, drones and thermal cameras were used, failed to locate the body which was just a five-minute walk away from the school.
According to state media outlet, China National Radio, the autopsy has been conducted but results are yet to be revealed.
One million people went missing in China in 2020, which averages out to around 2,739 per day, and it's not unusual for kids and teens to be among them.
Hu's case was the most high-profile in recent years.
Some say it should be more difficult for youngsters, including Hu, to disappear without a trace considering China's position as a world leader in high-tech security surveillance.
His final moments were caught on CCTV, showing the scholarship student walking towards his dorm room on October 14 before a scheduled evening study session.
Between the dormitory and teaching building, he vanished, in an area not covered by cameras.
Around six hours later, his family was notified of his disappearance.
He didn't take any cash with him and also left his smartwatch in his room. He took only a digital voice recorder and a card used to pay for school meals, his family wrote on a missing persons notice.
After the disappearance, baseless speculation forced authorities to issue a statement in which they made it clear no evidence suggested the teen had been killed.
They added that Hu likely left the school on his own.
The police also detailed their mammoth search effort, which covered 40 hectares of forest near the school, 72 ponds, 125 miles of rivers, 13 miles of railway lines and three reservoirs.
