Huangting Gong, Glendale, California man accused of shooting dead business partner and his wife, and burning their bodies in desert over $80K he owed couple.
A Los Angeles-area man who owed his business partner and his wife $80K, is alleged to have shot them dead ‘execution style’ separately in the desert before setting their bodies on fire and and Teslas to hide the evidence, prosecutors stated on Tuesday.
Huangting Gong, 30, of Glendale, is accused of killing Jing Li and Kuanlun Wang, both 37, whom he was said to owe $80,000, in the Southern California desert on Oct. 12 and then stealing nearly $250,000 worth of luxury watches, handbags and clothing from their home.
Gong was arrested Nov. 5 at Los Angeles International Airport upon his return from Seattle. He was booked into the Orange County Jail, where he was held without bail, police and prosecutors said.
Gong has since been charged with the couple’s murder, kidnapping, arson and burglary, prosecutors stated.
‘No one deserves the fate of being executed and then set on fire in the middle of the desert,’ Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement Tuesday.
Spitzer’s office said the charges were filed with ‘special circumstances’ enhancements, meaning that if he is convicted, Gong would face a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole, NBC News reported.
Prosecutors did not detail why Gong owed Wang $80,000. Prosecutors believe that on Oct. 12, the two men were discussing what Wang owed when Gong allegedly shot him in the head. From there prosecutors allege Gong putting the body in Wang’s Tesla and driving it to the home Wang shared with Li in the Orange County city of Brea, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.
There, Gong struck Li with a hammer and demanded the code to unlock her phone, the DA’s office alleged.
He used Li’s Tesla to take her to the San Bernardino desert, where he shot her and burned her body, it alleged. He returned to the couple’s home to pick up Wang’s body, drive it to the Riverside County desert and burn it, the DA’s office said.
Gong then drove each victim’s Tesla to separate desert areas and burned them, the DA’s office said.
He returned to the couple’s home and stole $250,000 worth of goods, including watches, handbags, shoes and clothing, the DA’s office alleged.
One of the things that helped lead investigators with the Brea Police Department to Gong was an alleged sighting of him on Wang’s home surveillance system on Oct. 14. Prosecutors say a ‘family member’ was trying to get in contact with Wang and Li but couldn’t, so she checked the surveillance video and spotted Gong, who denied it was him.
‘After not hearing from Wang, his family member contacted Gong on October 12, 2024, who told her Wang and Wang’s wife … never showed up for a trip to New York City to meet with another business associate who could give Wang the $80,000 Gong owed him,’ the DA’s office says. ‘Wang’s family were not aware of any trip planned to New York.’
On Nov. 5, police tracked Gong down at the Los Angeles International Airport, where he was arrested.
‘Depravity does not adequately describe the callousness involved to kill a human being and then drive around in the victim’s own car with his body inside in order to carry out the rest of his plan,’ Spitzer said in Tuesday’s statement.
Gong was expected in California Superior Court in Santa Ana for a hearing Dec. 2
