Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

This is the moment police officers investigating reports of a headless female corpse dumped by a lake find a charred wooden mannequin.

Officers with Xingsha Police Station, which is in the county of Changsha in Central China’s Hunan Province, were called to Songya Lake on 2nd March.

A report by a local fisherman claimed he had found what he believed to be a decapitated female murder victim, whose hands and feet had been bound by tape.

Police body-worn camera footage shows officers trekking through tall grass before arriving at the side of the lake, where an object resembling a charred human corpse can be seen.

The fisherman says: “There is tape on the hands and feet. They’re probably dead.”

However, an officer takes a closer look at declared: “It’s fake.”

Policeman Xing Xiaozhuo reported: “At around 10am we received reports of a corpse at Songya Lake. The details were very vague.

“We arrived and found the person who reported it. He said he saw the corpse while fishing.

“He took us to the site, and we saw the suspected corpse, which had tape around the hands and feet, and also something resembling hair.

“But I felt it looked wooden. There were screws on the arms and also by the neck where the head would’ve been.”

The authorities said the discarded mannequin appeared to have sustained fire damage, making it resemble a charred human corpse.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.