But in recent years, the official story goes, Gu descended into anxiety and paranoia. She became troubled by a dispute with a British associate of the family, Neil Heywood, who allegedly had demanded a multimillion-dollar commission on a property venture and threatened her son's life.
In November 2011, Gu lured Heywood to a secluded hilltop retreat in Chongqing where she got him drunk and then, with an aide's help, poured cyanide into his mouth. Then she turned to Wang, who sent police officers to remove evidence, including hotel surveillance videos.
“It's all gone up in smoke, flown on a crane to paradise,” the police chief told Gu after Heywood was declared dead by excessive drinking and his body was cremated.
Unknown to Gu, Wang had recorded a phone conversation in which she'd confessed to the crime. He also had secretly saved samples from Heywood's heart and other evidence.
Left out of the official account was a surprising twist that was exposed in court testimony: The police chief had helped Gu plot the murder from the start, but backed away from its execution. Also unclear is why Wang brought the murder allegations to his boss, though reports suggested that Wang hoped Bo would shield him from an unrelated graft investigation.
His plan backfired, forcing him instead to flee to the U.S. consulate, prompting Chinese security vehicles to surround the building. Photos of the scene circulating on microblogs were the first public hints of trouble brewing. When Wang realized that asylum was not an option, he negotiated with Chinese officials for safe passage to Beijing.
The murder allegations were not yet publicly known, but Wang's actions were considered a severe breach of party protocol.
Three weeks later, at Beijing's annual national legislative sessions, Bo admitted lapses in judgment but defended himself and his anti-mafia campaign, which had come under fire for abuses of the legal process.
“I feel like I've failed in my supervision of my staff,” Bo said, referring to Wang, as he leaned back in a large armchair. “This incident is something we need to seriously reflect on and sum up.”
