Man from Los Angeles Area Charged with Double Murder in Desert Due to Debt

A Glendale man has been charged with killing a Brea couple after he allegedly burned their bodies and their Teslas in the desert in two different Southern California counties.

The man then allegedly stole nearly $250,000 in luxury watches, handbags, and clothing from the couple’s Los Angeles home, authorities said.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) has charged Huangting Gong, 30, with a litany of charges, including two felony counts of murder, one felony count of kidnapping, two felony counts of arson of property, and two felony counts of first-degree burglary.

In addition, he was charged with two felony special circumstances enhancements for multiple murders, one felony special circumstances enhancement for murder during a kidnapping, and two felony enhancements for discharging a firearm causing death.

Authorities were alerted to the crime when, on Oct. 15, a family member of victim Kuanlun Wang, 37, contacted the Brea Police Department after not having heard from him for several days.

The family member also noted that Wang had said he was owed $80,000 by a business associate named Huangting Gong.

The family member contacted Gong on Oct. 12. Gong claimed Wang and Wang’s wife, Jing Li, 37, failed to meet him in New York City, where another business associate was to have paid Wang the $80,000 owed by Gong. Wang’s family was not aware of a planned trip to New York City, according to a press release from the OCDA’s office.

On Oct. 14, according to the press release, the family member saw a man on Wang’s patio in a surveillance video. She contacted Gong, who denied being the man in the video. Her access to the video surveillance system was then removed, and she contacted the police.

Murdered in the Desert

Gong is accused of shooting Wang in the head in the desert after meeting him there on Oct. 12. He then allegedly placed the body in Wang’s Tesla and drove back to Wang’s Brea home, where he allegedly attacked Li with a hammer, forcing her to give him her phone password.

Gong then allegedly placed Li inside her Tesla, driving her to a desert area in San Bernardino where he shot her and buried her body, according to prosecutors.

After that, Gong allegedly returned to Wang’s Brea home to retrieve his body. Gong disposed of the body by burning it in a desert area of Riverside County. He then took the couple’s two Teslas to different sites in the desert and set the cars on fire, according to prosecutors.

Gong then allegedly returned to their Brea home on Oct. 14 and took the watches, shoes, handbags, and clothing.

“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,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.

“No one deserves the fate of being executed and then set on fire in the middle of the desert in a desperate attempt by a killer to cover up his crimes. We are committed to pursuing justice for the victims and their loved ones.”

Arrest and Arraignment

After a Brea Police Department investigation, Gong was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 5 upon his return from a trip to Seattle.

Gong is eligible for both a life sentence without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty—which is only allowed in “special circumstances” cases in California.

In special circumstances murder cases in California, a committee is convened, with presentations from the prosecutor and the defense, to consider whether to pursue the death penalty. The district attorney then makes the decision.

Gong is due to be arraigned on Dec. 2, at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

The Epoch Times reached out to Gong’s public defender, Omar Kurdi, for comment, and did not hear back by time of publication.