Officials say a California man who owed the couple $80,000 killed them and burned their bodies in the desert

A Los Angeles-area man who officials say killed a couple and burned their bodies and vehicles has been charged with murder, kidnapping, arson and burglary.

Huangting Gong, 30, of Glendale, is accused of killing Jing Li and Kuanlun Wang, both 37, to whom he allegedly owes $80,000, in the Southern California desert on Oct. 12 and then stealing luxury watches, handbags, etc. worth nearly $250,000 US dollars for stealing clothes from her home.

Gong was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on November 5 after returning from Seattle. He was booked into the Orange County Jail, where he was being held without bail, police and prosecutors said.

“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 charge was enhanced with “special circumstances,” meaning Gong would face a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

Attempts to find contact information for Gong were unsuccessful. It was unclear Tuesday evening whether he had contacted legal counsel. The Orange County Public Defender's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors did not say why Gong owed Wang $80,000. They said he shot Wang in the head on Oct. 12, put the body in Wang's Tesla and drove it to the home Wang shared with Li in the Orange County town of Brea, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. shared.

There, Gong hit Li with a hammer and demanded the code to unlock her phone, the prosecutor's office said.

He used Li's Tesla to take her to the San Bernardino desert, where he shot her and burned her body, they said. He returned to the couple's home to pick up Wang's body, drive it to the Riverside County desert and burn it, the district attorney's office said.

Gong then drove each victim's Tesla to individual desert areas and burned them, the DA's office said.

He returned to the couple's home and stole $250,000 worth of merchandise, including watches, handbags, shoes and clothing, according to the DA's office.

“Depravity does not adequately describe the callousness involved in killing a human being and then driving around in the victim's own car with his body inside to carry out the rest of his plan,” Spitzer said in Tuesday's statement.

Gong was due in California Superior Court in Santa Ana for a hearing on Dec. 2.