Cao Fazhen was a 56 year-old male Falun Gong practitioner from Macen Village, Heishuihe Sub-division of Yuanshi County, Hebei Province. Cao was arbitrarily taken from his home and arrested on December 21st, 2000; he was illegally detained in the Yuanshi County Detention Center. On September 26th, 2001, around 2:20 pm, Cao Fazhen suddenly lost consciousness and fell into a deep coma. Although he was at death's door, the head of the Custodial Center, Dong Wenyan, didn't take his condition seriously; it was 8:00 pm before Dong finally let Cao's family take him home. Before that, no emergency treatments were performed for Cao Fazhen. Cao died 2 days after he returned home.