4. Without further orders, newspapers should stop covering the incident starting tomorrow. TV and radio should stop covering after tomorrow's morning news.

Perusal of the local Changchun newspapers the past few days show that the local media have acceded to the decree. Recent reports on the incident were short, tucked inside and uplifting.

On March 7, four days after the incident, the Changchun Daily published on page 4 a short report saying that the Changchun city officials had visited Haobo's relatives, who "expressed thanks to people from various sectors for their concern and hard work."

A local Changchun journalist, who requested anonymity, complained of being "caught in between a furious public who wants follow up stories on the incident and the propaganda officials who imposed the gag order."

Online firestorm

Despite the media clampdown, Haobo's grisly death has sparked public uproar, especially on Weibo, China's micro-blogging site with more than 250 million users.

Many condemned the killer.

"Hurry with the verdict!" said @LuoMoShideShang. "He deserves death penalty, no better way to calm people's outrage."

Others blamed the parents.

"What kind of parents will leave their babies alone in cars?" asked @Qiyanhenziaozhang.

Still others blamed the media.

"Everywhere is posting information about the baby, and they irritated the killer and provoked his desperate act. The media has done a really bad work," said Shenshang.

Several netizens juxtaposed Haobo's death with a similar incident in the United States.

A month ago, an SUV was stolen in the Bronx in New York City, with an 8-month-old girl still inside. "The silver Jeep was found abandoned just over an hour later with the child unharmed---after the perp phoned in the car's location to police," the New York Post reported.

@ZuoJingXiaoWu: "Ironically it's the same story but with very different outcomes! I believe that race has nothing to do with it but the problem is that Chinese people's moral education is disgusting. Also, brain-dead parents have no qualifications for parenthood."

@LanXiaoHaiMayday: "It's either a matter of better law or purer hearts."

As the finger-pointing continues, other netizens have turned their ire on the police.

One noted how the government in Changchun, the city where the crime took place, had since 2007 invested 140 million yuan ($22.5 million) to install a "Skynet project" an intra-city video surveillance network, equipped with some 60,000 closed-circuit cameras.

A micro-blogger named @LaoXuCommentary wryly noted: "Citizens found the stolen car, the suspect turned himself in, thousands of police searched downtown while the man had escaped to the countryside already. A camera surveillance system worth 140 million yuan went blind in this case."

While some angry postings have been deleted on China's social media sites, no new key words related to the case have been blocked on Chinese search engines -- a common censorship tactic -- just yet. Meantime, citizens are still expressing their grief and outrage on Haobo's grisly death online.