Police in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, have announced that a body found in a river, has been identified as the suspect's body in an alleged rape and killing of a woman. Following a DNA test, police identified the body as 27-year-old male suspect Liu Zhenhua. He was the driver of a Didi Chuxing car which the victim rode in as a passenger. Authorities say he abandoned his car and jumped into a river after allegedly raping and killing the woman. Her death has forced the Chinese ride-hailing service to suspend operations of its carpool feature for a week. The incident has sparked fierce debate on the web on safety and sexism. Frances Kuo has more.

The 21-year-old flight attendant landed in Henan's capital Zhengzhou earlier this month, and used Didi's popular app "Shunfeng Che" - or "hitch" in English - to take her into the city center.

Her partially clothed body was discovered two days later, with a dozen knife wounds. Her last text message was to a colleague, complaining that the Didi driver was calling her beautiful and demanding to kiss her.

Didi is offering one million yuan to help find a 27-year-old suspect-and issued a photo on Weibo. And it suspended the "Hitch" service until next Saturday, at least - as it tries to introduce more safeguards for passengers.

Meanwhile, a web post is causing outrage online - over sexism.

On Friday, a professor from China's top University of Public Security posted an article on Weibo advising young women to avoid going out at night if they can and to NOT take rides alone. He also said they increase their risk by dressing well and appearing rich.

Some web users reacted angrily, saying it's unreasonable to make such demands on women instead of disciplining the criminals.

Other web users say Didi's platform is to blame. They say Didi drivers comment on women's looks when writing their passenger assessments. One young woman said her driver deliberately put things in the back seat to force her to sit with him in the front.

Didi uses facial recognition to verify its drivers. But a defect allowed the suspect - who was not registered - to log in on his father's account. It's also reported the account received a complaint of sexual harassment before, without being suspended.

Didi has admitted fault and apologized. The Chinese Ministry of Transport has also announced new regulations to blacklist unqualified carpool drivers. FRANCES KUO, CGTN.