A man who stole a car with a 2-month-old boy inside in Changchun, Jilin Province, confessed to police late Tuesday afternoon he had murdered the infant.

Zhou Xijun, 48, stole the SUV on Monday morning, triggering a province-wide manhunt involving 3,500 police officers.

The case sparked public outcry as soon as it was reported by local media, with many Web users on microblogging service Sina Weibo urging each other to help find the baby.

Zhou turned himself in to police at 5 pm Tuesday. He told officers that he drove to Gongzhuling county, about 60 kilometers southwest of Changchun, where he strangled the baby and buried it in snow.

No information was available about whether the body had been recovered.

Zhou escaped after abandoning the baby's clothes and car in Gongzhuling at about 8 am on Monday, around 40 minutes after the vehicle was stolen.

The empty, silver-gray Toyota RAV 4 was found by police Tuesday. A security guard at a residential compound in Gongzhuling reported to the police Tuesday morning that he had seen Zhou park the car and leave in a van on Monday morning.

The guard became suspicious when Zhou didn't return that night.

The car was stolen when the parents of the baby boy left him alone in their car with the engine running.

When they returned about 10 minutes later, they discovered the car had been stolen.

The parents reported their stolen car and kidnapped son to Jilin Traffic Radio 103.8 FM, which identified the infant's name as Xu Haobo.

Xu's distressed mother fainted several times during an interview aired by the radio station.

The baby's father told the Global Times earlier on Tuesday he would "do anything" for the safe return of his son.

After hearing news of the infant's death, some citizens in Changchun expressed their grief and offered condolences by gathering at a local square and holding candles. Many Web users also expressed shock at the brutality of the murder.

Zhou is from Gongzhuling and lives in Changchun, according to a post on the official Weibo account of the Jilin Department of Public Security.