发信人: darwin (darwin), 信区: Virginia
标 题: After slaying, searches reveal little (zz)
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Tue Jan 27 15:27:47 2009), 转信

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/2009/01/26/after_slaying__searches_reveal_little

by Caleb Fleming, CT news editor
Monday, January 26, 2009; 9:54 PM

The Montgomery County Sherriff's Office executed search warrants on Haiyang
Zhu's University Boulevard Apartment and Xin Yang's Donaldson Brown residenc
e last Friday.

Mark Umansky/SPPSMembers of the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars
erected a simple memorial to Xin Yang in front of the Au Bon Pain in the Gr
aduate Life Center where she was killed Wednesday, Jan. 21 in a violent knif
e attack allegedly pepetrated by a fellow Chinese student.

Zhu, a 25-year old doctoral candidate majoring in agricultural and applied e
conomics, was charged last Thursday with premeditated first-degree murder fo
r beheading Yang, a fellow graduate student, with an 8-inch kitchen knife in
the Au Bon Pain cafe of the Graduate Life Center last Wednesday evening.

Five days after the alleged slaying, new information has been released to in
dicate that Zhu and Yang did not know each other before attending Virginia T
ech.

Newly arrived international students at Tech are typically paired with other
international students to help familiarize them with campus. Yang was assig
ned to Zhu, leading her to list Zhu as an emergency contact in university re
cords.

The search of Zhu's apartment netted utility and chef's knife papers, a digi
tal camera, phone bills, multiple thumb drives, medical information pamphlet
s, and a paperback book titled "The Company of Strangers."

If Zhu owned a cell phone, officers did not seize it in his apartment, thoug
h the approved search warrant did give police the authority to do so.

The phone may have been found on his person. A laptop computer was found in
Zhu's backpack at the scene of the crime, along with several other "edged we
apons."

A resident of Zhu's apartment did not identify himself and declined comment
when reached by telephone Monday. Zhu lived on University City Boulevard wit
h two roommates, both of whom are Tech students.

Yang's residence on the second floor of Donaldson Brown was also searched to
elaborate on the relationship between victim and suspect.

Police seized two cell phones, a laptop, bank receipts, a Canadian resident
card, a People's Republic of China identification card, a diary, a check to
Zhu made out for $40 and an unmailed letter with a red "kiss" on the seal. D
etails on the destination address of the letter were not made available.

And while police continue to process evidence and search for a motive in the
gruesome attack, more information regarding both the suspect and victim has
come forth.

Yang, a 22-year old student from Beijing, established herself as a permanent
resident of Canada after earning her undergraduate degree in business admin
istration at Memorial University of Newfoundland. The process usually takes
four years, but Sonja Knutson, Memorial University's international student a
dviser, said that it is not uncommon for international students to work ahea
d.

"They tend to do it like that more easily than the Canadians, who prefer to
take the summer off," Knutson said. "If you want to, you can study from May
to August, so she did that and took an overload of courses. It saves their p
arents money."

Knutson was also Yang's English teacher, noting that Yang did exceptionally
well in her studies.

"She was a 'B' student, and if you get a B in first-year English you are pre
tty smart," Knutson said. "It's not an easy grade to get, and she was in the
top percentage of my class, if not the top. It's rare that we give out 'A's
."

But while Yang was intently focused on studies, she also established herself
as an extremely approachable, enjoyable person to be around.

"She was a lovely girl," Knutson said. "She was very friendly and outgoing,
really intelligent. She had worked at Costco for some time after graduation
as a greeter. She was personable."

Yang, a master's degree candidate in accounting through the Pamplin College
of Business, had been in the United States for less than two weeks when she
was killed.

Zhu had come to Tech from Shanghai Ocean University, near his home in Ningbo
, China, before the fall semester.

Will Segar, Zhu's landlord, did not return calls to the Collegiate Times. Ho
wever, Segar told the Washington Post that he had several personal interacti
ons with Zhu.

Segar said that Zhu had refused to turn the heat on in his townhouse because
it was too expensive, and he had lost considerable amounts of money in the
stock market. When pipes froze and neighbors began complaining of faulty plu
mbing, Segar installed a thermostat that was permanently set at 65 degrees i
n the townhouse. Zhu then turned the thermostat off at the breaker, Segar sa
id.

Tonya Spain, property manager at Sturbridge Square, wrote a comment on colle
giatetimes.com that Zhu was never singled out, and that the complaints filed
were for him and his roommates.

"We opted to contact the police to find out if we had any recourse, such as
destruction to property, to force all the residents living in the townhome t
o maintain the heat at 68 degrees," Spain wrote. "It was not because Mr. Zhu
was exhibiting any behavior that would lead us to believe he was a danger t
o himself or others."

Spain wrote that the issues were essentially nothing more than residents not
following their leasing agreements, and that International Affairs was also
contacted.

Segar also said that Zhu accused his staff of stealing his shoes, and that h
e had brought Yang into the rental office in search of an apartment.

"Last week he came in and accused the staff of stealing his shoes," Spain sa
id. "I said, 'You have two roommates; are you sure it wasn't one of them?' B
ut he was adamant that staff had stolen his shoes."

University Provost Mark McNamee met with representatives from the Chinese Em
bassy, Tech police, and other university officials Friday.

McNamee said the meeting addressed a number of issues that needed to be expl
ored, but the most important was of how her family would come to the United
States.

"We discussed how to extend the invitation and how to work through the embas
sy so they could obtain visas," McNamee said.

Yang's family will likely arrive in Blacksburg later this week.

McNamee added that this was not the first time Tech had met with representat
ives from the Chinese Embassy.

"We've always had a good relationship with the Chinese Embassy," McNamee sai
d. "They like the fact that we've been very supportive of the Chinese studen
ts that come here."

Police explained to the Chinese representatives how the police process and c
ourt system works in the United States, and explained that a lawyer had been
appointed to Zhu, McNamee said.

Under Virginia law, Zhu's conviction would carry a maximum penalty of life i
n prison. He is currently held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond an
d has a preliminary hearing on March 5.

Stephanie Cox, Zhu's court appointed attorney, did not return calls from the
Collegiate Times.

McNamee added that Yang's family speaks only Chinese, so all of the communic
ation has been done through a faculty member who speaks both Chinese and Eng
lish.

Y.A. Liu, adviser of the Tech Association of Chinese Students and Scholars,
has been responsible for this translation thus far, and has spoken with Yang
's family numerous times. Liu declined comment to the Collegiate Times Monda
y.

"At the request of the suspect and also the victim's family I cannot speak t
o the news media," Liu said. "If I do, the university will lose the Chinese
speaking person."

Though a small temporary memorial was constructed in front of the Au Bon Pai
n in the Graduate Life Center, nothing further will be planned until the vic
tim's family has arrived in the United States, McNamee said. If the family a
pproves, the university will hold an official memorial service for her.

Knutson added that Memorial University has not had any discussion with Yang'
s family, but does plan to establish a memorial.

In an e-mail to VT-ACSS members, Liu explained the makeshift memorial in the
GLC.

"With the support from the University, VT-ACSS is setting up a station withi
n the GLC in memory of Ms. Xin Yang with flowers and books to write your wor
ds of condolences at the GLC (last) Sunday evening," Liu said. "We will give
the signed books to Ms. Yang's family members when they arrive on our campu
s in the near future."

Kim Beisecker, Cranwell International Student Center director, was unavailab
le on Monday and did not return calls to the Collegiate Times.

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