UIUC Chinese Student Killed Girlfriend

A 25 year old female Chinese student was killed at her off campus apartment 1343 North Lincoln Avenue. The suspect forced his way into the apartment and restrained her roommate. The roommate was able to free herself after the murder left and alerted police.

A student who claimed to live next to the room said he/she did not hear sound of gunshot.

It is reported that the suspect came from Shijiazhuang of Hebei Province. Ci graduated from Beijing Communication University and Oregon State University before being accepted into UIUC in 2008.

The suspect is 29 year old Ci Yongfei, a PhD student in Mathematics, specialized in topology and geometry in 3-minifolds. According to the suspect's homepage at UIUC, he is visiting ICERM at Brown University for the Fall semester of 2013. His PhD advisor Nathan Dunfield was on sabbatical leave for the academic year 2013-2014. Ci is Dunfield's only Chinese student, and the only male Chinese student in the Math Department. Ci is in his 6th year into PhD study, but had not published a single paper. It is disappointing, as an accepted paper is crucial for a timely graduation and competition on the already saturated job market; however, it is not uncommon for a doctoral student in Math.

Ci's cell phone was located at Value Place 1212 W. Anthony Drive in Champaign shortly after. Seeing police cars pulling in the parking lot of the motel, Ci called 911 to arrange his surrender. Ci was arrested without incident.

The Sina Weibo reported this incident in great detail at the early stage, much faster than Chinese platform frequent by oversea Chinese students. Despite the censorship and the Great FireWall, the gravity of information exchanges had leaned to the mainland based social networking sites, a sign of China's emerging 'soft power'.

It has been confirmed that the death was caused by stabbing.

A poem posted by the suspect, an avid poster on MITBBS:

falling 2013-02-06 21:02:29 那天傍晚时分，忽然下雪了 很大很大 不久 窗外就变成了一片白茫茫的世界 待雪稍微减弱 我说，在家里闷了一天了，出去散散步吧 你说，好 于是套上羽绒服，相拥出了门 街上半个人影都看不到 只有我和你 在没脚深的雪里蹒跚 发出嘎吱嘎吱的响声 除此之外再无其他声音 雪白，安静 就像童话里的世界 走出一段距离 同时回头看 四条脚印，歪歪扭扭 从远处一直延伸到脚下 你忽然使劲拽我的胳膊，仰头看着我，说 我好想让雪一直下 不停地下 咱俩一直这样走下去 永远不回头 好不好 我说，好阿 可是你忘了咱们家炉子上还炖着一锅牛肉呢

A post attributed to the suspect, on relationship with his girlfriend

发信人: falling (旋转坠落), 信区: Dreamer 标 题: 终于跟mm表白了，mm却生气了 发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Wed Feb 27 20:42:16 2013, 美东) 哥说，做哥的女朋友吧，哥之前的女友都很好看，你打破了哥这个标准 mm忽然晴转阴，二话没说转身走了 到今天没理我

Ci grew up in a noname city, went to a noname college in Beijing, followed by another noname college in the US, before starting his PhD study at UIUC. Yet he is attacking the most challenging subject among all science topics. Mathematics was not the popular major for Chinese students when Ci went to college, and Beijing Communication University was far from top-tier among thousands of Chinese colleges. Topology and Algebraic Geometry, extremely difficult themselves, became household names for Chinese students thanks to two great Chinese mathematicians (Shiing-Shen Chern and Shing-Tung Yau) who had made great contribution in these fields. Did Ci choose the subject he is working on by choice? Or was it one option of making a living? If the latter, then it could be a path too oppressive to navigated. In other words, when an overachiever taking great pressure in a foreign jungle, people close-by should watch out and prepare for a potential snap.

The Champaign County Coroner identified the woman as Mengchen Huang. Grew up in Nanjing, Huang graduated from China Central Academy of Fine Arts with a B.A. in Art History in 2010, and had been pursuing a Master's Degree in Arts & Humanities at UICU. Huang had 145 friends on Facebook. Ci had 19 friends. They were not friends of each other on Facebook as the homicide took place. Ci's status is listed as single.

Update: Huang was stabbed at least 3 times at throat, and her throat was slit. Huang's roommate was Xue Yang. Ci's bond was set at $10 million.

Yang, not knowing Ci's name, had heard about Ci from Huang, and said Huang had been afraid of this ex-boyfriend in Brown.

The UIUC Throat-slitting Case is yet another horrific crime committed by an oversea Chinese student onto another oversea Chinese student.

Update: Oct 22, 2013, Champaign County Courthouse. Ci pleaded not guilty on all charges of home invasion, aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder. Ci requested a jury trial. His attorney will be public defender George Vargas. Born in Costa Rica, the former Army captain obtained his law degree from Michigan State University and started his legal career in 2005.

Updates; 2 Hours Later

Well, the country and the people kept the secret, until the official Xinhua News Agency released an authorized statement from the Party: Neil Heyood (aka Nick Wood in China) was murdered by Bo Xilai's wife Gu Kailai on Nov 15, 2011, over business dispute with Gu and Bo's son Bo Guagua, a Harrow/Oxford/Harvard student. Gu was under investigation by the judicial system.

When Gu Kailai (the official Xinhua news referred to her as Bo-Gu Kailai), an attorney at law, visited the US 15 years ago on a business trip, her US partners described her as the 'Jackie Kennedy of China'. Now, she will be remembered the murderer edition of Jackie Kennedy.

That had been the secret kept well by the millions of people for two months. Wang Lijun tipped off the case to the US officials when he walked in the US Consulate in Chengdu. Wang, the former police chief in Chongqing and a henchman of Bo, was investigating Heywood's death, when he was threatened by Bo, the Party chief in Chongqing. Several detectives were killed or detained by Bo before Wang's walk-in.

In the two months leading to this night, officials were informed of the case in a layer-by-layer fashion from top to bottom. The County-level officials were given a heads up of roughly two hours. Every one of them, millions in total, kept the secret until the official announcement from the Xinhua News. The heads up, from two months to two hours, is the symbol of their ranking over the common people, a power hierarchy they sworn to protect.

Reading between the lines:
Following the official Xinhua News announcement, many Netizens offered their reading and interpretation of the otherwise dry and short statements. It is worth noting that:
1) Bo's son was linked;
2) Bo's wife is referred to as Bo-Gu Kailai, instead of the often used name Gu Kailai. Bo himself is implicated in accusations against his wife; also hinted Gu held foreign passport (therefore no death sentence);
3) It must be something bigger than a business dispute: may it be political, or it may be personal (of romantic nature);
4) A task force 'reviewed' the murder case investigation originally initiated by Wang Lijun and confirmed Wang's findings;
5) Heywood's Chinese wife might have played a role in the case, so much about the tiger wife's fantasy after Rupert Murdoch's Chinese wife fenced off an attacker in the hearing at the House of Commons.
6) Another name Mr. Zhang Xiaojun was cited as Bo's Butler, when referring to the murder case. With the speculation that Heywood being Bo Guagua's butler, it seemed we had a case of a butler killed by a butler, both serving the same family.

Gu Kailai (born 1960) is the fifth daughter of PLA General Gu Jingsheng. Her mother Fang Chengxiu is a decedent of Fan Zhongyan. Gu graduated from Beijing University with a Bachelor's Degree in Law and a Mater Degree in International Politics. Gu is Bo's second wife.

What If Annie Le Was Killed by One of Us?

"What if Annie Le was killed by one of us?" That's the question leadership of the Yale should have asked at the very beginning of the investigation. Otherwise, they would probably reconsider their initial offer of award for leads to the case.

Yale graduate student Annie Le was murdered in daytime in a Yale building. Her body was found stuffed in a wall of the same building last Sunday, the same day when she was supposed to be married. Yale officials' attitude saw a sharp turn once it became clear to themselves (while still not clear to the public) that the only suspect was a white dude. Yale president assured the campus that everyone were safe, while the killer was still at large on campus.

Despite the fact the Yale officials knew the killer, a white technician of the lab, was the only one person who last saw Annie Le alive, Yale allowed the white person to return to the crime scene to clean it out (as observed by co-workers and reported by news media). Both Annie Le and the white person used card-keys to enter an exclusive room. Annie Le never came out. Each time a card key is used, a distinctive message is recorded so that the owner of the key is traced. Yale had the information so they soon discovered the killer. While no arrested was made until one week later, the Yale officials went to public to say no one on campus was in danger. Police was not allowed to conduct a lock-down search of the building until Sunday, when Annie Le's body was found. Plenty of time was giving to the white killer to cleared up the mass, and he did.

Even after the New Haven police had made the arrest on Thursday, while co-workers testified the white dude had temper-control problem. Yale spokesman had the nerve to assert that they saw no sign to worry from the killer's past, which included being accused of raping just a few years ago.

When we all know the answers to the said question, Yale university showed the world its true color towards its own students, if they happened to have colored skin.

Onlien Discovery May Incriminalize Husband of Hiking Accident Victism

Chinese student Yin, Jing and her labmate a US student were killed in a hiking accident when the two were traveling in Jiuzhigou, China, a famous tourism location.

Days after the accident, while relatives and friends were still mourning for their lost, some people pointed out suspicious leads that suggest it might be a murder case. Yin's jealous husband who is in school in another state in the US was alleged to have hired a hit man to kill the duo because of extramarital affairs.

1) The husband has the motive. Yin dutifully kept updating a blog where she elaborate every details of her daily life since 2005. However, not even once was her husband mentioned in her thousands of blogs.

2) The American student could be seen in many photos Yin posted on the web. The facial expression suggested intimate relationship between the two.

3) Although Yin created her MSN Live blog when she was a married woman, she listed 'many people' as her 'significant other' in her online profile.

4) The husband made a lonely trip back to China in June, 2009.

5) Yin revealed in her blog on July 16, 2009 that her own mother was against her travel plan. She said she had been hiding the trip from her mother.

6) Someone from Mianyang, Sichuan (IP: 125.67.157.*) posted online requesting Yin's pictures and descriptions on August 10, 2009. Mianyang is the closest city to the scene of the fatal accident.

7) September 3rd, 2009. The duo were found killed by 'falling rocks'.

8) September 5th, 2009. Someone questioned the motive behind the inquiry made on August 10, 2009.

9) There is little to none media coverage in mainland on the accidental death of one American and one oversea Chinese students in China. These type of incidents are always big media hit. It's hard to imagine this is not intentionally handled by the police due to ongoing criminal investigation.