| Show Grad student decapitated in grisly murder at Va Tech Brigid Schulte The Washington Post PostA t tA A year old graduate student who had arrived on campus at Virginia Tech just two weeks ago was decapitated with what university officials said appeared to be a kitchen knife at a cafe on campus last night Officials at a news conference Thursday said they waited to release the grisly details of her murder until they could contact a translator and notify her mother in China It was quite gruesome said Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker describing the scene We Ve felt that it was important for us to do of next-of-kin notification before we released that fact Xin Yang 22 a graduate student from Beijing had arrived on campus Jan 8 to begin studying accounting in the Pamplin College of Business officials said Yang a resident of the Graduate Life Center was killed at the Au AuBon AuBon AuBon Bon Pain restaurant on the centers center's first floor about 7 pm p.m. Wednesday Another graduate student Zhu 25 25 from China has been charged with first-degree first murder and is being he held without bond at the Montgomery County jail Hincker said police were still investigating whether anyone tried to intervene and how long the attack lasted Officials said Zhu had been a graduate student at Tech since the fall He was wasa a PhD student studying agricultural and applied economics Officials said that the two clearly knew each other Records indicate that Yang listed both her mother and Zhu as her emergency contacts Police are still investigating the nature of their relationship Hincker said The suspect is in custody and the nature of the incident points to an isolated very personal tragedy Virginia Tech President Charles W. W Steger wrote in an open letter this morning to the campus community Our hearts go out to the victim and her family An act of violence like this one brings back memories of the April 16 tragedy and I have no doubt that many of us feel especially distraught In 2007 when Virginia Tech police initially found the bodies of two students who had been shot in one of the dorms they began working on the premise that the shooting was wasa a contained domestic shooting and began a manhunt for the boyfriend of the victim Within a few hours shooter Seung Hui HuiCho HuiCho HuiCho Cho had chained the doors to Norris Hall and opened fire in several classrooms killing a total of 32 students and teachers In this incident police said all signs do point to toan toan toan an isolated case of domestic violence Police are still interviewing seven witnesses who said they saw the two at Au Bon Pain and saw no sign of argument I before Zhu attacked Yang Unlike Cho who had a lengthy history of mental health issues Zhu had never attracted the attention of the Virginia Tech police department the Blacksburg police department nor northe northe northe the university's threat assessment team officials said Hincker said two calls came in to campus police at pm p.m. and that police arrived one minute and 15 seconds later But it was too late They found both Zhu and the knife at the scene he said At Hincker said alerts were sent to people with Virginia Tech mail e-mail addresses as well as asto asto asto to the subscribers to the new Virginia Tech alert system warning students to stay put and remain vigilant The Graduate Life Center was closed except to residents until 7 am a.m. Thursday t |
