Virginia Tech Murder January 21, 2009 (Photos)

Virginia Tech Female Grad Student Murdered (Photos)

Posted on: January 22nd, 2009 by: Meg0 comments

A 25-year-old graduate student Haiyang Zhu has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bond. He allegedly stabbed a female graduate student, Xin Yang, to death near a cafe on the first floor of the Donaldson Brown Graduate Life Center on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia on Wednesday, January 21, 2009.

Police arrived on the scene at 7:06 p.m. and took the suspect into custody minutes later. The Ningbo, China grad student was covered with blood and was in possession of a large kitchen knife that is believed to be the murder weapon. A text message was sent to the campus community at 7:44 p.m. reporting that the suspect was in custody.

Police have been conducting interviews with seven witnesses and preliminary information indicates that the 22 year old victim and the suspect knew each other. The victim was decapitated while witnesses stood by helplessly. According to Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum, officers arrived on an extremely “gruesome scene”.

Xin Yang had just arrived at Virginia Tech on January 8 to begin her studies in accounting and was a resident of the Graduate Life Center. Zhu was a Ph.D. graduate student majoring in agricultural and applied economics. He began his studies at the start of the 2008 fall semester.

Law enforcement officials indicate that the immediate vicinity of the crime scene will reopen to students on Thursday. The Au Bon Pair cafe, where the stabbing took place, serves pastries, soup and sandwiches. Some access to the building, including hallways, was being allowed on Wednesday evening.

Haiyang Zhu was arraigned in Montgomery County this morning. See the suspect’s mugshot below.