www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/breaking/wb/192005
RSS feeds Virginia Tech releases gruesome details of student's on-campus murder By Greg Esposito | The Roanoke Times Police and officials gather in the lobby of Virginia Tech's Graduate Life Center on Wednesday. Police said a female resident was stabbed in the center's Au Bon Pain coffee shop Wednesday night. Photo by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times Police and officials gather in the lobby of Virginia Tech's Graduate Life Center on Wednesday. Police said a female resident was killed in the center's Au Bon Pain coffee shop Wednesday night.
Student stabbed to death at Virginia Tech At left: Haiyang Zhu When Virginia Tech authorities arrived Wednesday night at a cafe inside the Graduate Life Center, they found a decapitated female victim who had arrived on campus just two weeks ago and a young man they have now charged with killing her. Authorities, including Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum, outlined some of the gruesome details of Wednesday night's murder on campus at a press conference this morning. They said Xin Yang, a 22-year-old graduate student from Beijing, arrived Jan. Haiyang Zhu, 25, a graduate student from China, was charged late Wednesday with first-degree murder and is being held without bond. He is a PhD graduate student majoring in agricultural and applied economics. He began his studies at Virginia Tech at the start of the 2008 fall semester. Tech officials said the victim and suspect knew each other and Yang listed Zhu as an emergency contact. Flinchum said the two were sitting at a table at the Au Bon Pain cafe in the Graduate Life Center when the disturbance began. There were seven witnesses to the events and two called 911 at 7:06 pm When authorities arrived less than two minutes later, they discovered Yang's dead body, Zhu and a large kitchen knife that they believe is the murder weapon. There is no record of him being called to the attention of Tech or Blacksburg police or the university's threat assessment or CARE team before Wednesday. Classes were not cancelled today and the graduate life center is open. The windows and glass doors of Au Bon Pain are blocked from the inside and the cafe is closed.
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