Virginia Lawyers Weekly

CHRISTIANSBURG—A former Virginia Tech graduate student pleaded guilty last week to decapitating a classmate, and prosecutors revealed the reason for the campus cafe killing, saying his romantic advances had been rejected.

Prosecutors described in detail a heartbroken Haiyang Zhu who had fallen in love with Xin Yang, only to be rebuffed when she told him she had a boyfriend she planned to marry. Previously, authorities had been tightlipped about what led to the killing.

Zhu, who faces up to life in prison, did not say at the plea hearing why he killed Yang. He quietly answered questions in English.

Prosecutor Brad Finch said on the morning of the killing Jan. 21, Zhu bought the 8-inch butcher knife used in the murder, two other knives and a claw hammer. He also called the 22-year-old woman a dozen times after buying the weapons.

Finch cited a letter Zhu wrote while in jail, which said Yang’s rejection “forced him to kill her’’ because “he loved her too much.’’

“Xin broke his heart on the morning of January 20th when she told him that she had a boyfriend and that they planned to get married,’’ the letter said, according to Finch.

The killing stunned a campus that still had vivid memories of the mass slayings in April 2007, when a student gunman shot 32 people to death and then took his own life. The stabbing was the first slaying on campus since then.

Zhu’s first-degree murder plea did not qualify for the death penalty under Virginia law, but Finch said he would seek the maximum prison penalty. Virginia does not have parole.

Finch described the attack in detail, noting that Yang suffered numerous defensive wounds to her hands and arms as she tried to fend off Zhu. She eventually fell and he severed her head. He was holding it when police arrived.

It appeared Yang, who was from Beijing, had met Zhu of Ningbo, China, only recently, Kim Beisecker, the director of Cranwell International Center, has said. Zhu, a doctoral student in agricultural and applied economics, had been assisting her in adjusting to life at Tech, something the 500 Chinese students often do for new members in their community.

Montgomery Circuit Judge Robert Turk said Zhu will be sentenced on April 19.

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