Liren Chen is a Google engineer who is accused of murdering his wife in California on January 16 after being found covered in blood near her body, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney.
In a January 19 news release, the Santa Clara County District Attorney announced that Liren Chen, 27, was charged “with murdering his wife.”
The Santa Clara man, 27, was discovered “spattered with blood, in his home, with his wife’s body nearby,” the release says.
According to Fox News, Chen is a Google “software engineer,” and the murder occurred in the couple’s “upscale” home “just miles south of Google’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.”
The victim, Xuanyi Yu, also worked for Google, Fox News reported, and her LinkedIn page verified.
Here’s what you need to know:
Liren Chen’s LinkedIn Page Says He Worked on YouTube Shorts Recommendations; Xuanyi Yu Previously Worked for Amazon
LinkedInLiren Chen
According to a LinkedIn page in his name, Liren Chen worked for YouTube shorts recommendations as a Google software engineer.
Before that he was an intern for a San Diego-area software company. He previously worked as a computer vision research intern in Beijing, China, the LinkedIn page says.
He has a master’s degree in computer science from UC-San Diego and graduated before that from a university in China, the page says.
Yu’s LinkedIn page says she was also a software engineer at Google. She previously worked for Amazon, the page says. She attended the same colleges in China and San Diego as her husband, the page says.
An Acquaintance of Liren Chen Called Police to Report Chen ‘Was Refusing to Answer His Phone or His Door,’ the DA Says
警方说，Santa Clara 杀妻凶嫌、原谷歌工程师 Liren Chen 是用拳头把妻子 Xuanyi Yu 活生生打到死的。
此前《星岛日报》等华文媒体说男方是在准备自杀前杀害妻子。《The San Francisco Standard 》称该起凶杀案系家暴所致，涉案华裔男子并未打算自杀，同时该文还澄清了华文媒体在报道时涉嫌以谣传谣。
According to the DA’s news release, Chen “has been charged with murder and faces prison if convicted. His arraignment has been postponed once and may be again, as he is hospitalized. An arraignment remains scheduled for 1:30 p.m. this afternoon, in Department 23 in the Hall of Justice in San Jose.”
“Domestic violence deaths have been falling in our county but that does not measure the depth and destructiveness of the violence,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in the release. “Anyone who feels that they or someone else is being abused by their partners, please reach out your local law enforcement agency. You are not alone. We can help.”
According to the DA, “911 calls regarding domestic violence have risen.”
Around 11 a.m. on January 16, Santa Clara officers “responded to a welfare check to a home on Valley Way. When officers arrived, an acquaintance of the suspect expressed concern about Chen and his wife. Chen was refusing to answer his phone or his door,” the release says.
He could see Chen inside the home, “motionless on his knees, had his hands in the air and was staring blankly,” it says.
The Victim, Xuanyi Yu, Died of Blunt-Force Injuries to Her Head, the DA Says
LinkedInXuanyi Yu.
According to the news release, the officers “made entry into the residence and took the suspect into custody.”
In the bedroom “directly behind where Chen had been standing, officers located the victim deceased on the floor. She had severe blunt force injuries to her head. Chen’s right hand was extremely swollen and purple. He had blood on his clothing, legs, arms, and hands and scratches on his arm,” the news release says.
The San Francisco Standard reported that Chen is accused of punching his wife repeatedly.
He’s accused of telling police, “I punched my wife,” according to the Standard.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened by what has happened to Xuanyi,” Google spokesperson Bailey Tomson told Fox News. “Our thoughts are with her family at this time, and we will work to provide support to them and to co-workers who are processing this tragic news.”
According to the Standard, some news sites in China falsely claimed the couple died in a murder-suicide “triggering a media frenzy in the Chinese-speaking world, including national media in China.”
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