On January 19, 2024, prosecutors in Santa Clara County, California, said that Google’s Chinese engineer Liren Chen (Chen) was facing murder charges for beating his wife Yu to death. (Related report from Red Star News: Google’s Chinese engineer beat his wife to death with his fists, “knelt on the ground motionless, with his hands raised in the air, his eyes blank”). On June 23, local time, the case was heard again in the Santa Clara County Court in California. Several witnesses and Chen himself appeared in court, and the parents of the deceased Yu also participated in the trial online.
According to witnesses at the scene, on the night of the incident, the deceased Yu announced to his friends that they were going to divorce. Jessica, the police officer who responded to the incident on the day of the incident, confirmed in court that she had heard the reporter (the friend of the couple involved) accuse the suspect Chen of cheating on his ex-girlfriend that day.
Husband appeared with a chainsaw
In court on June 23, Santa Clara County detective Ronaldo provided several surveillance videos of the kitchen and door of Chen and Yu’s home, and played them in court. According to the surveillance footage, this camera was supposed to be used to watch the pet cat at home eating, but it just happened to record the situation on the day of the incident.
At 0:21 on January 16, Yu appeared in the kitchen. Ronaldo said that this was the last video of Yu before her death. At 1:04, the kitchen light went out. Ronaldo explained that Yu was then beaten to death by her husband Chen with his bare hands. At 4:43, Chen appeared wearing bloody clothes. At 5:16, Chen appeared again, with a swollen right hand and blood on his body. Four minutes later, Chen appeared with an electric saw in his hand… The surveillance footage showed that he made a move to put the electric saw on his neck. At 8:10, Chen entered the kitchen again, took out a knife with a wide blade, and put it on his neck.
According to people who participated in the trial at the scene, Chen himself was also watching these surveillance video clips carefully when they were played in court.
Jessica said in court that she received a call at 6:05 a.m. on January 16, 2024, and arrived at the scene of the crime at about 11:10 a.m. Jessica walked around the window and found that the blinds were basically closed, and there was no response when she knocked on the door. Jessica then went around to the backyard and saw Chen through the window “sometimes with his hands raised high, staring out the window in a trance.” The police observed blood on Chen’s body and tried to communicate with him.
Jessica said that she and her companions then forced their way into the room, handcuffed Chen, and searched the house. Jessica recalled that the police found an open suitcase in the upstairs room.
Before the incident, the victim said he was preparing for a divorce
Police officer Jessica said in court that after receiving the call, she heard the caller accuse Chen of cheating on his ex-girlfriend.
The caller also attended the trial that day as a witness. The caller claimed to be Chen’s college classmate, and that he and Chen and his wife were friends for many years. At the time of the incident, he also lived in the Bay Area of the United States and often traveled with Chen and his wife.
The caller said that he had met Chen’s ex-girlfriend when he was in China, and after coming to the Bay Area, he had not heard Chen mention his ex-girlfriend. However, the caller said that she knew that Chen and his wife’s marriage was in crisis and “almost broke up.” The caller said that according to her understanding, Yu filed for divorce on the night of the accident. Earlier, Chen had confided to the caller’s husband that he was hesitating whether to divorce Yu.
The caller recalled that on January 15, 2024, she and her husband had invited Chen and his wife to a party, but Chen refused to come on the grounds that “there was a problem at work and his mentality was not very good.” After that, the caller said that he had received a text message from Chen’s mother, asking them to go see Chen and expressed her concern about Chen’s condition. The caller and his friends then went to visit Chen and Yu at home. After meeting Chen, the caller said that Chen was relatively silent throughout the whole process. He basically only answered one or two words to his friends’ questions, and his wife Yu supplemented them.
The caller recalled that Chen said that day that he was worried that he would not be able to find a new job in the technology industry after being laid off. The caller said that she felt that Chen’s behavior was strange that day. She asked Chen if he had auditory hallucinations and muscle tension due to excessive stress, “and he nodded and said yes.” In addition, the caller also revealed that Yu also added that Chen had a big problem with sleeping. “Yu said that he basically didn’t sleep. Once she woke up and found Chen sleeping with his eyes open.”
