Court documents reveal new details of the case against Qinxuan Pan, a Massachusetts man suspected of killing a Yale graduate student.
Pan was arrested on May 14 in Montgomery, Alabama, by members of the U.S. Marshals and he was brought back to Connecticut. He remains in custody and is charged with murder. During his last hearing, bond was set at $20 million.
Kevin Jiang, 26, was found on Saturday, Feb. 6, lying outside of his car on Lawrence Street in New Haven. According to Pan's arrest warrant, Jiang was shot multiple times in the face.
Jiang, who grew up in Chicago, was a graduate student at Yale’s School of the Environment and he was set to graduate next year, police said.
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Before his death, he had just been engaged to be married, court documents reveal.
Police didn’t say whether Pan and Jiang had an existing relationship. However, according to the arrest warrant, Jiang's fiancée told investigators she and Pan were friends while they were both students at MIT in 2019, and that "she did get a feeling that she was interested in her during that time."
Prior to the shooting, Pan visited car dealerships in Connecticut and Massachusetts, looking to purchase a small model SUV and even asked to test drive vehicles, police said.
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The report said Pan took a blue GMC Terrain for a test drive on Feb. 6 in Mansfield, Massachusetts, and never returned it to the dealership. Investigators believe this is the vehicle Pan was driving during the shooting. The same day, police found Pan in that vehicle in North Haven, with a stolen or lost Connecticut license plate on the vehicle. Police seized the vehicle at the time, but Pan, who was taken to a hotel by a tow truck driver, fled before he was tied to the New Haven investigation, according to the arrest warrant.
On February 11, U.S. Marshals located Pan's parents in Georgia. His father told them that he'd received a call from Pan several days prior, telling him he was in Connecticut and that he needed help. His parents came from Massachusetts to pick him up and then drove with him to unknown locations, sleeping in the car, according to the warrant.
His father did not explain why his son needed help, according to the warrant. He told investigators he did not know where Pan was at the time.
Two months after the murder of Jiang, the search for Pan became an international manhunt, NBC News reported.
Authorities have not confirmed a motive for the killing.
Pan remains in custody. He is next scheduled to appear in court on July 13.
Attorney William Gerace, who is representing Pan, said his client intends to plead not guilty to the charges against him. He said Pan has no criminal record and is an “affable” young man.
“I can’t imagine him doing this crime ... and I look forward to finding out the true facts,” Gerace said in a phone interview after a court hearing.
Prosecutor Stacey Miranda asked the judge to set bail at $50 million, saying Pan’s family is wealthy and he is a flight risk.
According to prosecutors, Pan’s family owns two homes in Massachusetts and recently bid on a North Carolina home.
During a court hearing, Miranda added that Pan rented an apartment in Montgomery, Alabama, under a false name and had $19,000 in cash and his father’s passport. Prosecutors said that Pan had seven cell phones and seven SIM cards.
The judge ordered Pan held on $20 million. Gerace has requested a reduction.
