Authorities in China have arrested a former University of Iowa student in connection with the death of a student from Iowa State University, whose body was found in the trunk of a car in Sept., 2014. In early June, at the invitation of the local and Federal law enforcement authorities the Criminal Investigation Bureau of China sent a team of investigators to Iowa City to work in conjunction with authorities in Iowa.  Evidence and information pertinent to the investigation were submitted to the Criminal Investigation Bureau of China.  On June 19th, the People’s Prosecutor of Wenzhou, China arrested Li Xiangnan for the crime of intentional homicide.

According to the Criminal Investigation Bureau of China, Li reported that on September 7th, 2014 Li strangled Tong Shao and fled the United States to China.    The Criminal Investigation Bureau of China further reported that according to Chinese law based on Criminal Law of the PRC, “the 7th item sets the rule that the Chinese apply the law to its citizens even if he or she commits a crime abroad.  The 232nd  item of the Criminal Law of the PRC reads the intentional killer will be punished up to the death sentence, life imprisonment or imprisonment over ten years.  The Criminal Law of the PRC further reads that if circumstances are relatively minor, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment spanning from three to ten years.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau of China released a statement indicating that that in recent years, thanks to the increasingly strengthened cooperation between the Chinese police and the international police, several case of violent nature have been brought to justice.  Further, the Criminal Investigation Bureau of China stated that there will be continued cooperation with Law Enforcement Officials in not only the United States, but other foreign countries of their citizens committing crimes abroad.

Li Xiangnan was a Chinese international student at the University of Iowa and a known associate of Ms. Shao with a reported intimate relationship.