A 19-year-old student from China was killed in a Salt Lake City hotel room after a disturbing email was sent to a University of Utah staffer about her being injected with drugs.
The student, who has not yet been identified, was found lifeless in a Quality Inn room on Friday. A man who described himself as her boyfriend emailed a university employee to say he had injected her with drugs to “relieve her from suffering.”
Police officers pinged the victim’s cell phone location to track her down at the hotel, and upon entering the room, they found the man next to her body, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
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Officers “immediately began rendering immediate first aid to the woman, but paramedics determined she was already deceased,” the Salt Lake City Police Department said in a statement.
The man reportedly told police the two had agreed on a suicide pact with drugs purchased on the Dark Web meant to facilitate their plan. He “claimed he killed the victim and then attempted to kill himself by reportedly injecting himself with drugs,” police said.
The man has not yet been charged in connection with the 19-year-old’s death, which police have described as “suspicious.” But investigators said they are looking into her death “as a domestic violence-related homicide.”
The 26-year-old suspect “and the woman were in a romantic relationship and had been living together,” police said.
The young victim is the second Chinese student to be killed at the University of Utah in the last five years.
A spokesperson for the university confirmed that the 26-year-old man in police custody was also an international student from China, according to the Tribune. He was charged in mid-January for allegedly assaulting someone not far from the motel where police took him into custody, but it was not immediately clear who the victim was. A hearing in that case was scheduled for Feb. 16.
In a statement sent out Friday, officials at the University of Utah offered their “heartfelt grief” to the victim’s family and friends, and used the incident to call attention to domestic violence.
“The death of any young person embarking on adult life is devastating. And, unfortunately, domestic violence is more prevalent than many of us are aware, even among college students,” the statement said.
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
