Canadian True Crime - The Murder of Liu Qian

Episode Date: February 1, 2022

Sometime after midnight in 2011, 23 year old York University student Liu Qian was chatting to an old friend via webcam as she studied in her tiny basement dorm room in Toronto. But there was a knock at her door—and her friend on the other side of the computer screen would be the only witness to the terror that would unfold.Look out for early, ad-free release on CTC premium feeds: available on Amazon Music (included with Prime), Apple Podcasts, Patreon and Supercast. Full list of resources, information sources, credits and music credits:See the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canadian True Crime is a completely independent production, funded mainly through advertising. You can listen to Canadian True Crime ad-free and early on Amazon music included with Prime, Apple Podcasts, Patreon, and Supercast. The podcast often has disturbing content and coarse language. It's not for everyone. An additional content warning. This episode includes details of sexual assault. And while not the focus of the case, there is also reference to incest and sexual assault of a child or underage person. Please take care when listening. It was the night of April 14th, 2011, in a Toronto student rooming house close to the York University campus. One of the students who lived there was a 23-year-old called Cheyenne, and she was feeling a bit

lonely that night. Cheyenne occupied a tiny dorm room in the basement, and that night she was studying in front of her laptop. As midnight approached, she clicked on the name of her high school boyfriend. They had recently broken up for mutual reasons, but they'd stayed friends, and that night, Cheyenne wanted some company on Skype as she studied. Her family and friends were back in Beijing, China, and she'd only been in Canada for about seven months. She was one of 50,000 Chinese students who were in Canada for university at the time. Chien's surname was Liu.

It's customary in China to list the surname first, so her correct full name was Liu Qian. Sometimes international students pick an English-sounding name for use when studying abroad, and she also went by Nicole, but in this episode we'll call her Cheyenne for consistency. So, why did 23-year-old Cheyenne come to Canada by herself to study? Well, she was a talented writer and artist, and after she got her undergrad degree at Beijing City University, her ultimate goal was to complete her Masters of Fine Arts abroad. She applied to several Canadian universities and was thrilled to be accepted into the English

program at York University in Toronto, which would lead her to her master's. But for her parents, the news was bittersweet. Cheyenne was their only child, born under China's one-child policy. An initiative started in 1980 to slow down the growth of the Chinese population. Each family was only allowed to have one child during this time, and their one child, Chean, was leaving China. Her parents would miss her, but more than that, they worried. They knew it would be an adjustment for her to attend university in a Western country

with a different culture and language. Cheyenne's grandmother took the news particularly hard, insisting that Canada was too far away and begging her to focus on priorities closer to home. Cheyenne was a friendly woman. Her father would describe her as an extrovert with a good heart. Her parents took the time to speak with her about personal safety and the cultural challenges she might face in Canada. But Cheyenne knew what she wanted and she was ready to go.

She was immensely sad to leave her long-term boyfriend back in Beijing, but from everything she'd gathered, studying in Canada would open up more and better job opportunities. Student visa in hand, Cheyenne arrived in Toronto in September 2010. She moved into off-campus accommodation close to the university and soon threw herself into her studies. There was an adjustment period, but before long she'd started to achieve good marks and her English was university level fluent.

Back in Beijing, her family were relieved and happy to see her doing so well and looking forward to her returning home for a visit after exams. Cheyenne had a friendly and generous personality and she made friendships quickly. particularly with the other students who had come from abroad. International students are a big priority for many universities. According to a 2021 article in the Globe and Mail, government support for post-secondary education in Canada has stalled over the years, so colleges and universities have to make up the difference in their budgets.

And the way they do this is by recruiting international students and charging them tuition that can be up to four times as high as domestic students. And international students are willing to pay it, or their families are, because they believe the outcome will be better. And that's just for tuition. When it comes to where these international students actually live, that's another story. Students can opt to live on campus, but the cost is prohibitive,

often thousands of dollars for accommodation for the school year and almost as much for meal plans. But if after paying these exorbitant tuition fees the students can't afford to also live on campus, their other main option is to stay in rooming houses close by, which are essentially three or four bedroom family homes and townhouses that have been crudely subdivided into tiny dorm rooms, Often with a small private bathroom, a desk, a single bed and maybe a tiny kitchen aunt. An article in the Toronto Star revealed one landlord illegally converted a three-bedroom townhouse near the university into 14 separate dorm rooms. In that region, rooming houses or multi-tenant houses are illegal, unregulated and unlicensed.

The Globe and Mail quoted a faculty member from a major Canadian study on international students who said landlords provide them with, quote, basically a hole in the ground that students may be willing to take for any cost. Cheyenne found inexpensive accommodation at one rooming house for a few months, but she suggested on a Facebook post that there was an issue with insects there, so she moved to a different one in January of 2011. 11. There, her tiny room was in the basement of the house, next to the laundry room. But despite her accommodation hiccups, Cheyenne was relatively happy in Canada. She had made friends

loved to socialise and go clubbing in Toronto and was always ready to help out one of her fellow students. One of her friends described her to the Globe and Mail as, incredibly cute in a very funny way. Recalling how one night, Chianne offered some Chinese meds for a headache and then rushed back to check up when she realized the meds were actually to help flu symptoms and not a headache. The friend described Chien as being overly generous, caring and kind, almost to a fault. Chean relied heavily on her computer. The webcam on her IBM Thinkpad T-400 laptop was her link to China, her link to family and friends, and she and her mother Yaru spoke with each other every morning at the same time. That morning, as they were chatting, Cheyenne told her mother that

her final exams were fast approaching, and she had bought her plane ticket back home to Beijing in just a few weeks. She couldn't wait to eat her favorite meals again. And of course, she missed her family so much. She couldn't wait to see her parents and grandmothers again, not to mention her friends, schoolmates, and of course her former boyfriend, Shao Chow. They had been together since high school, and even though they'd tried to make it work long distance when Cheyenne was in Canada, it was too difficult, so they had broken up after about four months.

But they still remained on good terms as friends, and they chatted every few weeks via Skype and messaging apps. And that's exactly what they were doing late Thursday night, in April of 2011. Cheyenne was at her laptop in her basement bedroom, chatting casually with Zhao Chao on Skype while she studied. The pair could see each other on their screens via webcam and could hear each other through their microphone headsets.

Midnight came and went, and at about 1 a.m., Chienn suddenly paused. She told Chow that she thought she may have heard a knock at her door. But there was no window or peephole, so she had no idea who was out there without actually opening the door. But she'd been having some troubles with connecting her phone with the house Wi-Fi, and earlier she'd gone to ask some of the other students who lived there to help. Perhaps it was someone who had figured out the solution. Cheyenne got up from the chair and walked over to the door, which was partially visible to Zhao Chao

via the webcam. Outside the door, she said something in English to whoever was there. Zhao Chao didn't know what she said because he didn't speak English. But he saw that she opened the door a little, and as she did, Zhao Chao saw a tall, athletic-looking man standing in the doorframe. He continued to watch casually through the webcam, as Cheyenne picked up her cell phone and handed it to the man in the doorway. Perhaps he was going to fix the Wi-Fi issue. As he started pressing buttons on her phone, Cheyenne sat back down on her computer chair

and Zhao Chow could see her side profile as she conversed with the stranger. The man seemed hesitant, leaning in the doorframe and then out of it as he held her phone. After a while, it seemed that the conversation was coming to a close, and the stranger was going to leave, when all of a sudden Cheyenne got up and started pushing the door closed on him. On the other side of the door, the stranger was pushing back, trying to force his way into the room, but he was bigger and stronger,

so he was able to shove Cheyenne aside and push the door shut behind him. Zhao Chao was watching all of this through the webcam and was starting to panic as he saw the stranger approach Cheyenne to give her a hug, but she clearly didn't want to because she pushed back at his chest, saying no in Mandarin, and then no in English. That much Zhao Chao knew. Then there was a struggle and the man pushed Chien out of view of the webcam. Zhao Chow could see one of her feet in view shaking as she continued to scream out, no in Mandarin, and then she fell completely out of view.

In Beijing, Zhao Chow continued to stare helplessly at his computer screen, not knowing if he should do something and if he should, what could he even do? But suddenly he heard two muffled bangs, followed by silence. From that moment on, he heard no more sound from Chien. But he continued to watch the screen, hoping for some kind of clue that she was okay. Instead, he heard what appeared to be the stranger rustling around in her room for the next 20 minutes or so. The stranger himself, the intruder, was off camera, but Zhao Chao could hear him breathing heavily for a few minutes. Then it sounded like furniture was being moved.

Cheyenne's bedroom light suddenly snapped off, and through it all, Zhao Chao heard what he thought was a set of keys jingling. And then, the man suddenly appeared directly in front of the computer. From where the webcam was positioned, Zhao Chao could see from his abdomen to his knees, and he was naked. The man leaned forward and switched off the computer, instantly cutting off Zhao Chao's access. He was in a panic by now and his mind went blank.

He was 10,000 kilometers away in Beijing and had no idea what to do. He felt helpless, desperate and panicked. Was Chien okay? Who was the man? While the video feed was gone and that wasn't recording anyway, he had been recording the audio, which was something that he and Chienn used to do. He racked his brain and then suddenly remembered

he had Chien's password for one of her online accounts. So in desperation he logged in and sent a frantic message to her contacts, saying, Liu Qian is in danger. Can someone please help her? Call the police asking for help. At least one of her classmates saw the message during the early morning hours, but for unknown reasons, no one took action until about 8.30am. Another international student was on the bus when he received an email asking him to check on Cheyenne. They were friendly and had gone clubbing together, so he immediately called his brother

to go and check in on her. The brother went to the house and knocked and knocked, but no one answered the door. They would have to call the landlord to get into the room. At Cheyenne's family home in Beijing, her mother, Yarru, had received a strange call from a person, clearly crying, who said they were Cheen's friend and urged her to call the police

because someone was in Cheyenne's room in Toronto and had tried to hurt her. Chien's father, Gianhui, was out of town on business and had no idea what to do from there, so it was all up to her mother to figure out who to call from Beijing for a crime committed in a tiny basement in Toronto. And then, the family waited, helpless, for any news about what might be happening. The hours went by with no word. And that night, neither Cheyenne's mother nor her 85-year-old. old grandmother slept. They were so anxious for news about whether Cheyenne was okay. Back in Toronto,

after a few hours of waiting, the landlord finally arrived to unlock Cheyenne's bedroom door. And there, they found the body of Liu Qian. The police arrived at about 11 a.m. and assessed the crime scene. Cheyenne's body was naked from the waist down and she was lying face down with her nightdress and sweater pulled up around her shoulders. One of her earrings was missing. Near her body lay a tangled pile of fabrics, her underwear, socks and tights. Blood could be seen on the floor around her face, but there were no immediate signs of trauma to her body, nor of sexual assault. Her cause of death wasn't apparent, so the police decided to wait until after autopsy and toxicology testing to decide whether to move her death from suspicious to homicide.

According to reporting by the Globe and Mail, police were entertaining the idea that Cheyenne may have been given a lethal injection. With police assessing what was in Cheyenne's room and taking note of the crime scene, they saw a pillow and flat sheet were on top of her mattress and a pink plush blanket was on the floor in the corner of the room. The furniture appeared to have been known. moved around. They also had to assess what was not in there. They found a cell phone, but it seemed that her laptop was missing completely. Back in Beijing, Cheyenne's parents had been waiting by the

phone for more than 10 hours, and finally it rang. It was not the news they'd hoped for. As her father, Gian Hui, would later write, quote, we got the most brutal news. Our lovely daughter was gone. We'll never see Liu Qian again. We did not know how to deal with this like a thunder hit her mother's head. Her mother and grandmother clung together crying. The police had delivered the devastating news that Cheyenne, their only daughter, had been murdered in her own student accommodation just seven months after moving to Canada. Straightaway, they booked flights to Toronto. Investigators had also connected with Cheyenne's former boyfriend. friend Zhao Chao. He was the closest person to a witness to the crime, but they had to rely on his

recollections because his Skype video call with Chien was live and not recorded, although he had recorded the audio separately. But Zhao Chao was able to provide a very detailed description of the man that he saw on screen. It was a white male, aged between 20 to 30 years old, about six feet tall and between 175 to 200 pounds. He had muscular build with brown hair that was tussled at the front and groomed at the back, and he was wearing a blue crewneck t-shirt and loose shorts. Four days after Cheyenne's death,

police told CBC news that they were still waiting to hear from the coroner's office, but they believed the attack wasn't random. It appeared to be targeted, but they were still looking into all possibilities at that point. They did say that they had yet to locate her laptop. By this point, the police had realized that the cell phone they found in Cheyenne's room was an old phone that was inactive. It wasn't her primary phone, so now it was both her laptop and her phone that were missing.

The York University community was shocked by the news, especially the international student population. The university released a statement to the media calling Cheyenne's death a terrible tragedy and passing on condolences to her family, friends and classmates. The autopsy results were released, but did not give the definitive answer that police were hoping for. The forensic pathologist found semen on Cheyenne's thigh,

groin area and abdomen, and there was blood under her fingernails and traces of DNA that was either saliva or semen on both of her breasts, ample DNA for testing. So there was evidence of a sexual assault, but no evidence of penetration. And while there was no external trauma to Cheyenne's body, including visible injuries to her neck, her neck muscles were bruised and she had patikial hemorrhaging, which are small hemorrhages in the eye resulting from obstructed blood supply to the head.

Cheyenne's official cause of death was listed as unacertained and the toxicology results were clean. But the most likely cause of her death was determined to be this, mechanical asphyxia caused by neck or chest compression or when the airways are otherwise blocked. In other words, strangulation. As investigators, started to interview people who knew Chien in Toronto,

including the other 10 student tenants of the rooming house where she lived, rumors started circulating online that she was being stalked. According to the Toronto Star, someone who identified themselves as a friend of Chien's posted on Chinese language online chat rooms that she had rejected a romantic advance and that person had been stalking her. Apparently, the person was.

once shared the same house as Cheyenne. The friend wrote, quote, the suspect was chasing after her, but she refused, and then he started stalking her by texting her all the time. In the meantime, investigators had been speaking with all of the other tenants at Cheyenne's rooming house, to find out if they saw or heard anything that night, and to get an idea of where they were at the time. It was taking time because there were reports. reportedly 11 people living there in a three-bedroom townhouse that had been subdivided into tiny little dorm rooms. But after a day or two, investigators had managed to reach and talk to almost all of them, except one. A man called Brian Dixon was proving very hard to get a hold of,

and he hadn't been seen since that night. As investigators worked to track him down, they started to look into his background and online presence, and they discovered some things that gave them reason to pause. Brian Dixon seemed to be a bit of a societal outlier. It seemed that he was no longer studying at university, yet the 29-year-old continued to live at international student rooming houses and hang out among students much younger than he was. He grew up in Toronto's east end suburb of Riverdale with his parents, who both worked in the fields of mental health and social work. Brian was the youngest child of the family, and a later CBC News article quoted neighbours who described him as a great kid, cordial, sociable and curious.

Not much as publicly known about his childhood, but after graduating high school, Brian enrolled to study global politics at York University. During this time, he became actively involved in extracurricular activities, like Model UN, and he was also given the opportunity to represent the university on a project, working as education commissioner, but he unexpectedly quit four months into the role. One of his colleagues observed him as being quiet. In the years after that, Brian interned for several organizations related to external affairs, and political science. He was also a running instructor and enrolled in an eight-month acting program.

Consistency and sticking with things was a problem for Brian. He had trouble staying engaged with his course and it took him more than a decade to complete three quarters of the credits needed to graduate with a bachelor's degree. And there he stayed. There were different accounts of Brian's general demeanor and personality. A woman who met him at his acting course said he was friendly, but seemed to have a dark side. She told CBC News that he came to visit her at work, and the interaction made her feel uncomfortable. Quote, my gut had a negative feeling about him. He had a very mild exterior, quiet, awkward exterior, but something behind that might be a little frightening. The woman said she always noticed that Brian behaved in an odd way, which later got him banned from the bar where she worked.

In April of 2011, when Liu Qian was murdered, Brian wasn't currently enrolled at York University. His record at full-time stable employment was about as consistent as his university record. At the time, he was earning money handing out flyers, while living. in the student accommodation, and his room was on the ground floor of the house where Cheyenne occupied the basement room. Police also found evidence that two women had alleged Brian had been violent towards them, but the charges had been withdrawn. So there was that, and the fact that Brian had not made himself available to police and was still unaccounted for, but there was one other thing that made him a prime person of interest. His physical profile was an uncanny match to the

stranger Xiao Chau saw through the webcam that night. Brian appeared to be clean cut, tall and athletic, and seemed to fancy himself as a model, even posting shirtless photos of himself online in provocative poses. It was imperative that investigators locate Brian Dixon as soon as possible. There, was a predator still out there, and they wanted to either clear Brian or arrest him. The York University community was terrified, especially women, and the conversation around campus safety was reignited. York University told the media that it had stepped up security patrols and was offering counseling to students and staff in the wake of the tragedy. Investigators managed to track Brian Dixon to his parents' home.

He seemed cordial on the phone, eager to help, and agreed to come in for an interview. By that point, it was four days after Cheyenne's murder, and the police were eager for his answers. He arrived at the station looking clean cut, wearing a crisp white shirt and jeans. He was asked about his attendance at York and why he still lived in student accommodation. He explained that he still owed the university money and wasn't currently a student until he could pay his tuition again. The conversation then turned to Cheyenne and Brian was asked to speak about his interactions with her. He said he'd only met her about a month beforehand when he was doing laundry in the area outside her room and described her

as very friendly, a really sweet person. Quote, that was my first impression that she's nice, you could tell. Now, as you'll remember, Chien's ex-boyfriend Zhao Chao witnessed the stranger at her door at about one in the morning. When Brian was asked where he was on that night, he said that he was in the basement putting a load of laundry on at about 10pm, which police knew was about three hours earlier. Speaking in a very quiet tone, almost so quiet that you can't hear him. Brian said that he stopped into Cheyenne's room and chatted with her about cooking. Here's a brief clip of the interview that was later released to the media by police. So put my clothes in the wash, the girl came out in her room, and that's how we got the talking.

Went back into her room, continued talking about the cooking. We started talking about, like, the fact that there's no oven and she told me that they don't have ovens in China, apparently. It's true. While ovens are a staple of most Western kitchens, the Chinese rarely ever bake and rely on their stovetop. Investigators asked Brian if he had ever embraced Cheyenne or been intimate with her and he said no, he hadn't hugged her and he didn't kiss her. He touched her shoulder and shook her hand, but that was it, he said. Brian was asked what he did with the rest of the night after putting the laundry on at around 10pm. He said that he had three beers at home and after that he went to a restaurant on

campus where he had a pitcher of beer and took Serequil, a sleeping pill. He estimated the time he took the pill was about 1140 and he went home soon after that. He said that before turning in for the night, he went back down to the basement to take his laundry out of the machine and put it in the dryer. He estimated that the time was about 1220 to 12.30 a.m., which the police knew was about 30 minutes before the stranger appeared at Cheyenne's door. Brian said that when he was there, he didn't talk to Cheyenne or see her. He just went back to his room and estimated that he was asleep about five minutes later. Did you kill Nicole?

No. I did not. I had nothing at all to do with it. Brian said that after he went to bed, he only left his room once at around 5am to use the bathroom and turn off the kitchen light. But despite taking that sleeping pill, He said he was still jolted awake during the night several times by other residents of the building using the kitchen, stairs and the front door. Brian was calm and cooperative throughout the interview, which went for more than three hours.

He waived his right to a lawyer, offered to provide DNA samples and said that he was willing to do whatever he could to help with the investigation. After the interview, Brian was free to go. The police didn't take him up on his offer for DNA samples, but for now, we're convinced he was responsible for killing Chien. They decided to place him under surveillance to see what he did next. He went straight to a local bar for a drink. He sat next to a stranger and suddenly asked them, Have you ever been to jail?

He then added, I am going to jail for life. The patron would report that the hairs on his neck stood up. The police retained two of Brian's discarded cigarette butts for testing against the swab samples taken from Cheyenne's body and sent it for fast-track DNA testing. The next day, the results were in. The DNA under Cheen's fingernails was a match to Brian Dixon.

It was his semen on her body. Brian was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of Liu Qian. At the time of his arrest, he had antipsychotic and antidepressant medications on him. In his bedroom at the boarding house, police found beer cans, medications, and a bloodstained blue t-shirt, which was sent for forensic testing. At Brian's parents' home, where he was finally located, police seized a computer and hard-dry. and also went through their garbage. A press conference was held to announce Brian's arrest

and to discuss some of the other questions around Cheyenne's murder. Police took the time to clarify that Brian Dixon was not the suspect that those online rumours referred to. He was not the one who supposedly had been stalking Cheyenne. That was someone else. A person who had lived in the same building and went on a date with her, but that person had since been cleared. But what police didn't provide was any more details on why they laid murder charges

when an autopsy couldn't even confirm Cheyenne's cause of death. And also, there was no explanation for why they had concluded that her death was now a homicide instead of just suspicious. But the answers would come out later. Chien's distraught parents arrived in Toronto to identify her body. Through a translator, her father, Gian Hui, told the press that when they learned there was tragic news about a person with the same name as their daughter, they were worried. Quote,

But we were praying for the possibility that the victim was a different person with the same name. Soon we found that we could no longer reach my daughter. And then, the Canadian police made it quite clear that it was indeed my daughter. Chien's ex-boyfriend Zhao Chow, the one who witnessed part of the attack via webcam, expressed relief about the arrest to the Globe and Mail by phone. He said through a translator, quote, I hope the murderer receives the punishment he deserves, and I also would like to ask him what he was thinking in his mind at that moment.

Chien's funeral was held on a rainy day in Toronto, with busloads of her fellow students arriving to a. remember her, taking the time to view a slideshow with photos of her as well as various samples of her amazing artwork. From a young age, Cheyenne had demonstrated considerable talents in language and art and was known for writing amazing stories and creating gorgeous pictures from sketches to oil paintings to watercolors. Her father told the congregation that she loved Canada and loved Toronto, and quote, The drizzle outside is like all the tears from her loved ones.

Her father described Cheyenne's ability to be selfless. Quote, She was very kind, thrifty, hardworking and giving. She was so generous that people sometimes thought she was stupid. He spoke of the family's anguish at their hope that one day they would come to Toronto and would be greeted by Cheyenne at the airport and how they pictured it would happen. Quote, she and her friends here would show us around and we could hear their laughter. Gien Hui ended it by speaking to his daughter directly with a note about personal safety.

Quote, my child, keep napping. Many people are being awakened about their personal safety because of your suffering. I know for sure you wouldn't like the same tragedy to happen to anyone else. He later clarified this statement to the media, urging other foreign exchange students and their parents to discuss safety concerns specific to the city they're moving to, long before the actual move. Quote, don't start preparing just two weeks before they leave. Start learning about the city and the school much earlier than that. It's a long process, he said.

On behalf of the Liu family, Chien's father took the time to thank those who had offered a helping hand in the wake of the tragedy, including the Toronto Police. As the news started to spread about one York University student being arrested for the murder of another at a nearby rooming house, the conversation about campus safety was heating up. York University issued a release saying Brian Dixon was not a registered student and never earned a degree from the school. But others pointed out that the university needed to.

start realizing their responsibility was not just on campus, but in the adjacent community as well, including those nearby rooming houses. A story in Toronto Life quoted a former York University media relations officer as saying that in the decade before Cheyenne's death, there had been 66 reported incidents of sexual assault at that university. In response to community and student pressure, York had commissioned a safety audit two years before Chien's murder and had recently invested about $9 million on safety and security measures on campus, including more lighting throughout. But two months after Chien's murder, two more sexual assaults happened at a York University dorm room, bringing the issue back to the surface yet again.

Brian Dixon applied for bail and the hearing for that was eventful. but the details were covered under a publication ban. Brian's parents attended the hearing and presented themselves as guarantors for his bail, saying they were prepared to shoulder the risk because it would be better for him at home with their support rather than in prison. Brian told the court he had a very good relationship with his parents.

His mother recounted that in the months before Cheyenne's murder, she had been in the hospital having surgery and Brian visited her every day. She said about her son, quote, Brian's a love, very sweet. She said that she and Brian liked to talk about politics, and while it could get heated and Brian might be tense about something, quote, usually within a few minutes he comes back and apologises

and says that he was inappropriate. But other details came out at that bail hearing, details considered potentially prejudicial to a jury, so they were covered under a publication ban. The full story would come out later, but for now, it was enough for the judge to decide that there was a substantial likelihood

that Brian would commit further crimes. His bail request was denied. There was some drama as the trial started in March of 2014. Brian Dixon had been charged with the first-degree murder of Liu Chien, which in this case means that their might, must have been intent to kill. Now, Brian's lawyer told the court that he pleaded not guilty to that charge, but requested to instead plead guilty to manslaughter, which would mean he was responsible for Cheyenne's

death, but there was no intent he didn't mean to. A charge of manslaughter was not on the table, though. Brian's defense team gave no further information about what this plea meant, nor did Brian admit that he caused Cheyenne's death by way of sexual assault, which seemed to be the obvious implication. And in Canada, if a sexual assault is included as part of a murder, then it is automatically a first-degree murder. Brian's legal team gave no indication about whether he would testify to this or call evidence to mount a defense. In any event, the Crown rejected his plea for manslaughter, so Brian Dixon would go on trial for the first-degree murder of Liu Qian.

The defense argued against the admissibility of some of the Crown's evidence. Because the Crown had rejected the manslaughter plea, choosing to go ahead with first-degree murder, it would be up to the crown to prove that Brian had intent to murder or that there was sexual assault involved. And the evidence and question was referred to as post-offence conduct, or the things that Brian did and said in the hours and days after Cheyenne was murdered. For example, Brian's statement to the person at the bar when he said, I am going to jail for life, was deemed inadmissible. By trying to plead guilty to manslaughter, he had in effect admitted that he was the cause of Cheyenne's death, So that statement about going to jail could have applied either way.

The judge determined it wasn't relevant to whether or not there was intent to commit murder. Other post-defense conduct included the evidence that Brian had moved furniture and bedding in Cheyenne's room and had taken her laptop and phone. This was deemed inadmissible because again, this had no relevance as to whether Brian had intent to murder. The statement that Brian gave to police, his initial statement where he denied having anything to do with Cheyenne's death, was also brought into question by his defence, who questioned what value the statement has given that he was now willing to plead guilty to manslaughter. That rendered whatever he said in his statement to be a lie. But the judge decided that the statement did have value beyond this. It would be relevant to the issue of whether Brian Dixon had a sane and sober operating mind at the time of the events in issue.

The statement would have some edits but was essentially allowed as evidence. As for the question of sexual assault, the judge told the jury it would be up to them to decide whether Brian had sexually assaulted Chien before or after she died. If before, then it didn't matter if there was a... intent, it was a first-degree murder simply because there was a sexual assault involved. But if the sexual assault occurred after Cheyenne died, then that might result in a different charge and the jury would need to see that intent proven in order to find Brian guilty of first-degree murder. The crown opened by saying, this is not a who-did-it-it-case, this is a what-happened case. They argued that Brian Dixon came to Liu

Chien's room to sexually assault her, and he killed her to prevent her from reporting it to police. The defense told the court that Brian accidentally killed Chien in the course of an unlawful act, which was an assault. There was no further information given about whether the assault was sexual or not, but the defense told the court that the more appropriate charge would have been manslaughter. The court heard from the closest thing there was was to a witness. Ming Zhao Chao, Chian's former boyfriend who she was chatting with via webcam at the time the attack started, told the court what he saw in the webcam through an interpreter. How, while they were chatting, a man appeared at Cheyenne's door at about 1 a.m. and Zhao Chao watched

as he took a look at her phone. From the description of the man, the crown told the jury they should have no difficulty finding that the man that Zhao Chao saw was Brian Dixon. The details were an uncanny match. The court heard that Cheyenne had been having Wi-Fi issues that she'd asked other tenants for advice about, and Zhao Chao assumed that the man's visit was related to that. He told the court that he saw Brian force himself into Cheyenne's room, and when she attempted to resist his embrace, she pushed him. and fell to the floor, he followed.

Zhao Chao testified he could no longer see them on the webcam, but could still hear Chianne protesting, followed by two muffled thumps and then silence. And then, for another 20 minutes after that, he heard other sounds, including a man's heavy breathing, what sounded like keys jangling, and furniture being moved.

Not much was said about what the keys jangling might have been, but Toronto star columnist Rosie DeMano wrote that what this could well have been was the sound of Brian Dixon unbuckling his belt. Zhao Chao told the court that he saw the man on the webcam again, but this time he was naked and the man shut off the laptop. That laptop has never been recovered, nor has Tian's primary cell phone. The Crown told the court that Brian likely took both items and moved furniture around in order to alter the crime scene. The jury heard about Brian Dixon's police statement,

the one where he admitted that he had spoken with Cheyenne before while doing his laundry. It was known that he lied in this statement. He said that he'd spoken with Cheyenne about three hours before the murder and gave specific details and timing about what he did afterwards, going to a nearby restaurant, taking a sleep. sleeping pill at about 1140, going home, and then putting his laundry in the dryer at about 1230, about 30 minutes before the murder, and then he went to bed. Even if he had have stuck to this story, a server from the restaurant threw some doubt on his timeline, testifying that Brian

actually left the restaurant closer to 1am, which is just before Cheyenne was attacked. In any event, The reason Brian's statement was admitted as evidence was simply to illustrate the fact that because he could recall his account of the evening with such lucidity and attention to detail, he must have been sober and thinking clearly. It all came back to the question of intent. The jury saw photos and video from the crime scene, including Cheyenne's body lying next to her bed. Blood could be seen on the floor around her face. Her The parents who had come to Toronto from China for the trial wiped tears away from their eyes. There was no visible reaction from Brian. As you'll recall, the medical examiner's office could not determine a definitive cause of death for Cheyenne. The autopsy findings were peer-reviewed by a different forensic pathologist, who testified that he determined the cause of her death was neck compression. Dr. Christopher Milroy told the court.

court that while Cheyenne had no external injuries to her neck, she had an injury to her neck muscles and those tiny paticial hemorrhages in her eyes, which pointed to neck compression. Also, he explained it's possible to compress the neck without leaving external marks, particularly if a broad hand or arm lock is used. Next, the court heard that Brian's DNA was found in several places on Cheyenne's body. His semen or saliva was found on Cheyenne's breasts. His semen was found around her abdomen and groin area and his DNA was under her fingernails. There was no other DNA found inside her mouth or her genitals. And as you'll recall, there was a bloody t-shirt found in Brian's room.

The results were as definitive as they could possibly be. Cheyenne couldn't be excluded as the source of blood found on the blue t-shirt in Brian's room. The odds that it came from someone else other than Cheyenne was about one in 140 quadrillion. So basically, there was next to no chance that the blood on Brian's t-shirt came from anyone else but Cheyenne, and it was the same with the rest of the DNA evidence. The defense called no evidence and conceded in court that Brian was the the person that Zhao Chao saw on the webcam. There was no suggestion that the person responsible for Cheyenne's death was anyone other than Brian, but what they were alluding to had been hinted at several times during cross-examination of witnesses. The defense had cross-examined

Dr. Milroy, the forensic pathologist about Cheyenne's cause of death, and suggested that her internal neck bruising could have been caused by a large man, on her chest, which would compress her airway. And that bruising could have been caused by the way her head was positioned against the wall as the large man sat on her chest. Dr. Milroy said that he had actually worked on a death that had matched that before and determined that it wasn't just chest compression. Cheyenne's neck bruising indicated that neck compression would also have been involved.

Seamen was found close to Chi-Ean. Gien's groin and abdomen area, but the defense asked specifically about the semen found on her breasts, wanting to know if that would confirm the presence of someone on or near her chest performing sexual activity. Dr. Milroy said it wouldn't necessarily indicate that. The defense then suggested other possible causes of death for Cheyenne, including heart disease or overstimulation of a nerve in the neck, or a condition where athletes drop dead after a blow to the chest, but Dr Milroy dismissed all of these hypotheses.

A cardiac pathologist had also testified that Cheyenne did not die from a heart condition. In closing arguments, Crown prosecutor Christine Paraglia told the jury that the evidence showed Brian had tried to force himself into Cheyenne's room to have some sort of sexual encounter with her. She resisted and he then worried that she would tell someone. Quote, at that point he had the motive to silence her and to kill her.

That was the murderous intent. The Crown believed that Brian deposited the seaman onto Cheyenne's body after she was already dead. Brian Dixon's lawyer, Robert Nuttall, told the jury that there was no dispute that a disturbing sexual attack had occurred. but Brian did not mean to kill Cheyenne. There was no intent. The Crown's theory that the murder was to prevent her from telling anyone about the attack was described as defying common sense. Defence lawyer Nuttall pointed out that the incident happened in Brian's own building

with other tenants around, including in the basement. So why would Brian have taken the risk of killing Cheyenne just for, quote, fooling around with her without her consent. The defense lawyer added, quote, there's a lot of difference between getting caught for trying to steal some sex and getting caught for murder. Despite not presenting any evidence, including the personal testimony of Brian Dixon,

the defense suggested that this was the scenario that happened. Brian had a friendly conversation with Chien at the door of her room and went in for a kiss. She resisted his advances and they ended up on the floor. He got sexually excited and sat on her chest and that unwittingly caused her death by exfixia from chest or neck compression or the position of her neck. Brian's lawyer added that he didn't know

that being in that position could have caused Chien's death so it was an unintended consequence. Quote, his actions are despicable. I'm not trying to excuse them. He's not walking away. But he asserted that the Crown had not proven that Brian had murderous intent. And given the Crown had rejected his request to plead guilty to manslaughter, the jury were urged to find Brian Dixon not guilty of first-degree murder. Before deliberation, Justice Ann Malloy told the jury that in order for them to find Brian

Dixon guilty of first-degree murder, the crown has to have proved four things beyond a reasonable doubt, that Brian unlawfully caused the death of Cheyenne, that he had the state of mind required for murder, that he committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault of Cheyenne, and that the sexual assault and the murder occurred as part of the same series of events. Now, as you'll remember, Brian was denied bail, but details came out at that bail hearing that were determined to be potentially prejudicial to a jury, so they were covered under a publication ban. And after the jury began deliberation, the publication ban was lifted, and the public learned some very disturbing details. Details that in the interests of a fair trial

may not have been relevant for the jury in deciding whether Brian Dixon was guilty of the murder of Liu Qian, but they were most certainly relevant when answering some of the questions that remained after the trial. At that bail hearing, Detective Sergeant Frank Scubic testified that Brian had no criminal record, but had criminal charges withdrawn on three prior occasions, two of which involved offences against women. The first occasion was in January 2006, five years before Brian murdered Liu Qian. A woman had complained to police that she met Brian at a nightclub. He was 24 years old at the time, and she invited him back to her place.

She gave him consent to perform oral sex on her, but alleged that Brian forced her to have full intercourse. She told him to stop, but in response, he allegedly told her to shut the fuck up and continued for another 20 minutes. The Crown later withdrew the charge for unknown reasons. The second sexual assault complaint happened two years after that, and the survivor was Brian's girlfriend at the time. According to reporting by the Toronto Star,

Brian had been caught stealing from her bank account to buy himself cocaine, and as they were arguing about it outside his parents' house, Brian grabbed her by the arms and dragged her out of sight of the house. He then placed his hands around her throat and began to choke or strangle her. She told him to go ahead and kill her and that she wanted him to go to jail. Brian then released his hands before jamming two of his fingers into the center of her throat. After meeting with police, Brian's former girlfriend decided not to proceed with charges. When faced with the realities of the intrusiveness and judgment sexual assault victims experience in their journey through the criminal justice system,

it's sadly sometimes less difficult to bypass that and live with the injustice. That same year as that attack, 2008, Brian was also charged with shoplifting, but those charges were withdrawn. No further details were available. Now that's just Brian's criminal history, the three charges that didn't go anywhere, but there was more. At that bail hearing, Detective Sergeant Frank Scubic also testified about what police had found after searching Brian Dixon's room. There were more than 100 pornographic DVDs and about half of them were in the Asian category. His computer yielded even more information, a search of his online. online footprint and browsing history by the child exploitation section of the sex crimes unit

revealed some disturbing posts on a nudist forum. A user using Brian's computer advocated for the sexual assault of children and underage minors, including by immediate family members. He also advocated exposing his own future children to sexual abuse content and encouraging them to participate in sexual activities. Police found evidence that Brian Dixon had posted messages like this at least 34 times on online message boards. In one chilling message, he claimed to have been abused as a child by a sporting coach and insinuated that he enjoyed it, with the implication being that this kind of abuse is acceptable. Brian had given a short testimony at the bail hearing that seemed to reference this particular message.

He told the court that when he was a teenager, he was sexually assaulted by a baseball coach, but the man was later acquitted. There was no further information given about this. All of this evidence presented at the bail hearing, Brian's niche porn collection and the disturbing discoveries that came from his online footprint and web browser history were deemed not admissible at the trial, as were the two withdrawn sexual assault charges. But now that the jury were deliberating, the details could be made public. After just four hours of deliberation, the jury found Brian Dixon guilty of the first-degree murder of Liu Qian. Her father was seen wiping tears away from his eyes.

32-year-old Brian Dixon showed no emotion. Outside court, Chien's mother, Zhang Yaru, clutched a photo of her daughter. and cried. Through a translator, she told CBC news that she and Cheyenne used to talk every day at the same time. But, quote, after she died whenever the time came or when I couldn't sleep at night, I would turn on my computer as if my daughter would somehow appear on the screen saying, Hi, Mom, I'm here. She said after Cheyenne's murder, she had been so overwhelmed with grief that she had to quit her job. Quote, it's not easy to get up every morning and bury our sorrow inside.

After the trial, Brian's defense lawyer, Robert Nuttall, told the press that his client, quote, has been absolutely remorseful for a very, very long period of time. Brian received the mandatory sentence of life and prison without parole for 25 years. Liu Chien's parents delivered a victim impact statement, describing their only daughter as a pretty angel born in Beijing in 1989, who gave them so much happiness and joy. They spoke about Cheyenne's intelligence, her talents and art and writing,

and her generosity. She was a keen blood donor, volunteered often for worthy causes and would never refuse a request for help. They spoke about how they think about Cheyenne every minute of every day and had become fragile, emotionally and mentally. They now struggled to sleep, they lost interest in eating, and they worry constantly about their future. But they also wanted to continue to raise awareness of campus safety issues,

particularly involving international students. While Cheyenne's father earlier described the guilty verdict as fair and good for both their family and for the Canadian justice system, He said there was more to be done. Quote, more Chinese students arrive in Toronto every year at a young age. Most of them lack life experience and are not aware of safety issues. Student safety is not one student, one school or one police department's responsibility.

It takes a collective effort. One example he noted was that Chian's rooming house didn't have a public phone, a landline or any form of organized communication. All communication relied on the individual devices of the tenants. There was no way to call to check on Cheyenne and no one knew how to contact the people she shared the house with. If they had, perhaps the police could have been alerted sooner. It was too late for Cheyenne,

but it highlighted where the situation could be improved for the future. Immediately after sentencing, Brian Dixon announced his intention to appeal. He was still angry that he wasn't allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter and argued that the trial judge shouldn't have allowed the crown to reject his proposal. After all, as his own trial lawyer had argued, it's not like it was murder. Apparently, Brian was only trying to steal some sex or fall around without Cheyenne's consent. Brian's appeal also included a complaint that the judge shouldn't have allowed his police statement to have been admitted into evidence because it contained a false statement. He applied to legal aid to pay for his representation and they declined the request on the basis that his appeal lacked merit.

Brian then appealed that decision asking for the Attorney General's office to pay for it, but the judge stood firm. In 2016, the Ontario Court of Appeal stated that Brian hadn't demonstrated that it was in the best interests of justice to allow his application of appeal. Basically, it was without merit. In 2014, the Toronto Star published an open letter from Chien's father, Gianhui, titled, We Will Never Recover from this awful tragedy. It was written in Mandarin but generously translated by his friend Professor Charles Burton, who was at that time at Brock University but had been a colleague at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. Jian Hui expressed regret that he wasn't able to communicate with the Canadian public because of the language barrier, but wanted Canadians to know something of his daughter

above and beyond what the media had published. You've heard parts of this letter sprinkled to, throughout this episode, and you'll find a link in the show notes to read the open letter and view some additional photos of Cheyenne and her artwork. York University planted a tree in Liu Qian's memory in one of the courtyards on campus and initiated a $5,000 scholarship in her name to be given to a student at the university's English Language Institute where she studied. And although her murder resulted in increased awareness, sexual assaults on college and university campuses remains a key issue.

In 2020, Statistics Canada reported on survey results that three quarters of Canadian college and university students have either witnessed or experienced unwanted sexual behavior. One in ten women's students had experienced a sexual assault in a post-secondary sexual. during the previous year, and women with disabilities and the LGBTQ plus community are especially vulnerable. In most cases, it was other students who were identified as the perpetrators of unwanted sexualised behaviours and sexual assault, not professors or others in positions of authority. The majority of students, around 81%, indicated that the perpetrator's gender was male. The study didn't report on international students as they are often unrepresented as survey participants. And for likely similar reasons, they are among some of the most vulnerable.

As with Liu Qian, they're away from their families and their main social networks. There's often a language barrier. They're more likely to be isolated and lonely and can experience challenges when navigating relationships within a new culture, and they might not be aware of Canadian laws or resources available to them. Universities say they remain committed to understanding student experiences, education and awareness programs, and ensuring access to supports for those affected by sexual violence. But a 2018 investigation by McLean's magazine included the stories of more than 40 survivors who reported that they felt abandoned by the Canadian University

after having been sexually assaulted on campus. Some survivors said university staff tried to downplay what had happened to them, and victim-blaming questions are commonplace, like asking a survivor how many times they said no, why they didn't scream, or asking about their sexual history. Some survivors were asked not to contact the police or media, and instead encouraged them to resolve the situation through mediation, an effort clearly designed to protect the university's reputation.

Others reported the university stalled, was taking disciplinary action, and allowed the perpetrator to move around and study on campus as normal, potentially putting other students at risk. There were also complaints of callous counselling staff, bureaucratic delays and a so-called 24-hour emergency. hotline that was only staffed part-time. McLean's reported that across Canada, 31% of students said they were given no information on

how to report a sexual assault, and 25% said they were given no information on services available for students who are sexually assaulted. And even then, universities need to be doing more than just supporting those who have already experienced sexual violence. They have be committed to preventing it in the first place, with prevention and awareness programs that go beyond reactive band-aid solutions like increasing security or police presence or asking those vulnerable to change their behavior, for example, telling women not to walk on campus by themselves or stay up late. A true commitment to prevention requires addressing the root causes of sexual violence. But that is for another time. Thanks for listening and special thanks to Gemma Harris

for research. Special thanks also to my close friend Joanna and her family who helped me with the Mandarin pronunciations. As well as court documents and news archives, this episode relied on the journalism of Alison Jones, Adrian Morrow, Timothy Appleby and Mark McKinnon for the Globe and Mail, Alicia Hasham for the Toronto star and Sean Mellon for global news. For the full list of resources and anything else you want to know about the podcast, including how to access ad-free episodes, visit canadian truecrime.ca. If you've taken the time to leave a kind rating, review or supportive message, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Thanks also to the host of True for voicing the disclaimer and We Talk of Dreams who compose the theme song. I'll be back soon with a new Canadian true crime story. See you then.