Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - DID AI GURU PLAN PERFECT MURDER OF YALE GRAD STUDENT AFTER MARRIAGE PROPOSAL?

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

Police responded to a shooting in New Haven. When they arrived, they found Kevin Jiang shot to death in the street. About 100 feet away sat his Prius. Jiang had been shot multiple times. Officers initially considered the shooting a possible case of road rage. Surveillance video from a nearby home captured the sound of a car crash before Jiang’s Prius entered the frame, followed closely by a dark SUV. Jiang’s Prius came to a stop as the SUV reversed. Jiang exited his car and walked toward the SUV, stepping out of the frame. Seconds later, eight gunshots and a scream were heard. A witness told police she looked out her window after hearing the gunshots and saw the shooter standing over Jiang, who was already on the ground. The gunman fired additional shots at close range. Detectives at the scene noted stippling on Jiang’s face, indicating he had been shot at close range. New Haven homicide detective David Zaweski believed the evidence suggested something more than a random shooting or road rage. That same night, police in North Haven responded to a separate incident at Sims Metal Management, a scrapyard near a highway entrance. A security guard reported a dark SUV had driven through the yard and become stuck on snowy railroad tracks. Officer Jeffrey Mills arrived and identified the driver as Qinxuan Pan. Pan’s license came back clean. Mills didn’t notice anything suspicious but recalled a yellow jacket, a black briefcase, and a blue bag with a Massachusetts logo inside the SUV. Officers arranged for Pan to stay at a nearby hotel for the night. At 11 a.m., as Sgt. Mills was finishing his shift, an employee at Arby’s reported finding a bag containing a gun and bullets. Mills responded and recognized the yellow jacket, black briefcase, and blue bag from Pan’s car. Arby’s was next door to the Best Western where Pan had been dropped off. By then, Mills had learned about the New Haven homicide and the search for a dark-colored SUV. He checked the Best Western and confirmed Pan had checked in but never stayed. Mills alerted New Haven police. Tests later confirmed the .45-caliber handgun found at Arby’s matched the shell casings from Jiang’s murder scene. The SUV Pan abandoned on the railroad tracks remained at a tow facility. Investigators discovered it had been reported stolen from a car dealership in Malden, Massachusetts, where Pan lived. A dealership employee told police Pan had taken the vehicle for a test drive but never returned it. Now, New Haven police were investigating a homicide, Malden police were handling a stolen vehicle case, and North Haven police had recovered the stolen SUV and the suspected murder weapon. All agencies were searching for the one man connecting them—Qinxuan Pan. Joining Nancy Grace today:  Peter Elikann  - Veteran Boston-based Criminal Defense Attorney, Author of “Superpredators: The Demonization of Our Children by the Law” and “The Tough-on-Crime Myth; website: elikanncriminaldefenseattorney.com/; twitter: @PeterElikannLaw Dr. Chloe Carmichael – Clinical Psychologist, Women’s Health Magazine Advisory Board;’ Author: ‘Nervous Energy: Harness The Power of Your Anxiety;’ X: @DrChloe Irv Brandt – Senior Inspector, US Marshals Service International Investigations Branch; Chief Inspector, DOJ Office of International Affairs, US Embassy Kingston, Jamaica; Author: “SOLO SHOT: CURSE OF THE BLUE STONE” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON IN JANUARY; ALSO “FLYING SOLO: Top of the World;” Twitter: @JackSoloAuthor Dr. Eric Eason – Board-certified Forensic Pathologist, Consultant; Instagram: @eric_a_eason, Facebook: Eric August Eason, LinkedIn: Eric Eason, MD Dave Mack  - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Did an AI, artificial intelligence guru, plan the perfect murder of a Yale grad student just after his marriage proposal? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

A Yale grad student, newly engaged, gunned down next to his damaged Prius. Was it road rage or a targeted attack? Who killed Kevin Jiang? Road rage, seemingly the motive. Listen. I can't speak to the intent.

I can't speak to motive.. I can't speak to motive. What I can tell you is that there was an accident and we are exploring whether or not that was material in terms of the motive under for which he shot him. Again, it's too early to talk about that. And I can't share that. But what we can say is that we're exploring absolutely every angle, including the fact that there was an accident preceded the encounter. One week after Kevin Jiang's engagement to the love of his life, police are now informing his mother and his fiancee, Zion Perry, of his tragic death. Detectives say the women are distraught and can't understand why anyone would have killed Kevin Jiang. I guess so distraught. And this guy, the shooting victim scrubbed in sunshine. Number one,

devout Christian. Number two, brilliant studying mercury levels in fish as part of his Yale graduate degree. I mean, comes to this, parents come to this country, work their fingers to the bone, get their son into Yale University, the Ivy League, Yale. Now their dreams come true. That's the lottery ticket, the golden ticket, right? You get into an Ivy League. He's doing great. He gets engaged. In fact, the money is so tight. He lives with his mother. You were earlier hearing sound from our friends at Fox 61. The mom that he lives with, the fiance, I think he met at church, completely distraught. What happened? And then I just hear police refer to an accident.

Wait a minute. Dave Mack joining me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Accident? Schmaccident. How many times was the victim shot at point blank range? Let me tell you, point blank. And we'll go to an expert on this because the victim's face had soot, common vernacular, gunshot residue on his face that only comes from a point blank shooting. That's no accident, Dave Mack. No, that's the perpetrator standing over the prone body and pulling the trigger eight times

in the face. That's what happened, Nancy. It was no road rage accident. There was a whole lot more going on in this case. Joining me right now, longtime colleague, veteran defense attorney in this jurisdiction, Boston-based lawyer, Peter Ellican, author of an incredible book, Super Predators, The Demonization of Our Children by the Law and the Tough on Crime Myth. Disag disagree with all of that. Peter Ellicott, you and I have argued about a lot of cases. I've prosecuted a lot. You have defended a lot in court, but wouldn't you agree shooting somebody eight times, including in the face at point blank rage at point blank range. I don't know that rage actually describes that eight times

over a fender bender. I agree that that would be my first clue that it's a personal thing. Usually when people do, I guess you call that overkill. You don't just shoot somebody to kill them, but you keep shooting again and again and again. At that point, you say, gee, this must be personal. It's not just somebody bumped into somebody's car, particularly when we're there and said the shooting started instantly after the bumping of the car. So you have represented road raid roads, road ragers, correct? You have. And they have the defense of voluntary manslaughter.

Now, do I think that's legitimate? No, because voluntary manslaughter is typically in the heat of passion. And I don't know why. I don't know when you went to law school, they always use the example, a man comes home and finds his wife in bed with another man. Why is it always her? Why is she always the cheater? Because the law professor is a man. That's why. That's another can of worms. Peter Ellicott, what kind of rage or wild anger, boiling blood would get you a manslaughter as opposed to murder one? I think that if it's in the heat of passion,

the person didn't plan on hurting anybody, the person didn't plan on killing anybody, suddenly snaps and in a few seconds just kind of up. And maybe even 10 seconds later says, oh, my gosh, what did I dead. That might be their first instinct to look into that if it was a road rage. But certainly they would. Didn't you just say that the person would commit the act, the shooting? Although, I mean, eight gunshot wounds, including to the face. But then immediately regret the deed. This guy didn't come back.

He drove off. He didn't come back to try to save Kevin. He didn't come back to check on him. He didn't call an ambulance. Nothing. So that defense is out the window. What did a witness say? Listen.

A witness says she looks out her window after hearing the gunshots and sees the shooter standing over Jiang, who was already down on the ground in the street. The gunman fires additional shots at close range. Detectives at the scene recognize Jiang has the appearance of stippling on his face, something that can only happen from being shot at close range. New Haven homicide detective David Zaweski believes the evidence of close range gunfire is indicative of something more than a random shooting or even a case of road rage. Let me go straight out to renowned board certified forensic pathologist, consultant, medical examiner, Dr. Eric Eason. Dr. Eason, thank you for being with us. Explain in regular people talk, street vernacular, what is stippling? How do we know these bullets were fired at close range?

Yes, I get asked this in court all the time. Stippling, also known as gunpowder tattooing, basically when a gun is fired, you have the bullet that leaves the gun, but also you have other stuff that leaves the gun. And so you have the burned gunpowder, which causes soot deposition onto the skin or on the target, soot similar to what you see in like a fireplace. And then you have what's known as the gunpowder that did not burn up in the shooting. And so that leaves the barrel. And if the gun is close enough to the target, those unburned gunpowder particles are going to strike and abrade or scratch the skin and leave these red purple dots on the skin known as stippling or gunpowder tattooing. And when I see that at autopsy, basically, I know that the gun was within probably about two to two and a half feet from the body, no further away than two to two and a half feet.

But it was not touching the skin. It was not more than two and a half feet away. It was up close and personal within inches from the body. So up close and personal or point blank is what was referred to earlier on. Dr. Eric Eason, now we know that typically gunshot residue is a fine mist, a spray, like baby powder. Okay. I've used that in court as a demonstrative. Right. Can travel around 36 inches. Okay. Yes. Which means that's why you, if you can catch the perp, you immediately want to do a GSR gunshot residue shot on their hands, their arms, their wrists, in between their fingers. Right. And it's very delicate, like baby powder. If you just do this, it's gone. Much less if you let the person go to the bathroom and they wash their hands over,

you're not going to get that. Now, stippling, to my understanding, like as you said, tattooing, is different from just a gunshot residue, which has a fine mist spray up to 36 inches. Right. Stippling or tattooing is point blank. In other words, to my understanding, you're the expert, of course, the gun is practically, if not touching the skin. Explain. Inches away from the body is what we have, because the further you pull the gun away,

the less likely the gunpowder is going to have enough energy or velocity to even reach the target. And so you have to be within inches away. As soon as you get to two and a half feet, the stippling or the gunpowder, the unburned gunpowder is no longer going to have enough energy to reach the target. And it's just going to fall off into the environment. And the other thing I need to mention is that the gunpowder tattooing, these are abrasions, so you can't rub them off. At autopsy, we wash the body

and they cannot be scrubbed off. They're permanent on the skin. They're actual little cuts, right? Scratches, actually. Scratches. Like a tattoo, you get cut and the ink is injected.

I mean, you know where I'm going with this, Irv Brandt. Irv Brandt, Irv Brandt, uh, us marshal service, uh, chief inspector attache all over the world, trying to hunt down criminals, author of a series of books on Amazon about Jack Solo. Who could that be patterned after Irv? Let's get down to it. What I'm, why do I keep talking about stippling and gunshot residue? Because this perp goes over to Kevin, right? The Yale grad student, the one of devoting his life to helping people. The one that just announced his engagement on Facebook, that one that lives with his mother and supports her, that one goes over to him, gets down on the ground to this guy and holds

the bullet to his head, to his face and shoots him eight times. Now, I got a lot of names for this perp, but it's nothing I can say on air. What about it, Brant? Nancy, you're exactly right. When you're describing a road rage, someone getting out of the car, losing their minds, fighting, just firing shots wildly is completely different from shooting someone, then going up to the body and taking careful aim and shooting people, shooting that person in the head to make sure that they're dead. So you're exactly right with that. Hey, Irv, Irv, look at your screen.

Look at your screen. There he is proposing to Zion. Hey, Dave Mack, do they meet in church? Neither here nor there. I'm just trying to remember where these two met. They actually met on a weekend Christian retreat. We know what the witness says, but listen to what cops say. At 8.30 p.m. on February 6th, police responded to the scene of a shooting in New Haven.

When they arrived, they find Jiang deceased in the street. About 100 feet away was his car, a Prius. 45 caliber casings were also found at the scene, and it appears Jiang had been shot multiple times. Police get surveillance video from a nearby home. Playing the video, they can hear the sound of a car crash before Kevin Jiang's Prius enters the frame. His car is followed closely by a dark SUV. Jiang's Prius comes to a stop while the SUV moves in reverse. Jiang exits his car and is walking toward the SUV as he walks out of the frame on the surveillance video. Seconds after Jiang is not visible on the video,

eight shots and a scream can be heard on the recording. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Who murdered a 26 year old rising star, a Yale grad student who had just gotten engaged to be married. And why? Why would anyone pick this target? When you don't know where to go, when you hit a dead end in an investigation, you go back to the victim. Are there any clues in Kevin's background? Listen. jiang is a 26 year old overachiever he is a graduate student at yale school of environment where he is a second year master's student conducting research on mercury levels in fish he is a former lieutenant in the u.s army national guard serving in the 118th multifunctional medical battalion of the connecticut national guard he brings his mother

from seattle to live with him and volunteers to work with the homeless deeply religious kevin functional medical battalion of the Connecticut National Guard. He brings his mother from Seattle to live with him and volunteers to work with the homeless. Deeply religious, Kevin has just proposed to the love of his life, Zion Perry, who posts a video of the proposal on her Facebook page. Oh, come in. Oh, wow. Oh, yes, yes, definitely. Wow, this is so pretty. Wow. Wow. Oh.

Wow. Oh. To Dr. Chloe Carmichael joining us, renowned clinical psychologist, author of Nervous Energy, Harness the Power of Your Anxiety. As I was watching that video, the dichotomy, you know, this was posted just days before. He was gunned down like a dog in the street. The dichotomy of that happy moment compared to the juxtaposition of him lying there in the snow in the shadows of Yale University. His family fought so hard to just advance him, help him, help him make his dreams come true. And they were all coming true.

That harsh dichotomy is a lot to take in, Dr. Chloe. Yes, Nancy, it certainly is. As a clinical psychologist, obviously, I see a lot of hard things. But just seeing that simple, joyful moment, knowing what's about to happen is heartbreaking, not only as a psychologist, but frankly, as a mother, I really grieve for his parents. And obviously, for her as well. I say this as a mother and as a wife. You know, Peter Ellicott is a veteran trial lawyer, defense attorney, author of multiple books. He's at EllicottCriminalDefenseAttorney.com. Peter, you and I have sat many a time on a dark set at Court TV and HLN and on and on. And we are always shocked at crimes. But I think as I was

watching that engagement video, I think I realized why I'm so angry and upset about this. It reminds me so much of my fiance, Keith. not long after our proposal, he was gunned down, including multiple shots to the face, the neck, the head, and everything just ended for me, much less for him and his family. And to his mother's dying breath, Peter, they asked her at her bedside, mom, what are you thinking about? She said, just memories. I'm having memories of Keith. Years later, decades later, Ms. Griffin passed away thinking about Keith. I mean, do you just take your hat off, your defense hat off just one moment. Do you ever just look at somebody in court and think about the weight of pain they leave behind that goes on and on for decades to come? Yeah. And it's not just the immediate pain.

They're still crying 25, 30 years later. I understand that particularly as you've described and I've heard you describe Keith many times. And also, this young man is like the greatest person that I've ever heard of in my life. He was helping the homeless. He was a Navy lieutenant still in the National, not Navy Army lieutenant, still in the National Guard. And he went to Christian retreats. And he was a star in school. And he didn't have an enemy in the world. And I think that's why when the police were first looking, they were trying to say, okay, who would, who would be shooting him? And they

couldn't make any connection. They couldn't see anybody like that at all. So it is. And then they had to just go with this guy's so angry over a fender bender and Peter, you have a son. All right, look at this guy, this guy. Can I see a picture of Kevin? Okay. When he's smiling, he's got perfectly straight T. Look at him in his little suit. Somebody had to buy in that suit, get them all dressed up, play for his, pay for his orthodontics, get them probably tutors and this and that to get him to yell.

I mean, this guy worked to get him to Yale. I mean, this guy worked full time even to save money. He brings in, you think he, you think he was in the rot seat for nothing. They help you. They pay for your school, right? Look at this. I mean, Peter, we work so hard and pour in all our love, all our energy, all our money, everything into our children. You get them into an Ivy League and you think, hey, oh, I did it. He's in.

He's going to make it. Right. And then this. I mean, what this family must have gone through is just wrenching. This is the heartbreaker of all time. As I said, I've never seen anybody who hits so many great points in life. And they say taking his mother in and giving her a place to live and helping the homeless and, you know, on the military back, etc. I mean, this is like the best person in the world.

And it's just got all that, everything that went into this. What could he have done in the future? I mean, he was working for environmental things and he was working for church things. What would have happened if he could have had another 60 years of life? Don't make me even more angry

than I already am, Peter Ellican. So this is what we know so far. Road rage erupts into a point blank execution style murder. But what do some random shots into an upscale New Haven, Connecticut neighborhood have to do with this? Listen. Police in New Haven, Connecticut are surprised when a call of shots fired ring out on a cold December 11th in a residential neighborhood. Five gunshots are reported and a home is struck multiple times, but nobody is wounded. Police find several 45 caliber shell casings at the scene. Weeks later, a second shooting similar to the first takes place on

January 15th, then a third shooting on February 5th, and another the next day, February 6th. Nobody is injured in the shootings, but police do find a common thread. At each scene, 45 caliber shell casings are recovered. And at the last two shootings, a dark SUV is reported fleeing the scene. So police ears prick up when they start piecing together, hey, some rando is shooting into these homes. And I'm pretty sure that New Haven, Connecticut is where all the, a lot of the rich people live and they don't take kindly to people shooting into their homes. So that was investigated out the yin yang, even though no one was harmed. 45 caliber shell casings, a dark SUV, New Haven, Connecticut, not far from Kevin's murder. So some rando shooting into windows is going to be really

hard to find because they're not really connected to any of the victims. That, Irv Brandt, makes it so hard to find a perp when they don't have any direct connection to the victim. It's like a needle in a haystack. That's exactly right, Nancy. The random shootings, trying to piece it together, it's hard because the only explanation you can come up with at first is it's just a serial shooter who doesn't care who his victims are. And that's not helpful in an investigation because that doesn't produce any leads. You have to be able to connect these incidents to each other if you have any hope of solving the crime.

Really difficult and random shootings. So police find nothing in Kevin's background. So they search back into the day of the shooting. What happened that day? They hit another dead. And of course, he was an angel. Listen. On February 6th, Kevin Xiong and Zion Perry spend the day outdoors, ice fishing. They catch a pickerel and cook dinner together at Perry's apartment in East Rock. Xiong leaves after dinner just before 8 30 p.m. and is only a couple of blocks from Perry's apartment when he is rear-ended by another vehicle. A railroad track and a series of shootings tie back to the death of a Yale grad student. How and why? Railroad tracks?

What railroad tracks? What does that have to do with Kevin getting gunned down in a road rage fit? Listen. What are you doing back here, though? I just got here accidentally and I got stuck. Is there any way to get us stuck here? The only thing I can do is call's engaged to Zion. Well, listen. I'm the security guard at Simmons Metal Management. I just had somebody drive through my yard here.

They didn't know where they were going, so I had them chasing them around the yard, and they just pulled way in the back off the property. It's like a black minivan, SUV type of thing. So, Dave Mack, you're hearing security at Sims Metal Management. And we've got surveillance video of the black SUV driving around and around. It looks like a video game. Within the, I guess it's the storage facility area of the metal management company. And then he ends up somehow getting stuck on railroad tracks. What happened?

Well, actually, it's a salvage metal operation going on there. And here's the kick. It's near an interstate 30 way. So they have a lot of people to get lost. They miss their turn and will pull back around into the salvage yard area to turn around when they're not quite sure where they're headed. So when he calls, when the security guard calls police, this is a little bit different than what he has seen in the past. And he tells them, hey, they're out here driving around through the lot. And he is describing how they have now pulled to the back section of the lot.

And that's what made him worried. You know, he's been flagging this cat down all the way over the parking lot and calling police to say that there is a car in the parking lot. Not uncommon, but this one is a little different. And that's where we've got the car in the snow on the railroad track and stuck at the back of this metal salvage yard. Let's take a look at that body cam video again. Look how calm and cool this guy is. What are you doing back here, though? I just got in here accidentally and I got stuck.

Is there any way to get us stuck here? The only thing I can do is call you a tow truck. Okay, cool. Thanks. The only thing I can do is call you a tow truck. Okay, cool. Fix. Irv Brandt joining us, a veteran law enforcement with the U.S. Marshals and prolific author. Irv, I wouldn't think twice about this guy. Did you see his demeanor? He's totally calm and cool. He's like, hey, can you help me?

I mean, you would expect anyone involved in a crime to take off running or at least look nervous. He's not even nervous. Nothing. Super calm. Yes, Nancy. It's very surprising that he could be facing a law enforcement officer and be that calm about it and offer up a reasonable explanation as to why he's there and then accept help from the officer and not say, well, I'm fine, officer. I can get out of this myself.

But to ask the officer for help, then accept the help is quite surprising in this case. Okay, guys, right after this happens, a 911 call comes in from a local Arby's. Hello, can I help you? This is the police department. Hello, I work at Arby's here in North Haven. We found a gun and probably like 10 boxes of bullets. At 11 a.m., as Sergeant Mills is finishing his shift, a call comes in to police from an employee at Arby's. The employee reports finding a bag with a gun and bullets inside. Sergeant Mills stops by to check out the call and sees the gun and bullets, but also in the bag, a yellow jacket,

black briefcase, and a blue bag with the Massachusetts logo. Well, Dave Mack, connect the dots for me. So you've got Pan stuck on the railroad tracks after zipping around a metal, a sheet metal company. And then a call comes in from Arby's where they find a gun and bullets just sitting outside. But what is the yellow jacket, black briefcase and blue bag with a Massachusetts logo on it have to do with anything? Everything, Nancy. Those items were actually seen in the dark-colored SUV Pon has stuck on the railroad tracks, and it is witnessed by Sergeant Mills of the North Haven Police Department when he's there trying to help him get it off the track. But he sees a number of things inside the car, makes mental notes. And then when the 911 call comes in from the Arby's, they only talk about a gun and ammunition. It's only after

Sergeant Mills goes to the Arby's to see, you know, exactly for himself what they're seeing. He goes, wait a minute, that yellow jacket, that blue bag, that black briefcase, those were all in the dark SUV that I saw last night. So he's the guy who ties this entire case together, Nancy. One cop witnessing a lot of evidence and tying it all together. Mills, is he a detective, a sergeant? What is he? He's a sergeant. He's a working officer. And he had been on patrol the night before when the vehicle was stuck on the tracks. And to be honest, Nancy, the guy's on his way home. His shift is over, but when the call comes in from the Arby's, it's like, on my way, I'll check it out. They're apparently very short-staffed.

But anyway, he was on his way, done for the day, when he stopped by the Arby's, and that changed everything. You know, it's amazing. Do you ever wonder, Peter Ellicott, veteran defense attorney in this jurisdiction? Peter, I know you would never say this in court because it's your job to attack police, but I know secretly you think otherwise. Why is it, Peter, that we always hear, oh, the cops did this, the cops did that, they're horrible, they're demons, blah, blah, defund police. If this cop, as Dave Mack pointed out, who's off work, he's leaving, he goes, what? A yellow jacket, a bag with a Massachusetts logo on it? I just saw that and this idiot's car stuck on the railroad tracks. If he had not put that together, we'd be up the creek without a paddle right now. Yeah. You know, a lot of people misunderstand. We

criminal defense attorneys do not hate the police. I mean, this is not about you, Peter. I'm not asking you about how misunderstood you are. I'm talking about Mills. Focus on him, not on you. He did an extraordinary job here. It was basic police work and be able to put two and two together. And it was fortuitous. And he was the one police officer there. It's North Haven, which is a different town. It's next to New Haven, but it's its own town. But it could have been almost anybody going there and not having seen that car that was stuck on the tracks the night before. And so that was an incredible bit of luck.

And this police officer was- It's not luck. It's police work. It's watching. He's a professional observer. And he remembers what? A yellow jacket, a bag with a Massachusetts logo on it. Yes. And he puts that together. Peter, are you sitting down right now? Yes, I am.

Okay. Well, you may need to lay down. Listen to this. The SUV King Schwampahn stuck on the railroad tracks was still at the tow facility. And police find out it's been reported stolen from a car dealership in Malden where Pond lives. The dealership employee tells police that Pond had asked to borrow the car for a test drive and never returned with the vehicle. So the SUV is stolen? The New Haven Police Department's homicide unit is looking for Mr. King Swan Pond,

date of birth of 4-16-1991. His name is spelled Q-I-N-X-U-A-N, last name P-A-N. Again, date of birth 4-16-1991. Mr. Pond was last seen at the Best Western Hotel

at 201 Washington Avenue in North Haven his last known address is 131 correction 193 Clifton Street in Malden Massachusetts we know that mr. Pong is a graduate of MIT and has an affiliation with that university. I am asking that the public knows that Mr. Pond should be considered armed and dangerous and that he, that extreme caution should be used if you come in contact with this individual. Pond is an MIT graduate? You were just hearing New Haven Police Department homicide unit putting the APB all points bulletin on pawn. And that's from our friends at Fox 61. How can somebody be so brilliant? This guy is an AI artificial intelligence guru, deep, deep in AI research, did he plan what he thought was the perfect murder?

And did he use AI to plan the murder? Will one tiny mistake be his undoing? So still, what possible motive would there be from a brilliant MIT artificial intelligence guru to track down and gun down the scrubbed in sunshine Yale grad? Could it be a secret obsession? In an effort to try and find out more about King Shuang Pong, investigators go online to find any connection the MIT grad student with an expertise in AI could have to Kevin Zhang. Finding no connection between Pong and Zhang, detectives find Zhang's fiance, Zion Perry, is a Facebook friend of Pong's. They met at a Christian group when Perry attended MIT as an

undergrad. Nothing more than an acquaintance. When Perry graduated from MIT, Pond reached out and asked to video chat. Perry politely refused, and there has been no other contact. Okay, let me understand this. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Dave Mack, Zion is questioned and she never had a romantic relationship at all with Pan. So as police are digging, digging, digging, what exactly do they find? They find that, yes, Zion Perry was an acquaintance of Pond. They met when she was an undergrad at MIT. But it was nothing more than a casual acquaintance where she invited him to a Christian get-together on campus at MIT.

But she was not involved with him. She doesn't even call him a friend. Their friendship was on Facebook. They were Facebook friends, meaning he would see her post, but she had no interest in him romantically speaking. As a matter of fact, when she graduated, Pond reached out and asked if he could do a video chat call with her to congratulate her. And she politely refused. That was their relationship. That was all there was. Peter Ellican, you have dealt with stalking cases and sex obsession cases. There was no such thing here.

There was never sex. There was never a sex relationship, not even a dating relationship, nothing. But we can't ignore Peter that they, Zion and Kevin announced their engagement and post the video. We keep seeing, let's see that again. We, we know that was posted. And then a few days later, Kevin is gunned down dead. How can this video be the catalyst for a murder? Or can it? Well, one thing we've learned is that this guy is a brilliant PhD candidate at MIT of all places. And we've learned that crimes kind of hit all spectrums of society.

It's not just poor people. We've seen doctors who commit murder, lawyers who commit murders, college professors. And this may be another case where he may be brilliant in one area, and yet somehow there's some sort of emotional- Peter. Peter. Peter. Yes. They didn't even have emotional. Peter. Peter. Peter. Yes.

They didn't even have sex. They didn't even kiss. Nothing. They didn't even hold hands. She invited him to some Christian get together. That's it. That's it. How can you get a sex obsession or an obsession from that?

It is irrational. There's no connection. There's nothing leading on. There's really nothing to see there, which would, if I was his defense lawyer, one of the first things I'd look into, which would not necessarily go anywhere, I'd look into his competency

to see what kind of mental health he's in. You're desperate. There may be nothing there. You're grasping at straws. That's true. That's really bad as a defense attorney when you have to come up with something like that. That would be my, because I couldn't figure out anything else. It would be so irrational and crazy that I'd say I got to look into that even if it leads me nowhere. But that is grasping at straws. Skeptical of the story, Queen Champ Pond's parents tell them investigators believe the

parents are the key to finding their son. The Pond family has millions of dollars in assets in Shanghai and financial records show Pond's parents have been making large cash withdrawals. Investigators are concerned that Pond's parents are going to try to get the cash to their son so he has the means to flee the country. So Dave Mack, now the parents are under surveillance, and the mom is caught on hotel lobby surveillance borrowing the phone of an employee, using the employee's cell phone, and then immediately deleting the number. That's not suspicious. Okay, what happened?

That's exactly what happened, Nancy. They're following and watching. The thing is, she did it in the middle of the night or the early morning hours when she kind of slinked her way down to the hotel clerk. He's at the front desk and she uses his phone, makes the call and thinks when she deletes it, she's fine. But U.S. Marshals, no, they're better than that.

And they're able to trace that phone call. They won't tell us how. They won't say what they did. They just said, yeah, they got that deleted phone call. And it traces right back to Montgomery, Alabama. Of all places, Irv Brandt, you have spent your career chasing down criminals all over the world, like a legally sanctioned bounty hunter. So what did U.S. Marshals go through trying to find Pan? Nancy, a fugitive, when he's on the run, has to have a support network. And the support network is normally made up of people that the fugitive trusts the most.

And in most cases, that's going to be family. So the Marshal Service focused on the family. And that's exactly what happened. By surveillance, they watched and watched and watched and finally caught a break in the case that led them to where the fugitive was hiding in Montgomery, Alabama. So all the way to Montgomery, Alabama, it's very reminiscent of Scott Peterson, who was found with thousands of dollars of cash. He had changed his appearance, dying his hair and growing a goatee. He had his brother's fake ID. He had his brother's ID and he was using it as a fake.

He had tons of Viagra camping equipment, a water filtration system. And when Penn is found in Montgomery, Alabama, in a boarding house, he has $20,000 worth of cash, multiple communication devices, seven SIM cards and more. This guy on the run, including a fake passport. Gee, where did he get that? That said, the one thing that an AI guru, artificial intelligence, couldn't foresee is his mother. The involvement of his mother. Because Peter Ellicott, every time anybody goes missing, we have a bond forfeiture or there's a fugitive on the run.

Where is the first place you look, Peter? They usually, it's so silly, but they usually head for home is the first place or with close friends. But they usually go to someplace really familiar and contact the people for help. Every time I would have a bond forfeiture, a whole calendar, not a plea and arraignment, not a trial calendar, a bond forfeiture calendar. I turn around and say, go look under mommy's bed right now. I'm striking a jury. And sure enough, they go look under mommy's bed or in the closet and there would be the perp hiding out at mommy's. Even AI can't fathom what mommy is going to do and hear mommy called pan. I want you to, speaking of mothers, I want you to hear the victim's mother, Linda Liu.

He gave me a lot of joy. He's a very thoughtful, warm-hearted boy, taking care of me, and I miss him. That's from our friends at 48 Hours. After Kevin's mother spoke, the judge brings down the hammer. Listen. I wanted to address Pan specifically. Although your sentence is far less than you deserve, there is also mercy. May God have mercy on you and may he have mercy on all of us.

Seems like everybody in the courtroom is all about mercy. Pan, of course, can seek mercy and seek redemption. But it's my theory he is better set to do that in the penitentiary. We wait as justice unfolds and fully expect Pan to contest his plea. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.