Bloomington police say the Indiana University student who died in a murder-suicide last month may have been in an abusive relationship.
Police say Chuanlin Xiao stabbed Yaolin Wang multiple times before killing himself at Bloomington's Stratum Apartments on Sept. 30. At the time, the two had been living together for about a month and police indicated they'd been in a relationship. Police now say that may have been a mischaracterization.
Their investigation revealed Wang and Xiao met at a community college in Seattle. Police say Xiao almost immediately moved into Wang's apartment and refused to leave. According to interviews with the victim's friends, Xiao tried to control Wang's life and abuse may have been involved.
Police say Wang did not seek help from Indiana University or law enforcement. When friends tried to get involved, Xiao apparently threatened them by saying he came from a powerful family in China who would retaliate against their families if he got in trouble.
Wang moved to Bloomington over the summer to attend classes at Indiana University, and Xiao almost immediately followed. Police say he moved into Wang's apartment again and refused to leave.
"His attempts to control her continued with Wang discovering that her passport was missing after Xiao arrived in Bloomington, that he was stealing or hiding cosmetics from her, and that he was possibly forcing her to provide him with large sums of money and using it for himself since he was neither employed nor enrolled as a student," Capt. Joe Qualters wrote in a press release.
Police say Wang didn't tell her family about the ongoing problems with Xiao.
On Sept. 19, Xiao traveled to Seattle and returned to Bloomington unannounced on Sept. 30. Police say around that time Wang sent a text to a friend saying "My nightmare is back."
The day Wang was murdered she attended her business class at IU. Around 9:20 p.m. that day police responded to a 911 call and found Xiao's body with Wang's body nearby.
