This hits close to home! Lots of my girlfriends go to York U. Be careful girls!!!
(CNN) -- A 23-year-old exchange student, attacked in her Toronto apartment while a friend in China watched via computer webcam, was found dead there hours later, police say.
Toronto Police on Monday identified the student as Qian (Necole) Liu of Beijing. She was talking early Friday morning to a male friend from home when a man allegedly knocked on her door, asking to use her phone, police said in a news release.
The online witness said he saw Liu and the unknown man struggle for a time before the attacker turned off her laptop, the news release said.
The friend in China then started a desperate bid to find out what happened, CNN-affiliate CTV reported.
Ten hours later, police arrived at the basement apartment to find Liu's body, naked from the waist down. Her laptop was missing.
"It was obvious that she had been dead for some period of time," Detective Sgt. Frank Skubic said in the news release.
The cause of the death is yet to be determined, the news release said. There were no obvious signs of sexual assault or severe physical trauma, and police are awaiting toxicology reports, it said.
Police are unsure whether Liu, an exchange student at York University, knew the man. The attacker was described as white, age 20 to 30, 6 feet tall, weighing 175 to 200 pounds, with a muscular build and medium-length brown hair, and wearing a blue crew-neck T-shirt.
With no suspects and no one in custody, police have been questioning neighbors, CTV reported. A cell phone found in the apartment is also undergoing forensic examination, police said.
The attached article says the guy on the webcam watching was her boyfriend..
interesting parts..
"The friend she was talking to reportedly lives in China and was Liu's boyfriend, according to posts on a Chinese-language chatroom, the Toronto Star reported. He reported seeing a struggle break out between the two before the man turned off Liu's laptop and threw her cellphone on the floor. "
"A friend of Liu's who was on the scene when the landlord opened the door, wrote in a chatroom about his shock at finding her on the floor, one arm extended toward the door, the Star said.
"It felt like the sky had collapsed," he said. "I called 911 but I couldn't spit out one single word," he said according to the Star.
The same friend also wrote that Liu was being stalked by a rejected suitor who had previously lived in the same house with her.
"The suspect was chasing after her, but she refused, then he started stalking her by texting her all the time," the friend reportedly wrote. "
Despite the other media reports saying there were no obvious signs of sexual assault, this article makes it sound obvious that she was sexually assaulted. I guess we will see ..
The boyfriend of the York University student found dead in her apartment last week has said he believes the man he witnessed enter Qian Liu's room is the same man whose advances she had been repeatedly turning down.
The man, who spoke for the first time about the incident with CTV's Ben O'Hara-Byrne at the park in China where he first met Liu, said his webcam conversation with Liu was interrupted when she heard a knock at the door at about 1 a.m..
"She opened the door and it looked like they knew each other pretty well," said the man who requested anonymity. "They said hello and he borrowed her cell phone."
The victim's boyfriend said although it appeared that the man wanted to hug Liu, he saw her refuse.
"He wanted to hug (her) but she said no and fought back," he said. "I was so helpless, I could not calm down until in the end the guy closed the computer."
Liu, originally from Beijing, China, lived at 27 Aldwinckle Hts., near Keele Street and Finch Avenue, near York University.
Although police have contacted the Liu's boyfriend about gaining access to his computer, he said they still haven't been able to investigate.
"Canadian police want my computer," he says. "An expert could help to find clues but I still have it for now."
Det.-Sgt. Frank Skubic told reporters Tuesday afternoon that the "online witness" in China reported watching the live-streaming online feed for several minutes after Liu answered her apartment door before the feed was eventually cut off.
A photograph of Liu with a man suggested as a rejected suitor has circulated on Internet forums.
Skubic said officers have spoken with the man and say he is merely a "person of interest" in the investigation.
TORONTO -- Investigators arrested a 29-year-old man Wednesday in the death of a student from Beijing, who was last seen alive on a webcam by her boyfriend in China as she struggled with an attacker, police said.
Brian Dickson has been charged with first-degree murder, Toronto police spokesman Tony Vella told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Dickson is scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning.
there is a photo going around that is NOT Dickson. police have asked that his photo not be published at this time.
A 29-year-old Toronto man has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 23-year-old York University student Qian Liu.
Brian Dickson is scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning.
A police source told the Star a missing webcam, laptop and cellphone were not seized as part of the arrest. They are still missing and hold key clues to the investigation.
Police announced the arrest as a plane carrying Liu’s grieving parents touched down Wednesday afternoon.
The exhausted couple was ushered through Pearson airport by Chinese consulate staff, stopping momentarily to address reporters before being ushered out a private exit.
“We are very sad but we would like to take this opportunity to thank . . . everyone, the media, community and Chinese consulate staff,” Jianhui Liu, the victim’s father, said after the 13-hour flight from Beijing. “Thank you, but we are really tired.”
He is research director of Communist Party history at a school that trains party officials and a much-admired lecturer.
His daughter’s body was discovered by two friends and her landlord at 27 Aldwinckle Heights on Friday morning, after they were alerted by Meng Xianchao, the victim’s boyfriend in China, who said he witnessed part of the struggle between the woman and an intruder by webcam the night before.
Liu was found in a basement apartment naked from the waist down, police said, adding there were no obvious signs of trauma.
Police are still awaiting toxicology test results to determine the cause of death.
Police asked the media not to publish photos of Dickson, saying it will compromise their investigation. They also stressed that a photograph of man circulating in Chinese-language Internet chatrooms, purported to be connected to the killing, is not of Dickson.
- so is the guy who was apparently stalking her according to her friends NOT the guy that was arrested? Or did her friends just have the wrong picture? Confusing
This week, the Star reported that Liu had been stalked by a man, painted as a rejected suitor in a popular Chinese chatroom. However, police said there is no evidence of “criminal stalking.”
Liu arrived in Canada in September and lived in a house on Haynes Ave. before moving to the Aldwinckle Heights apartment in January.
Police forensic vans were parked this week in front of both residences, located near York University.
A friend of Liu posted online that the suspect once lived with the victim, but police wouldn’t confirm that, or explain why she moved so suddenly.
A person of interest was interviewed early in the investigation and released. At the time, police said they were checking out his alibi.
Police wouldn’t confirm whether the man arrested is the person they had interviewed.
A Toronto man accused of killing a student last seen alive in a struggle on a webcam made his first court appearance Thursday morning.
Brian Dickson was arrested and charged with first degree murder on Wednesday.
Wearing a white shirt and jeans during his brief appearance in court on Thursday, the 29-year-old was remanded in custody until April 26.
Dickson's court appearance was almost a week after 23-year-old Qian Liu was found dead in her basement apartment, naked from the waist down at 27 Aldwinckle Hts., near York University.
Following the court appearance, police retracted a previous request to not publish a photo of the man they charged in Liu's death.
Dave Perry, a former Toronto police homicide detective, told CTV's Canada AM that police may have made the request to not publish the image because it could have compromised the case.
Perry said that although he didn't want to speculate on the investigation, a first-degree murder charge means that police believe there was forethought.
In an exclusive interview CTV News conducted in China earlier this week, Liu's boyfriend, who asked to keep his identity concealed, said he witnessed somebody walk into her room and ask for a hug via webcam hours before Li's death.
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