Chinese college student fatally stabbed

Yaolin Wang victim in Indiana murder-suicide

Police in Bloomington, Indiana, have identified an Indiana University student and her live-in boyfriend who were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide.

The (Bloomington) Herald-Times reported that police said Yaolin Wang, 21, a junior at IU, died of apparent stab wounds, and Chuanlin Xiao, 20, who previously lived in the state of Washington, was found hanged near her body. Both were found on Sept 30 in an apartment complex common area.

Police said the couple had lived together at the complex for about a month. The victim and suspect had been in a relationship for about six months. The investigation is continuing.

Christopher Viers, IU associate vice-president for international services, said Wang had transferred from North Seattle Community College in Washington. She was originally from Jiyuan City in China's northwestern Henan province.

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie issued a statement on Oct 3 on the death of Wang and another student, Joseph Smedley II, who drowned.

"The positive energy and excitement associated with the early weeks of a new academic year on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington has been sadly and abruptly shattered this week, as tragedy struck the campus twice in a very public fashion with the untimely deaths of two promising students.

"Yaolin Wang was a junior transfer student who had just begun her IU journey this fall, but who already had immersed herself in the Bloomington campus community, while Joseph Smedley II was a sophomore biochemistry major from Indianapolis who had many friends on campus," he said. (Smedley's body was found in a lake about a mile from the campus. The Monroe County Coroner's office reported the cause of death as drowning.)

"Any time a student dies, the entire campus community is diminished, and to lose two students in a span of days multiplies our collective grief and sense of mourning," McRobbie said. "To the family and friends of Yaolin and Joseph, I extend our deepest sympathies on behalf of the entire Indiana University family. Our thoughts and prayers are with you in this time of unfathomable sorrow and loss.

"There is no way to prepare for the sudden and premature loss of life that has occurred in our community this week. The best we can do, perhaps, is to support one another and make the time to cherish our friends and loved ones every day."

A recent student by the Herald-Times found that Chinese students make up almost 36 percent of all international students at Indiana University, with 3,100 Chinese students enrolled on the Bloomington campus in 2014.