Details slim during investigation

Jianquing Yang

The murder of a chemistry student and his wife Saturday night left fellow students with questions and neighbors in fear, as police continue to investigate.

Police found the bodies of chemistry doctoral student Jianquing Yang, 32, and his wife, Yu Yun Chen, 33, slain on Saturday morning.

The Tucson Police Department responded to their apartment on the 2500 block of N. Country Club Road after their 6-year-old daughter called 911 and reportedly said she could not wake up her parents.

TPD homicide detectives are in the preliminary stages of the investigation.

Teachers at the University of Arizona chemistry department described Yang as quiet, which his advising professor said was rare in people with his determination.

"Many people like this who are as determined as he was tend to create attention," said Victor Hruby, Yang's doctoral adviser. "He had a very quiet determination."

Hruby said Yang was also devoted to his family. His wife and child regularly visited the department.

Li Sun, a neighbor of Yang and Chen was both saddened and scared.

"I'm very sad," Sun said. "I want to move away now."

Another neighbor, Greg Johnson, said the incident was unorthodox for the neighborhood.

"Nothing like this has ever happened here," he said. "It makes me feel kind of uneasy."

Johnson said he was frequently leaving and returning to the complex the night before the murders and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Both Yang and Yen, as well as their daughter, were Chinese citizens.

Yang received a bachelor's degree from Beijing University and then came to the United States. He earned his master's degree at Kansas State University.

Their family moved to Tucson when Yang was accepted in to the chemistry doctoral program. This was his second year at UA.

Hruby said Yang was to be the first in his doctoral program to graduate. His final test was scheduled for Nov. 15.

Sliang Li, executive vice president of the Association for Chinese Students and Scholars, said he and other members of the association were frustrated with the lack of evidence TPD had provided.

TPD spokeswoman Sgt. Judy Altieri said information will be released as the case progresses, but it is in the best interests of the case to protect any additional information to assure its authenticity.

"When someone comes forward, there are things that only us, and the perpetrator or someone with credible information would know," she said.

Altieri said investigations of this magnitude have many people coming forward with information.

"You have to have some way to triage all of it," she said.

Altieri said the Chinese consulate has contacted the victims' family who live in China. She said the consulate is working to fly the family out to Tucson.