Ivy League grad student, US Army veteran’s killer had eerie motive: detective

The tragic murder of Kevin Jiang, a 26-year-old Yale graduate student and U.S. Army veteran, sent shockwaves through the community of New Haven, Connecticut. Jiang, who had just proposed to his girlfriend, Zion Perry, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds outside his car on February 6, 2021. Initially, the case appeared to be a random act of violence, possibly linked to road rage. However, as detectives delved deeper into the investigation, they uncovered a chilling and personal motive behind the killing. The lead detective on the case, David Zaweski, revealed in a recent “48 Hours” special, titled “The Ivy League Murder,” how authorities tracked down the killer and exposed a disturbing obsession.

Jiang, a devout Christian and reservist in the National Guard, was pursuing a graduate degree at Yale’s School of the Environment. His life was marked by joy, positivity, and a vibrant spirit that touched everyone he met. Tragically, his death occurred just one week after he and his fiancée had shared their engagement news on social media. On the day of the murder, Jiang and Perry had spent time together, celebrating their future, unaware of the danger lurking in the shadows. The shooting took place outside Jiang’s car, and investigators noted that the shooter had fired multiple rounds, even after Jiang had fallen to the ground. This detail raised questions for Detective Zaweski, who sensed that the crime might be more personal than it initially seemed. “When you have someone laying on the ground and not moving, what would cause someone to continue firing?” Zaweski pondered.

The investigation began with limited leads, as the only clue was surveillance footage of a dark SUV near the crime scene. However, an unexpected tip from North Haven police shortly after the murder provided the first break in the case. A man named Qinxuan Pan, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), had called 911 after getting his car stuck on a railroad track about half an hour after Jiang’s murder. Unaware of the connection at the time, officers assisted Pan, helping him get a tow and a nearby hotel room. The next day, another 911 call came in from an Arby’s restaurant next to the hotel, where employees had found a bag containing a gun and a box of .45-caliber bullets. This discovery was significant, as authorities had already found eight .45-caliber shell casings near Jiang’s body.

Detective Zaweski and his team quickly connected the dots. They discovered that the gun found at Arby’s matched the caliber of the weapon used in Jiang’s murder. However, they still needed to establish a link between the shooter and the victim. A deeper dive into social media revealed an unexpected connection: Jiang’s fiancée, Zion Perry, was listed as a friend of Pan on Facebook. Further investigation showed that Pan and Perry had met through a Christian group while she was an undergraduate at MIT. They had even been photographed together at a university swing dance event in March 2020. To outsiders, they appeared to be mere acquaintances, and Perry had reportedly not spoken to Pan since leaving MIT to attend Yale. Yet, as Zaweski noted, there seemed to be a “secret obsession” on Pan’s part, one that neither Jiang nor Perry were aware of.

As authorities pieced together the evidence, a disturbing pattern emerged. In the months leading up to Jiang’s murder, there had been multiple reports of shootings in the area, all involving .45-caliber bullets. Homes had been targeted, but miraculously, no one was injured in those incidents. Investigators believed these shootings were part of a carefully orchestrated plan by Pan to mislead police and make Jiang’s murder appear random. “This wasn’t a random incident,” Zaweski emphasized. “He was targeted.” The revelation added a chilling layer to the case, revealing a calculated and ruthless killer who had meticulously planned his actions.

The manhunt for Pan spanned the nation, finally ending on May 14, 2021, when authorities arrested him in Birmingham, Alabama. Pan was found in an apartment rented under a fake name, in possession of $19,000 in cash, seven cellphones, seven SIM cards, and his father’s passport. These items suggested a man prepared to evade capture indefinitely. Pan later accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to murder, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison in April 2024. The case brought closure to Jiang’s family and friends, though the pain of their loss remained. At Jiang’s funeral, his mother, Linda Liu, remembered her son as a “wonderful gift from God,” whose life, though short, was filled with joy and positivity. Kevin Jiang’s story serves as a reminder of the fragility of life and the resilience of those left behind to honor his memory.