ASU Professor David Zhu Charged with Murdering Wife

ASU Professor Accused of Killing Wife

An Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty (ASU) pro­fes­sor, David Zhu, has been accused of mur­der­ing his wife, Susan Yijuan Yan, in their Scotts­dale residence. 

Alleged Domestic Violence Incident

Accord­ing to the police, Zhu, a pro­fes­sor at ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Busi­ness Depart­ment of Man­age­ment and Entre­pre­neur­ship, alleged­ly shot his wife with a shot­gun. Yan, 46, was found with a gun­shot wound and was pro­nounced dead at a local hospital.

The cou­ple’s chil­dren, a 19-year-old daugh­ter and a 14-year-old son, told the police that their par­ents had been involved in “fre­quent” domes­tic vio­lence inci­dents, and the shoot­ing occurred after a fierce shout­ing match.

Arrest and Charges

Zhu was arrest­ed and charged with first-degree mur­der. He was booked into Mari­co­pa Coun­ty Jail on a $1 mil­lion cash bond. 

The uni­ver­si­ty has placed Zhu on admin­is­tra­tive leave while it pro­ceeds with the per­son­nel process, accord­ing to applic­a­ble Ari­zona Board of Regents and local policies.

ASU’s Response

In a state­ment, an ASU spokesper­son expressed the uni­ver­si­ty’s con­do­lences to all those affect­ed by this tragedy.

The spokesper­son also con­firmed that Zhu has been pro­hib­it­ed from going on cam­pus and from all school activ­i­ties dur­ing the ongo­ing per­son­nel process.