Teenage college student killed by lethal injection from boyfriend to ‘relieve suffering’

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A 19-year-old university student was killed by lethal injection by her boyfriend to “relieve her from suffering”, say police.

The victim, a University of Utah international student from China, was founded dead in a Salt Lake City motel room, according to authorities.

Suspect Haoyu Wang, 26, who is also an international student from China, sent an email to a university employee stating that he had injected the victim with drugs “to relieve her from suffering.”

The email also said that the couple would be dead before they could be found, but university police reached out to Salt Lake City Police who tracked them down and found the suspect alive with the victim’s body.

According to a statement of probable cause, Mr Wang told officers that he and his girlfriend had entered into a suicide pact and that he had ordered the drugs forth “dark net”.

The suspect said he had killed his girlfriend and then tried to kill himself by injecting the drugs, while Salt Lake City Police went on to describe it as a “domestic-violence-related homicide”.

Court records show the suspect was charged with one count of assault for domestic violence in January, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

The victim was later identified as Zhifan Dong.

“The death of any young person embarking on adult life is devastating. And, unfortunately, domestic violence is more prevalent than many of us are aware, even among college students,” the university said in a statement.

“On behalf of the university, we extend our heartfelt grief and sympathy to the family, friends and classmates of the victim during this incredibly difficult time.”

It is the eighth killing or high-profile death of a student or member of Starr at the university since 2016.

Four of those were women who died in alleged domestic violence incidents.

University staff member Katherine Peralta was killed in a December 2016 campus parking lot by her husband after she told him she was filing for divorce.

In October 2018 Lauren McCluskey was shot to death outside the dorms in October 2018 by a man she had briefly dated.

Medical student Sarah Hawley was shot and killed by her boyfriend at their home in January 2019, and in June 2019, MacKenzie Lueck, 23, was killed by a mean she had met on a dating app.