California man accused of having dentist girlfriend killed used shirt to hang himself inside jail cell
Nelson Peter Chia, 73, was found hanging by a shirt in a California jail cell after being arrested for the shooting death of his girlfriend
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The man accused of having his girlfriend killed in a murder-for-hire plot before taking his own life after being arrested hung himself with a shirt inside a California jail cell, authorities said.
Nelson Peter Chia, 73, was found just before 2:10 p.m. on Oct. 28 hanging by a shirt on a single-cell door knob in the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County, according to an incident report.
"While we don’t know why Mr. Chia was in an ITR (intake area) cell for so long, we can tell you that he should not have been," Jeff Bornstein, an attorney who is helping to oversee a federal consent decree over Santa Rita Jail, told Fox San Francisco. "He also should have been screened by Mental Health before he was housed in any cell. Making sure that people are safe and not at risk of self-harm is a principle focus of the consent decree."
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Nelson Chia is accused of the murder-for-hire slaying of longtime girlfriend, dentist Lili Xu. Police say he hired Hasheem Bason to shoot her. Chia was found dead after reportedly hanging himself inside a jail cell. (Oakland Police Department/ gunmemorial.org)
Bornstein said his firm has requested a timeline of events and other materials "to ensure that corrective actions are taken."
Chia's death came hours after he'd been arrested in connection to the shooting death of his longtime girlfriend, Lili Xu, 60, a beloved Oakland dentist.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Investigators said he hired Hasheem Bason, 33, of Stockton to kill her on Aug. 21 for financial gain. Chia stood to receive $1 million from Xu's $14 million estate upon her death, prosecutors said.
Xu was shot and killed while with Chia in her vehicle. He told authorities the couple had arrived for an appointment to get massages after running errands. Security footage shows a suspect getting out of a nearby Lexus and approaching Xu's vehicle.
When Xu got out, the pair struggled, and she was shot. The gunman then fled.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lili Xu, 60, was shot to death in a murder-for-hire plot Aug. 21, 2022, according to police. (gunmemorial.org)
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Bason is now in custody at Santa Rita Jail and has not entered a plea to the murder charge against him.
Chia is one of two men to have died last week at Santa Rita Jail within a span of two days. On Sunday, Ali Muhammad, 71, died of "numerous medical ailments," authorities said in a news release.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.