Yale grad student Kevin Jiang murder: Nabbed fugitive Qinxuan Pan to seek $20M bail reduction

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Mystery after Yale graduate student fatally shot

Investigators say Kevin Jiang may have been targeted; Eric Shawn has the latest on 'America Reports'

Qinxuan Pan, accused of gunning down Yale University graduate student and U.S. Army veteran Kevin Jiang earlier this year, is expected to ask a judge in Connecticut to reduce his $20 million bail in a hearing scheduled for next month. 

His arrest warrant, scheduled to be unsealed June 11, is "chock full of information," Pan’s defense attorney William Gerace told reporters Tuesday outside the New Haven Judicial District, where Pan appeared before a judge. Both his mother and father attended the hearing.

The document could shed light on what motivated Pan to fatally shoot Jiang in New Haven on Feb. 6. Jiang had proposed to his fiancée and fellow Yale graduate student Zion Perry just a week before he was killed – and law enforcement sources who spoke to Fox 61 remain convinced that Pan was infatuated with Perry, who previously attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology for undergrad.

Photos obtained by the outlet show Pan and Perry speaking at an MIT swing dance in March 2020.  

QINXUAN PAN, SUSPECT IN YALE STUDENT KEVIN JIANG'S MURDER, IS ARRESTED

Pan allegedly stole a vehicle from a Massachusetts car dealership by taking it for a test drive on the day Jiang was killed and never returning it. Instead, he crossed state lines to Connecticut, according to court documents previously obtained by Fox News. The 29-year-old interacted with North Haven Police officers later that night after the vehicle became stuck on train tracks – but Pan was only questioned. 

He went off the radar for months, leading authorities on a three-month search across the country – first to Georgia where he was spotted driving with relatives. The U.S. Marshals Service then went broader, announcing a "nationwide manhunt" for Pan, and later obtained an Interpol "red notice" informing international authorities about the fugitive. Pan was ultimately arrested in Montgomery, Ala., on May 14. 

He was found renting an apartment under a fake name and had $19,000 in cash, seven cellphones, seven SIM cards and his father’s passport in his possession, prosecutor Stacey Miranda said during Pan’s arraignment hearing on May 20 when his bond was set at $20 million. 

During the latest court hearing Tuesday, Judge Gerald Harmon granted several of the defense’s motions, including that Pan be provided reading glasses that were taken from him after his arrest three weeks ago and that he be provided access to a phone to better keep in touch with his lawyer.  

Gerace told the judge he intended to file a motion to reduce Pan’s bail on July 13, when the next hearing is scheduled in the case, the New Haven Register reported. Speaking outside the courthouse, he argued $1 million would be sufficient -- and the $20 million is "tantamount to no bond at all."

Qinxuan Pan (left) is charged with the murder of Kevin Jiang (right).  (New Haven Police Department/Yale University Police Department)

Miranda had first asked for bail to be set at $50 million, arguing that Pan’s parents have "very substantial financial effects" and recently bid on a home in North Carolina. Pan’s parents have been living in the U.S. since 2007 after moving from Shanghai, Gerace said Tuesday, adding that Pan was their only child and "basically their whole life." Hong Huang and Hao Pan stood next to each out outside the courthouse following the hearing. 

"It is sorry this happened," Huang said in a brief remark. "Only one word — sad."

Pan has been a graduate student researcher at MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science since 2014. He received his undergraduate degree from MIT in June of that year. 

Jiang was a veteran of the U.S. Army and a National Guard reservist at the time of his death. A devout Christian, he regularly volunteered at Trinity Baptist Church in New Haven with his mother. 

Jiang grew up in Chicago and attended the University of Washington in Seattle, completing his undergraduate education in 2016. He was pursuing a graduate degree at the Yale School of the Environment and was killed a week before what would have been his 27th birthday on Valentine’s Day. 

His parents both spoke at their son’s funeral service in February. 

"Kevin’s life was short but colorful, and brought so much joy, happiness and positivity to those around him," his mother, Linda Liu, said during the service. "As a mother, I will always miss Kevin, and treasure the blessings he brought me. Although Kevin is gone from us now, Kevin is the most wonderful gift God has ever given me on Earth. I look forward to being reunited with Kevin in heaven in the future." 

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"I realize, now, that Kevin himself is an angel. His mission to this world is to deliver love," his father, Mingchen Jiang, said, according to the New Haven Register. "Love is the word Kevin used most often."

Perry was also among those presented with Jiang’s colors during a ceremony honoring his military service before he was laid to rest at the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown, Conn. She has not been named a person of interest in the case and has not been charged.