Overview

• Yang Zhao has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his flatmate Qiong Yan but admitted to interfering with her corpse, which was found in a toolbox on his balcony in July 2021.
• Prosecutors claim Zhao killed Yan in September 2020 by striking or strangling her, then concealed her body for nearly ten months while impersonating her to steal money and assets.
• Evidence presented includes Zhao’s purchase of a toolbox, duct tape, and gloves shortly after Yan's death, as well as police interviews where Zhao admitted to choking her for up to an hour.
• Zhao allegedly transferred $200,000 from Yan’s bank accounts, sold her Porsche and MacBook, and convinced her mother to send over $400,000, using Yan’s phone to send thousands of messages.
• The trial is expected to feature testimony from 20 witnesses, including Yan’s mother, friends, and police, as well as forensic and digital evidence linking Zhao to the alleged crimes.