The California Google engineer accused of beating his wife to death last week entertained dinner guests the night before, including one who told police the host was staring into space at the table, according to court documents.
Liren Chen, 27, faces a murder charge after police found him “spattered with blood” near Xuanyi Yu's body on January 16. Both were Google employees at the time of the incident.
“He [reporting party] had dinner with Chen and [the victim] “The night before at his home, and he was concerned about a noticeable change in Chen's behavior,” detectives wrote in a statement of facts related to the case. “Chen was silent and staring into space for much of the night.”
The friend who observed Chen's strange behavior during dinner tried to call in the morning, but no one answered. He returned to the house to check on the couple, peeked out a window and saw Chen kneeling with his hands up, still “staring,” even before police were called, prosecutors allege.
GOOGLE ENGINEER FOUND 'SPLASHED IN BLOOD' AFTER THE ALLEGED MURDER OF HIS WIFE IN AN EXCLUSIVE CALIFORNIA HOUSE: POLICE
Liren Chen was found Jan. 16 inside his blood-spattered home and near his wife's body, the District Attorney's Office said. (LinkedIn)
Police arrived and Chen reportedly remained motionless. A responding officer declared Yu dead at the scene.
Yu had blunt force injuries to his head and Chen's right hand was “extremely swollen and purple,” according to the Santa Clara District Attorney's Office.
His clothes were covered in blood as were his hands, legs and arms, prosecutors said. According to investigators, she had small scratches on her left arm.
Xuanyi Yu stands in front of a mountain range at sunset in his LinkedIn profile photo. (Xuanyi Yu/LinkedIn)
“However, he did not appear to have lacerations on his body that could have produced this blood,” the detective said.
A pair of bloody sandals nearby led the investigator to conclude: “I believe Chen was wearing the sandals while standing or crouching next to him.” [the victim] and hit her repeatedly on the head with his hand.”
Read the detective's statement
Police asked Chen how he hurt his hand, according to the file.
“I punched my wife,” he allegedly responded. “Yesterday.”
“We are shocked and deeply saddened by what has happened to Xuanyi,” Google spokesperson Bailey Tomson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Our thoughts are with his family at this time and we will work to provide support to them and co-workers who are processing this tragic news.”
Google headquarters on December 19, 2023, in Mountain View, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Both Yu and Chen studied in China. at Tsinghua University and at the University of California, San Diego, their LinkedIn pages said.
Chen was taken to hospital after his arrest. He is due in court Wednesday morning for his arraignment.
Fox News' Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
