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Police travel to Oklahoma to seek murder suspect

From University News Service
Purdue University police on Monday night released the identity of a suspect sought in connection with the murder of two women on the West Lafayette campus last week.

Police are seeking Zhan Yin, 27, of the People's Republic of China, who is a Purdue graduate student in biological sciences. He was last seen at 7:30 a.m. Monday in Stillwater, Okla., driving a red Ford Taurus rental car with an Indiana license plate, number 95N3297. The Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's Office has issued a warrant for his arrest on two counts of murder.

Zhan Yin

Yin, who lives at 118-12 Marshall Drive, West Lafayette, had traveled to Stillwater over the weekend with his wife, Jun Ke, to visit a friend who is a student at Oklahoma State University.

"The OSU Police Department contacted Purdue investigators after Yin's wife told them her husband had disappeared from the Stillwater campus," said Joseph Bennett, Purdue's vice president for university relations. "An investigative team was sent to Stillwater to interview both the wife and the friend in connection with the case."

Purdue police want to question Yin in connection with the deaths of Purdue doctoral student Yeunkyung Woo, 31, and her sister Hyo Kyung Woo, 29, who was visiting from Chicago at the time of the murders. Both women were South Korean nationals.

According to a news release issued by Oklahoma State University, Jun Ke Yin told police she had tried to convince her husband to stay in Indiana and cooperate with investigators, but he wanted to first visit a friend at OSU. She also said he was despondent and she believed he planned to commit suicide.

The murder victims were discovered Friday morning in the Purdue Village student apartment where Yeunkyung Woo lived. Purdue police said both women were clothed and there was no sign of forced entry into the apartment.

Tippecanoe County Coroner Martin Avolt said the sisters died of traumatic injuries inflicted sometime Thursday evening, but declined to elaborate because of the ongoing investigation. Autopsies were conducted at the Indiana University Medical Center on Saturday, but officials said the results would not be made available until toxicology screenings were

completed.

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