弗州中国学生绑架中国学生案,动机或只为50万
倍可亲(backchina.com)美国弗吉尼亚大学传两名中国学生涉嫌绑架另一名中国学生被捕,警方目前仍在调查涉案的舒百川(Bai Chuan Shu)与吕冠宇(Guan Yu Lu)的犯案动机,而受害男学生的父亲则已自中国赶至弗吉尼亚,与儿子会面。
弗吉尼亚斐尔法克斯郡(Fairfax County)警局发言人哥哈德(Don Gotthardt)11月28日对多维社表示,受害者来自中国上海,原在加州一学院读书,後转学至北维吉尼亚地区的学院就读,但不是弗吉尼亚大学的学生。警方无法透露受害者的姓名。
哥哈德指出,当受害者被送至爱若华斐尔法克斯医院(Inova Fairfax Hospital)时,他有轻微脱水的现象,不过目前已离开医院,其父亲在听到绑架消息后,紧急从上海赶至,目前受害人与父亲在一起。“由于案子仍在审理,他们现在应都还在美国境内,不过如果他们希望先回到中国再回来协助办案,我相信是没问题的。”
涉嫌绑架的舒百川与吕冠宇均为来自中国的国际学生,目前正就读弗吉尼亚大学工程学专业二年级,两人均为19岁。
11月20日晚间,受害者接到电话,要求协助修车,当受害者开车至泰森斯角(Tysons Corner)购物中心附近时,受到头戴面罩的嫌犯持刀子、枪枝等凶器夹持进后车厢中带到旅馆,嫌犯随后向受害人在北弗吉尼亚麦克林(McLean)的寄宿家庭要求50万元赎金,并恐吓一旦报警就要炸毁住家。
警方获报后以电话通连记录、信用卡等线索追踪到受害者被夹持的福尔斯彻奇(Falls Church)地区汽车旅馆Stratford Motor Lodge的27号房,并在21日晚间由斐尔法克警方与联邦调查局联手进入搜查,将两名嫌犯逮捕,并救出被绑在浴缸中、以胶带封口的受害人。
警方从旅馆与车上搜出至少60样物品带回检验,包括滑雪帽、刀子与枪枝。两嫌犯也涉嫌在11月21日时用受害人的信用卡在泰森斯角购物中心购买了价值1,290.44美元的衣服。
哥哈德对多维社说,两名嫌犯与受害者是否认识或彼此之间有何种关连,目前还不得而知。但警方相信这是一起独立的案件,受害者只是被选上的目标,至于受害者事发当时为何出现在弗吉尼亚大学,办案人员还不清楚。“目前警方所知的犯案动机仅是为了那50万元的赎款。”
报住夏洛特斯维尔(Charlottesville)地区杰佛森公园大道(Jefferson Park Ave.)1709号的吕冠宇,毕业于河南开封的知名高中,家境富裕,报住夏洛特斯维尔地区布来登大道(Brandon Ave.)583号的舒百川则毕业于上海外语学院附中。
哥哈德表示,还不清楚两名嫌犯是否有过犯罪纪录,一旦得知将会对外公布。目前两人已过堂,被以绑架及勒索罪名起诉,法官裁定不得交保,两人仍被羁押在斐尔法克斯郡成人拘留中心(Fairfax County Adult Detention Center),1月9日将进行审前听证。
据两嫌犯在弗吉尼亚大学的同学说,两人上周离开学校时显得匆忙。“吕甚至没有打包衣服。”
两人被捕的消息传出后,震惊了校园,尤其是与两人相识的朋友。一名匿名的友人表示,两人在学校时就跟一般人无异,学习成绩良好。另一名友人则指出,两人与同学关系不错,活泼友善,也不像缺钱的人。
dailyprogress: UVa students' arrests a shock to classmates
Guan Yu Lu and Bai Chuan Shu left town together in a hurry last week, according to fellow University of Virginia students who know them well.
“Guan didn’t even pack his clothes,” a classmate recalled Tuesday.
The two second-year engineering students were arrested Nov. 21 at a Falls Church hotel and charged with abducting a 20-year-old Chinese man found bound and gagged in their hotel bathroom, according to Fairfax County Police. They have been in jail since.
News of the arrests and the alleged kidnapping shocked friends and classmates of the two men, including two engineering students who said they’ve known Lu and Shu since the two arrived at school from China. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
The classmates described Lu and Shu as normal 19-year-old college students who studied hard and earned good grades.
“They were both good guys,” one classmate said.
However, the two gave inconsistent stories about the reason for their departure last week, another classmate said. Lu said he was going to visit friends in Maryland; Shu said he was going to Washington, D.C.
“They were telling us lies,” the classmate said.
“We never heard anything about a kidnapping. If we did, we’d try to stop it.”
Both Lu and Shu are in the United States on student visas.
UVa officials are taking the charges seriously, according to school spokeswoman Carol Wood.
“We are not reluctant to take action in such cases, and have already taken the appropriate internal steps to address this current situation,” Wood wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. She did not elaborate.
The victim’s ordeal began on Nov. 20 after someone called him and asked for help with car trouble, according to Officer Don Gotthardt, a spokesman for the Fairfax County Police Department.
“He obviously recognized the person enough to render aid, or attempt to,” Gotthardt said.
Assailants abducted the man near the Tyson’s Corner Mall when he went to help, Gotthardt said.
“They were masked and there was a knife and at least an implication of a gun,” he said.
The next day, a McLean resident called Fairfax County police and reported that a friend who lived with him had been abducted, according to court documents.
“The complainant received several telephone calls on Nov. 20 from an unidentified Asian male asking for $500,000 or the victim would be killed,” a Fairfax County detective wrote in a search warrant affidavit.
The caller, who spoke Chinese and was using the victim’s cell phone, said he would blow up the man’s house if he contacted police, according to the document.
With help from the phone company, police traced the calls to the Stratford Motor Lodge in Falls Church.
Later that day, investigators spotted two Asian men entering room 27 and determined they’d registered at the hotel using a Charlottesville address.
“This same address is the address of a known associate of the victim,” a detective wrote in the search warrant affidavit.
Police knocked on the door of the room and two Asian men allowed them to enter, according to court documents. Authorities arrested Shu and Lu after finding the missing man lying in the bathtub bound and gagged with duct tape, according to the search warrant.
Afterward, authorities seized more than 60 items from the hotel room and from the car Lu and Shu were driving, including ski masks, a replica assault pistol, a CO2 pistol and a knife.
Tyson’s Corner Mall surveillance footage also shows two Asian men purchasing $1,290.44 worth of new clothes on Nov. 21 using the victim’s credit card.
After his rescue, the victim was treated for mild dehydration at a Northern Virginia hospital and has been released. Police did not identify him other than to say he is a student.
The victim’s father has flown from China to be with him, Gotthardt said.
Police have not said what, if any, prior link existed between the man and his attackers.
On Monday, a judge denied bond for Shu and Lu, who are next scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 9.
One of the UVa classmates said Lu called him Saturday from jail and asked him to contact the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.
“He didn’t tell me what it was about,” the classmate said.
An embassy representative didn’t return a phone call Tuesday.