Find our daughter's killer, Chinese ISU student's parents say

Parents of an Iowa State University student from China who was found dead in the trunk of a car last year are demanding investigators do more to find her killer.

The mother and father of Tong Shao, a 20-year-old junior, spoke with CNN recently, sharing how they've taken to social media to expand the search for her killer.

"We are miserable, as the killer is still at large," the father said.

The couple told CNN they thought their daughter would be safe in the central Iowa school; that's why they chose it.

"We've given all our love to our daughter," Chunsheng Shao, the woman's mother, told CNN through an interpreter. "I feel my life is meaningless after losing her."

Shao's body was found in the trunk of a car outside an Iowa City apartment building on Sept. 26. The Johnson County medical examiner ruled the death, due to asphyxia, a homicide.

But the only person of interest is believed to have fled to China.

Xiangnan Li, a Chinese student who at the time was a registered student at the University of Iowa, returned home to China before police could contact him about any information related to the case.

Ames police determined Li took a flight from Cedar Rapids on Sept. 8 and arrived in China on Sept. 10. Flight arrangements were made Sept. 6. The documents state that none of Li's friends or family had seen him arriving back in China, and such an absence was unusual for Li.

Shao's father told CNN he issued a plea with U.S. officials in January, asking them to share all of the information about his daughter's case with Chinese authorities.

"We now plead with you, the U.S. authorities, to issue an arrest warrant ... and share the evidence you have gathered with the Chinese authorities," he wrote. "This honorable act could very well save the life of other innocent and vulnerable victims, and will most assuredly allow the soul of our precious daughter to be comforted and rest in peace."

Hundreds of Chinese have taken to WeChat, an instant messaging tool and social media platform, and Weibo, Beijing's version of Twitter, CNN reports. Photographs of Xiangnan Li are being posted, and the hashtag, #FindLi, is flooding social media.

A search warrant, executed Sept. 26, the same day Shao's body was found, detailed what police found inside Li's Iowa City apartment.

A black suitcase filled with clothing and food was seized during the search. The suitcase discovery was described in search warrant information made available earlier this week as "odd" by police because it was thought Li had gone back to China.

An employee at the apartment also told police that the apartment looked "as if someone had left in a hurry," the earlier documents stated. The employee said groceries had recently been purchased and not put away, including spoiled milk found on a counter.

Tong Shao's roommate, referred to only as "Jean" in the CNN report, said that Xiangnan Li was the only point of friction in the girls' friendship. Li was Shao's boyfriend and reportedly moved into the girls' apartment in 2013.

"We wanted to kick him out, but he refused to leave," Jean told CNN. "Tong knew we didn't like him, so she didn't talk about him around us."

Li and Shao apparently met while taking an English preparation class in Beijing in the summer of 2011, according to the CNN report. He traveled to her hometown of Dalian, a coastal city about 300 miles east of Beijing, and met her mother, though the two never talked.

Shao's parents said they didn't think too much about the courtship. Shao told them he was "chasing her."

Li is from Wenzhou, a city about 300 miles south of Shanghai. He majored in business at the University of Iowa, transferring from Rochester Institute of Technology to be closer to Tong, CNN reported. He lived in her apartment until classes began in the fall of 2013.

According to friends, Li lived alone off-campus and invited few people to his apartment.

A search warrant released Jan. 16 revealed that Shao may have been killed in a Nevada, Ia., hotel, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reported. The warrant shows the couple had stayed at the the Budget Inn and Suites, 1521 South G Ave., in Nevada Sept. 5-7.

Police initially discovered the couple had been regular guests after searching Li's cellphone records and finding a call made to the hotel Sept. 5.

The warrant, which also revealed evidence of blunt force trauma on Shao's body, said police found a hotel towel marked "Premium Quality" wrapped around her head when her body was discovered in the trunk of the car. Lovig then visited the Nevada hotel Sept. 29 to examine the hotel's towels, according to the warrant.

They found "splatters" and "drips" of multiple liquids behind the headboards of the beds and throughout the room, the warrant states.

It's unclear whether there are results from those tests that point to new information about the case.

Iowa City police have said they have finished their investigation and have turned the case over to the Johnson County Attorney's Office.

County Attorney Janet Lyness did not immediately return a call Monday.