Footage capturing a young couple returning home with groceries has gained a harrowing significance after the boyfriend was later accused of murdering his partner.
A young woman was discovered deceased in her boyfriend’s condo following reports from neighbors about water leaking from the unit.
Upon arriving at the townhouse on August 10, officers encountered a horrifying scene behind the bathroom door.
Zoey Suyun He, originally from China and residing in Hawaii, was visiting her boyfriend, Andy Chu, between August 9 and 10.
Officials discovered He lying on her back, covered in blood with a slashed throat, an ice pack on her throat, and “a small block behind her neck, supporting her head,” according to prosecutors.
As reported by KOMO News, the autopsy revealed she had endured blunt force trauma to her neck, face, chest, and limbs, and had a golf ball lodged in her throat.
Chu, 26, and He attended the same school, according to KHON, and had been dating since January of this year.
The pair had gone out to purchase groceries on the day she was murdered, with surveillance footage capturing them bringing bags into the Lake City, Seattle, home.
However, the footage also captured something more unsettling.
A neighbor’s security camera recorded Chu leaving his home the following day, dressed in the same clothes and concealing something beneath his shirt.
With no sign of He, Chu took the concealed item, which appeared wrapped in a towel, and stepped out of the camera’s view, Fox 13 reported.
Later, prosecutors would state that Chu began acting “erratically” that day, leading friends to take him to a hospital.
Chu was subsequently arrested by police at the University of Washington Medical Center after reportedly groping a nurse’s breasts and attempting “to pull her head down by hooking the back of her neck.”
Following his arrest, Chu admitted to police that “he thought he may have killed” his girlfriend, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Chu informed the police that he had taken two “molly” pills and smoked marijuana while with He and confessed to memories of “choking her, twisting her neck, holding her down underwater in the tub.”
He also recounted that he believed he had broken her neck and “remembered her bleeding from her nose,” and then allegedly dragged her out of the tub in a futile attempt to revive her using bizarre methods.
Reportedly, Chu believed he could resuscitate her by “sprinkling Acai powder all over her” and “placing a ball similar to a golf ball in her mouth to fix her jaw.”
It is unclear why He was visiting that specific weekend, but there is a Chinese holiday around the date of the murder, known as the Qixi Festival, which is similar to Valentine’s Day.
This week, charges of first-degree murder and felony assault were filed against Chu in court.
According to KHON, Chu’s bail has been set at $5 million, with Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, explaining that the amount is related to the risk of Chu fleeing the country.
He stated, “Anytime you have somebody charged with murder there’s a concern of flight risk despite their connections showing that to the court is an argument, so that is an element.”