Google engineer found in catatonic state and ‘spattered with blood’ after reportedly beating his wife to death inside their $2 million Santa Clara home
- Police arrested Liren Chen, 27, on January 16. He is accused of murdering his wife, Xuanyi Yu
- Officers found him kneeling and staring into space near his wife’s dead body after a welfare visit
- The couple both worked at Google as software engineers
A man has been charged with murdering his wife, a Google engineer, after he found himself staring “blankly” into space with her dead body nearby.
Police arrested Liren Chen, 27, who also works for Google, on Jan. 16 at a home on Valley Way, Santa Clara.
He has been charged with murder, but his arraignment was postponed after he was hospitalized.
Chen was found “smeared in blood” with an “extremely swollen and purple arm,” kneeling outside a bedroom where his wife lay “deceased on the floor.”
His wife, believed to be Xuanyi Yu, suffered “serious head injuries,” according to the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office.
Liren Chen, 27, is accused of killing his wife in their Santa Clara home
His wife, Xuanyi Yu, worked at Google as a software engineer. She was found dead with blunt force trauma to her head
Santa Clara police officers went to the home around 11 a.m. on January 16 after receiving a welfare call.
When they arrived, a friend of Chen’s told officers he was “concerned” about the couple and said Chen “refused to answer his phone or his door.”
He told officers he could see Chen inside the house, where he was “motionless on his knees, with his hands in the air and staring blankly.”
The officers entered the house and arrested Chen.
The district attorney’s office said they found his wife’s body in the bedroom “directly behind” where Chen had been standing.
They said: “Officers found the deceased victim on the ground. She had serious head injuries.”
Meanwhile, they said, “Chen’s right hand was extremely swollen and purple. He had blood on his clothes, legs, arms and hands and scratches on his arm.’
Chen and Yu bought a home at 714 Valley Way last April for $2.05 million, according to property records.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen said domestic violence calls have increased.
He added: “The number of deaths from domestic violence has fallen in our province, but that says nothing about the depth and devastating nature of the violence.
The couple bought a $2 million home in Santa Clara last April, according to property records
The couple both worked for Google as software engineers in California
“Anyone who feels that they or someone else is being abused by their partners, please contact your local law enforcement agency. You are not alone. We can help.’
Google spokesperson Bailey Tomson told The New York Post in a statement: “We are shocked and deeply saddened by what happened to Xuanyi.
‘Our thoughts are with her family at this time and we will do our best to provide support to them and colleagues as they cope with this tragic news.’
According to his Linkedin, Chen worked on the YouTube short algorithm for Google, while Yu’s page says she was a software engineer.
Both studied in China at Tsinghua University and the University of California San Diego.