Mei Chu Chung was 57 years old when she died on Thursday, October 20, 2016, in Diamond Bar. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds in the 3300 block of Bent Twig Lane. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
She was known as Marian, and she was an art teacher. Neighbors told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that she taught classes out of her home, and her son said she "had taught art to children and offered lessons in a studio she had in their home." She and her husband of 30 years, Cheng Long Wang, known as David, had come to the United States from Taiwan in 2000 and had lived on Bent Twig Lane for more than a decade.
Both were killed in that home. The Sheriff's Department said the attack took place "sometime between Wednesday, October 19, 2016 at 7 p.m. and Thursday October 20, 2016 at 9 a.m."
When the couple's family could not reach them, a family friend went to check and found them in separate rooms. Lt. John Corina said both had been stabbed multiple times and that there were signs of a struggle. CBS Los Angeles reported that Chung "was also found mortally wounded with stab wounds and declared dead at the scene." The weapon was not recovered.
Investigators later said they believed the motive was robbery. "At this point we believe that the motive for this crime is robbery," Homicide Bureau Capt. Steve Katz told KFI, which reported that more than $10,000 in cash was taken, while the Associated Press put the figure at about $15,000. Katz said investigators believed "the assailant knew the couple kept large amounts of cash in the home." CBS reported there were no signs of forced entry and the house did not appear ransacked, which suggests the killer may have been let in or may have known the household, though detectives did not say that.
Her son, Dr. Gary Wang, spoke of his parents' work with children. "My parents were educators, they touched the lives of many children and their parents by creating something beautiful," he said, according to KFI. "They were taken away from my life so suddenly and so brutally by burglars." He said the loss had been especially hard on his young daughter.
Diamond Bar is a hillside suburb in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, near the junction of the 57 and 60 freeways. The county and the city together offered a $30,000 reward for information in the case.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Mei Chu Chung could be found in news archives or public records. More than nine years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Former art students and their parents, neighbors on Bent Twig Lane, and anyone who knew about cash kept in the home in October 2016 may hold information that could help. CBS Los Angeles reported that homicide detectives Margarita Barron and Dameron Peyton were handling the case. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
