ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – A man who admitted to slashing his wife’s throat and then holding her hand while she died in a bathtub was indicted by a grand jury.
Police arrested Xichen Yang, 21, at his home on Ballard Street Tuesday. Seminole County Public Schools confirmed Yang is a 2019 graduate of Oviedo High School.
Officers said they received a call from a man who claimed he called his employee, Yang, and the worker said he had just killed his wife and was in the process of cleaning up the scene.
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When police arrived at Goldelm at Charter Pointe Apartments, they got a key from the leasing office and entered Yang’s apartment, records show.
Inside, officers said they found the victim — Nhu Quynh Pham — in the bathroom laying in a pool of blood with her throat slashed. Investigators said they also found disinfectant and rubber gloves used for cleaning.
When police questioned Yang, he admitted to slashing the woman’s throat, according to the arrest report. Yang said the woman began crawling away after the attack, so he placed her in the bathtub, records show.
Yang said he then put on his wife’s favorite music and held her hand for about 10 minutes as she died, according to police.
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Officers said Yang told them he could have stopped short of killing his wife but that was “not how he was raised” and he always “goes all the way.”
Police questioned Yang’s employer who explained he had called the accused killer when the man failed to show up to work, according to the report.
The employer said Yang claimed he was upset with his wife because she had burned his passport, according to police. The employer began chastising Yang for not being responsible, and that is when Yang admitted to doing “unspeakable” things and had killed his wife, records show.
Deputies said Yang was previously arrested following a domestic violence incident in January 2022. Responding deputies said they observed “minor redness on the face of the victim,” who was identified as Pham. At the time of the incident, Yang and Pham had been married six months, but lived in separate locations, according to an arrest affidavit.
Yang was charged with first-degree premeditated murder by a grand jury in Seminole County.
A GoFundMe was set up for Pham for funeral expenses. Click here to visit the page.