Police Say Could Be Close To Solving Cold North Austin Murder Case

NORTH AUSTIN, TX — Police could be close to solving a three-year old cold case related to the murder of a Chinese woman at a shopping center, according to a published report.

The lifeless body of Xiaoxia "Grace" Chen was found three years to the day on Feb. 19, 2014 in a second-story bathroom at the Galleria Oaks shopping center in Northwest Austin, an area not readily accessible to the public. The killing sparked widespread anxiety throughout the community after police said no suspect had emerged.

That might soon change, reported the Austin American-Statesman.

“There definitely have been some good leads in the case and I believe that we can bring this one to a resolution,”detective Jay Swann, the lead investigator, told the newspaper. “It’s not necessarily any large break. I feel like we have a lot of information to work with in the case.”

Chen had just moved to Austin five years before her death and taught at Chinese schools across Texas and at an art gallery with her husband, Robert Lui, as the Statesman reported. Swann noted Lui emerged as a person of interest in the case and has not been eliminated as a suspect.

Lui was arrested about a year after Chen's death in connection to an art theft for which he was later sentenced to federal prison for two months, according to the report. He had worked for a New York art company before moving to Texas, but the owners of the business complained he left with about $100,000 worth of art, the Statesman reported. He was later accused of selling some of the purloined paintings on eBay through Grace Fine Art in Austin, according to the report.

Police told the newspaper they are currently unable to cnfirm Lui's whereabouts. But Swann said plenty of evidence has been accumulated, and they were close to resolving the case.

>>> Read the full story at Austin American-Statesman

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