Huang Yang
Huang Yang (黄洋), 28, a third-year medical postgraduate student from Shanghai Fudan University, died of poisoning on April 16, 2013. Local prosecutors approved the arrest of the medical postgraduate student, identified as Lin Senhao (Huang's roomate), on a murder charge on April 25. Lin had admitted poisoning his roommate. He allegedly stole chemicals from the university lab and injected them into the dispenser around noon on March 31. He did not tell the police the reasons for his action, but suggested it was an April Fool's Day joke - something that has been discounted by the investigators.
Timeline of the case
Huang Yang began vomiting violently and developed a fever after drinking some water in his dorm on April 1, 2013. He fell into a coma with ensuing liver failure after being sent to the Zhongshan Hospital (affiliated with Fudan University). His health worsened over the next few days as doctors were unable to identify what he had consumed that cause his health to rapidly deteriorate.
On April 11, police found that the contents of a water dispenser in Huang's dormitory had been contaminated by a poisonous compound. On April 13, Huang's roommate, surnamed Lin, was identified as a suspect and brought under police custody.
Huang was pronounced dead due to multiple organ failure around 3:23 p.m. on April 16 at the Zhongshan Hospital, the university said in a statement.
On April 19, police in Shanghai asked a district procurator to approve the arrest of Lin who had allegedly killed his roommate by poisoning him. The suspect, also a medical school student at Fudan University, held a grudge against Huang Yang over a trivial matter and had carefully planned the poisoning, an initial police investigation showed.
Lin took a deadly chemical compound from a university lab and used it to contaminate a water dispenser in their dormitory at noon on March 31, the investigation showed. Huang Yang showed symptoms of poisoning after drinking water from the dispenser on April 1 and subsequently died on April 16.
On Feb. 18, 2014, Lin was sentenced to death by the Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court.
In a letter claimed to be sent by Lin to his lawyer and published by thepaper.cn on July 21, 2015, Lin admitted he did poison his roommate Huang Yang.
On Dec. 9, 2015, the lawyer for the family said the Supreme People's Court had approved the death sentence of Lin.
On Dec. 11, 2015, Lin was executed after the death sentence was upheld by the Supreme People's Court.
About Huang Yang
Huang Yang was born in 1985 into a poor family of Rongxian County of Zigong City, Sichuan Province. He was the only child of his parents. He won a high score of 590 in the national college examination in 2004, but he chose to redo the examination the following year and enrolled into Fudan University with the even higher score of 690.
Huang was a capable student in medical school, having recently become a PhD candidate, ranking first among all the examinees. Huang was able to pay for his education through scholarships and even used some of the money to pay for some of his mother's medical bills.
Huang was also active on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. His last post was created on March 13. Most of his posts now have become replies containing messages of condolence.
"Both my parents lost their jobs when I was in junior high school. My family borrowed heavily to pay for my mom's medical bills. I then decided to earn a living all by myself. Looking back at my five years at Fudan University, I can proudly say I've made it." Huang said in a 2010 speech delivered at a scholarship award ceremony.
Huang was also active in several charitable causes. He volunteered as a teacher in a remote area of the Tibet Autonomous Region and encouraged impoverished local students to pursue their dreams.
