US man convicted of murdering Chinese woman in London

A 26-year-old U.S. man has been convicted of murdering a 31-year-old Chinese graduate student in her south London flat after a violent confrontation over sexual health testing.

What happened: Joshua Michals visited Zhe Wang’s flat in Manor Park, Hither Green, on the evening of March 20, 2024, to address what he termed a “bizarre situation.” There, he stabbed Wang twice in the face and compressed her neck. He then contacted his father to obtain a solicitor’s details, took Wang’s phone from the kitchen and discarded it in a bin outside. After fleeing the scene via Uber, he waited at his own flat before contacting emergency services at 11:08 p.m. Wang died from stab wounds to the head and compression to the neck.

The two Goldsmiths University students had begun a casual relationship after meeting on campus in autumn 2023. In the months before her death, tensions escalated as Wang repeatedly asked Michals to get tested for sexually transmitted infections following their sole sexual encounter in February 2024.

The verdict: After more than 16 hours of deliberation, a jury convicted Michals of murder on Dec. 8. The Chicago-born defendant, who was studying filmmaking on a year-long master’s program, claimed self-defense during his trial, asserting that Wang attacked him with a knife. “I just wanted to get her away from me,” he told jurors. He also said he pressed his forearm to her neck to restrain her and did not mean to kill her or cause harm.

The jury, however, rejected his claims. “It is clear that Michals is a dangerous, violent individual and he will now have to live with the consequences of his actions,” Det. Insp. Claire Guiver, who led the investigation, said in a statement.

The big picture: Wang’s murder underscores the vulnerability of international students studying far from home and the deadly escalation of intimate partner violence. She was among more than 150,000 Chinese students in the U.K., the largest international student group at British universities. She came from China to pursue creative writing studies and was described by a professor, Dr. Francis Gilbert, as someone who approached writing as “a mindful practice.” Meanwhile, friends remembered her as a quiet and gentle woman who enjoyed her studies in London.

Michals will be sentenced at a later date.