Three adults and a teenage boy have been arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder of an Asian American comedian and activist in Colombia last month.
According to reports, the suspects in Tu Gel Xiong's death were charged with extortion, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated murder in the Medellin area. Local newspaper El Colombiano.
Zion, who went to meet a woman he met on social media before being abducted on December 10, is a South American country where criminals lure people to meet in public, then take them away and detain them. He became a victim of this terrible trend. For ransom.
The three adults charged in this disturbing crime were identified as Sharit Gisela Mejia Martinez, Santiago Bustamante Londoño, and Andres Hincapie Obregon.
All three denied the charges at recent hearings, according to a statement from the prosecutor's office.
The paper said that after the crime, a 17-year-old boy turned himself in to the Medellin regional prosecutor's office and admitted to taking part in the kidnapping and murder of Sion. Local newspaper El Colombiano.
The boy was transferred to a detention center for minors.
The three adults were arrested on January 16 and charged with extortion, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated murder.
They deny the charges.
The newspaper said that during this week's judicial proceedings, it was revealed that several phones and vehicles related to the incident were seized by law enforcement authorities.
Xiong, who lives in Minnesota and frequently flies to Colombia, was scheduled to travel to the South American country on Nov. 29 and spend the holiday season there.
The woman Mr Xiong was scheduled to meet on December 10 was said to be part of a new group of friends he had made during a recent visit to the area, his brother Yi Xiong said. he told the Post last month.
On the night of her abduction, Zion was reportedly held against her will inside Robredo's apartment.
His captors tied him up and took his credit cards, cell phone and wallet.
Around 7pm that night, Xiong called another friend in Colombia and told him he was being held at gunpoint and demanding a ransom of $2,000 (8 million Colombian pesos) for his release.
But even though Zion's family in the United States quickly paid $3,140 into the woman's account, the comedian was murdered and his body was found in La Corcovado with more than a dozen stab wounds and blunt force injuries. Abandoned in a ravine.
The woman Xiong had been talking to online was arrested before her body was found.
Mr. Xiong, who ties his ancestry to the Hmong people, an indigenous people of East and Southeast Asia, served as valedictorian of Humboldt High School.
He was born in Laos in 1973, when his father worked for the CIA, and fled to a refugee camp in Thailand in 1975 to escape the communist takeover of Laos.
The family eventually moved to St. Paul in 1992.
The comedian planned to “share his personal story across the country to build cultural competency and address racism.” The Bush Foundation said: When Xiong was named a Fellow in 2019.
A three-day memorial service for the activist, customary in Hmong culture, is scheduled for later this month, starting with a eulogy by his sister on January 27 and ending with a private burial two days later.
with post wire
