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Pasadena City College
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Volume 96, Issue 4
“ The Independent Student Voice of PCC. Serving Pasadena Since 1915.”
Thursday, Sept 20, 2007
«
Family Mystified By
Killing of PCC Student
Missing Woman’s
Body Found Over
Weekend
Franco Sui Yuan
Sports Editor
Family members of a slain PCC stu¬
dent are mystified by the circum¬
stances surrounding her killing.
Liya Jessie Lu, 31, was found dead
on Saturday, a month after she had
been reported missing. Her body was
found in a trash can in Arcadia by
police.
Lu’s boyfriend, Isaac J. Campbell,
once a student in PCC’s nursing pro¬
gram, is being sought by Los Angeles
County Sheriff’s homicide detectives
as a suspect in her slaying.
Lu’s cousin Jeremy Zhou, who was
notified Tuesday about her body being
found, says he never expected the situ¬
ation to turn out so bad.
“I didn’t know about her boyfriend
issue because she never talked about
him to me,” said Zhou in Chinese, his
native language.
Zhou, who grew up in the same
province as Lu - Jiangsu,
China - said he was tak- — —
ing care of Lu “because I
was her only relative
here. Her parents didn’t
have to ask me (to do it)
because I am supposed
to. We were family.”
A classmate of Camp¬
bell’s in the nursing pro¬
gram says she is also mys¬
tified. “We all knew that "
there was something
going on because the police were look¬
ing for him,” said Maggie Pedroza, a
current PCC nursing student. “But
that doesn’t mean anything.”
Pedroza met Lu through Campbell
during family night some time in Janu¬
“She was
young, she had
a future. It’s
devastating. ”
Maggie Pedroza, PCC
nursing student and
acquaintance of Lu
ary or February. “She was young, she
had a future. It’s devastating.”
Zhou, who lives in San Gabriel, says
he thinks Lu’s body was moved after
her killing. “She was moved from one
place to another. Just because they
found the body (in Arcadia) doesn’t
mean it happened
there,” he said.
Zhou explained he
was only distantly relat¬
ed to Lu, but they had
grown up together, so
they had been close.
In an interview late
Wednesday evening,
PCC student William
Moo, a close friend of
"■■■ 11 Lu, said he last spoke to
her on Aug. 11. “She
was in the process of moving out of
Campbell’s place,” he said.
Moo did not know this at the time
he spoke to Lu, but found out about it
from the police and Zhou later.
“She had been seen around Camp¬
bell’s apartment since the fall of last
year, I was told by a friend,” Moo said.
“ I did not even know that she was liv¬
ing with Isaac or that she was in a rela¬
tionship with him.”
Apparently, soon after Lu was
reported missing, police obtained her
phone records through which they
contacted her friends. Moo said this is
how he found out.
“I really don’t have any firm evi¬
dence” about what happened, Moo
said. “Everything I know I told the
police.”
Zhou, Lu’s cousin, was very upset.
“I feel really bad; she was a very good
person. She was really friendly. If any¬
one had a problem she would be there
for them.”
Lu was reported missing last month
by Zhou after she failed to return from
a visit to her boyfriend’s apartment,
authorities reportedly said.
She was a native of China who
moved to the United States eight to
nine years ago.
Liya ‘Jessica’ Lu
If you have any
information on the
case, please e-
mail LACounty-
Murders@lasd.org
What's Inside
Sports
Count It:
With the sea¬
son just start¬
ing, football
continues
strong with
win number
three. Page 8
Richard Quinton
/
Courier
Arts
A Trip to the Past: Get a
quick history lesson of the
city through the ‘Prosperous
Pasadena’ exhibition. Page 5
What's Going Down
Say goodbye to generic
coffee! Seattle’s Best
Coffee is now served
throughout the campus.
PCC Asked to Help Fight
Against Gang Violence
Allan Santiago
Staff Writer
After many incidents of gang
violence this year in Pasadena,
PCC has been asked to join an
11 -member City Committee to
address the issue.
As a part of the solution, the
college is now working on a new
vocational training program.
The violence has stirred con¬
cern by city and education offi¬
cials, and the spiritual communi¬
ty. All will now be working
together on the committee "to
reduce violence in the short term
and to develop sustainable com¬
munity-wide policy and infra¬
structure to maintain a safe com¬
munity in the long term," accord¬
ing to a report prepared by City
Manager Cynthia Kurtz.
Thousands of field interviews
and traffic stops, along with hun¬
dreds of citations and arrests
have been made in northwest
Pasadena, where much of the
violence has occurred, police
reports indicate.
The city fully committed to
curbing the violence shortly after
two killings and two attempts
were reported against men aged
17 to 21 on northwest streets dur¬
ing the first week of February.
Then, a May 6 shooting out¬
side a liquor store on North
Orange Grove Boulevard left a
19-year-old Latino man para¬
lyzed. Police later arrested a 15-
year-old suspected.
On May 7, a brazen mid-day
shooting on Washington Boule¬
vard left two men, 20 and 37
years old dead. Police suspect
four gang members in the inci¬
dent.
Investigations of most of the
incidents have revealed that gang
Daniel Belis
/
Courier
Council members Steve G. Madison and Victor Gordo at the
Pasadena City Council meeting on Monday.
affiliation, not race, has been the
primary motivation, according to
police.
It is not known yet which two
trustees will be on the committee.
Seeking a permanent solution,
Councilman Victor Gordo has
been collaborating with the PCC
See ‘Violence’ - Page 2
For exclusive stories and photos check out the Courier on the web @ pcccouher.com
