RICHMOND - A former Eastern Kentucky University exchange student who is thought to have been strangled had recently rejected two marriage proposals from her boyfriend, who is now charged with murder.
But the host family for 24-year-old Yan Gu said they do not know whether the spurned proposals led to Gu's death.
Glen Kleine, a former dean of fine arts and technology at Eastern Kentucky University, and his wife, Joan, befriended Gu when the Chinese graduate student attended EKU. Kleine is a volunteer adviser to the university's International Student Association.
"We'll miss her so," Joan Kleine said yesterday. "She was a sweet girl. She did not deserve that."
Friends of both Gu and her boyfriend, Dong Zhang, say the killing is inexplicable.
According to court documents, Zhang, who reported her missing earlier this month, has confessed to the killing. Last week, he led authorities to a shallow grave in an Indiana cornfield.
A University of Kentucky graduate research assistant, Zhang attempted to commit suicide Monday at the Fayette County jail and was rushed to UK Hospital. Yesterday a UK Hospital official said there was no patient there by that name.
In Indiana, Jackson County Coroner Andy Rumph confirmed yesterday that the victim had been strangled. Authorities are awaiting dental records before making a final determination as to her identity.
But the Kleines and Gu's friends have little doubt that the woman they called "Irene" was the victim.
"We feel in all honesty that she's gone," said Glen Kleine. "But the thought of her still is alive in us."
Loved cooking, yard sales
Gu, 24, enrolled at EKU for the spring 2002 semester as part of an exchange program with Liaoning Institute of Technology in northeastern China.
Gu's friends say she had a vibrant personality but often kept her to herself. She loved to cook and go to yard sales. And she was headstrong: Ignoring the Kleines' advice, she once cajoled her EKU adviser into letting her take more courses than allowed under her graduate assistantship.
At EKU, she graded papers, worked in the statistics lab and helped tutor students in accounting, Glen Kleine said. She earned her master's in business administration in December and moved to Chicago in January.
The Kleines met her boy-friend three times and say he was very quiet and unassuming.
The couple planned to attend a conference this fall in Boston, where Zhang, who had been doing some promising research on breast cancer, was to deliver a paper.
Yu Huang, now a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin, said he and Zhang shared a dorm room for four years as undergraduates in China. He called the news of Zhang's arrest "shocking and unbelievable."
"He's very gentle to ladies -- it's even too much," Huang said. "He's kind of famous for his gentle ways."
Zhang, 24, apparently spent a lot of money on Gu -- taking her on a post-graduation trip to Hawaii and Washington, D.C., lending her money, helping her move.
"The girl spent a lot of money," Huang said. "When she was staying in Chicago, all of this money was paid for by my friend.
"He didn't complain a lot about that. He would say, 'Money, you can earn, but your girlfriend is the most important thing.'"
An extradition hearing for Zhang has been scheduled for Tuesday. A court in Illinois set his bail at $1 million.
According to court documents, Zhang "admitted to falsely reporting a missing-persons report on his girlfriend" and "stated he intentionally placed evidence to mislead police."
More like parents
The Kleines are more like parents than friends to the eight or 10 exchange students they care for. They help them settle into dorms, teach them about buying cars and opening bank accounts, take them to festivals and museums.
"They have no one," Joan Kleine said. "They're by themselves and they need help."
Most refer to the Kleines as "Mom" and "Dad." Gu called Glen Kleine "op."
Gu's parents, in the northeastern Chinese city of Wushun, are separated, and her grandmother, to whom she was quite close, is seriously ill.
"I can't imagine what it would be like to to have your child gone for three years and get a call like this," said Joan Kleine. "It would be devastating."
Dolores Madrid-Couch, president of the International Student Association at EKU, said a memorial service will be held for Gu, but the date has not been set. The association also hopes to set up a scholarship fund in her name.
op."